Ice Cream Week--Strawberry and Chocolate-Peanut Butter

  To start off ice cream week, we went with simple but delicious Strawberry ice cream...4 quarts of it.  MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!  We got quart-sized plastic freezer jars ahead of time so that we could more easily store (and share) all of the ice cream we're making.  So, to two of the quarts we added chocolate chips (it was supposed to be chocolate chunks but I forgot to buy some and didn't feel like chopping some up...chips work just fine!!).  That was Chris' suggestion.  To one quart we added sprinkles because Emma wanted to make some "Pink Princess" ice cream and we figured that was as close as we were going to get.  We left the last quart plain.  


  The kids thought it was so fun.  I am letting them do as much as they can to make it, until they get bored and want to go do something else.  Emma couldn't believe I gave her the job of scalding the milk yesterday.  "I'm supposed to just stand here and stir????"  I told her that was a very important job that could make or break the recipe and I was trusting her to be careful by the stove.  She was not impressed.  ;)


  Oren helped me measure out the other ingredients and turn on the food processor to puree the strawberries. They both helped me add it to the machine and layer the ice and salt.  And we all helped eat it.  I felt a little like the "Little Red Hen" as they crowded around my final product...


  For the strawberry, I used a recipe out of our user's manual that came with the machine.  It's SUPER easy and the result is absolutely delicious.  Unbeatable.


Strawberry Ice Cream
  from Rival Ice Cream Maker User Manual
For 4 qts  (I have the ratios for other amounts if you're interested)
     2         c.    milk
     1 3/4   c.    sugar
     1/2      tsp.  salt 
      2         c.     half and half
     1         Tbs. vanilla extract
     4         c.     whipping cream
     4         c.     pureed strawberries (I just used 2 frozen sliced strawberry containers...no idea how much that is since I threw the packages away, sorry!!)


Scald milk until bubbles form around edge.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir until dissolved.  Stir in half and half, vanilla and whipping cream.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.  Add pureed strawberries.  (I added them before I chilled it because I had it all ready...don't think it matters two bits either way.)  Freeze as directed.  


See what I mean...EASY!!!

Two bowls of strawberry-chocolate chunk...I was going to get all bloggy perfect and "style" my food, but the kids just wanted to eat it and I didn't blame them.  Sorry this picture doesn't do the ice cream justice!

  Today our flavor was Chocolate-Peanut Butter.  Oh my goodness...that's all I can say.  I am not a huge choc-pb fan.  I mean I will eat a Reeses peanut butter cup if it's laying around, but it's by no means my favorite or what I would ever gravitate too.  But that may have changed with today's creation.  I searched for recipes last night and found this one that looked good.  And boy was I right!  Joy described this ice cream perfectly.  And it was a perfect segue from a scalded milk recipe to an egg custard since it is cooked on the stovetop, but uses cornstarch instead of egg yolks.  It was easy (just a little more time consuming) and tastes delicious.  I will say the peanut butter ribbon threw me for a loop...I've got no peanut butter ribbon in mine, it's all just mixed together, but whatever...

Joy's Double Chocolate peanut Butter Ice Cream
   from Joythebaker.com
Makes ~1 quart  (I doubled it.)

2 1/2 c.   whole milk  (I didn't have whole milk so used mostly 2% and a little half and half)
1       c.   sugar
1/3    c.   unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
3       Tbs cornstarch  (I was out of cornstarch...used 2 T. of wondra for each T. of cornstarch)
1/2     c.   heavy cream
3/4     c.   semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2     c.   smooth salted peanut butter 


   In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together 2 cups whole milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk start to steam, but before it starts to boil.
   In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of whole milk and the cornstarch. Stir until no lumps remain.
   Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will look the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from flame.
   In a small sauce pan, heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated.
   Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. Place in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.
   Once cool, follow the manufacturers instructions on the ice cream maker to churn ice cream. Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream.
   Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

And I'm sorry but I have no picture of this because we had Emma's birthday portraits tonight and by the time we got home we had time for a quick bowl before bed...and a delicious bowl at that.  I'll post yummy pictures tomorrow I promise!

If you make any yummy ice cream, either using or our recipes or one of your favorites, let me know.  Tomorrow is going to be mint chocolate chip using mint from our garden...