From the Malt Shop

I am not sure what it was growing up, but I always preferred malts to shakes when going to the ice cream shop, or even Johnny Rockets. Based on reactions from friends after I would order a malt, I soon realized that most folks don't care for them, or didn't know what they were. Perhaps it's the slightly sour flavor or the fact that they aren't readily available at some places and people just haven't been exposed to it. This might also be the reason why it took me a long time to even find malted milk powder. I tried all of the grocery stores around me, even Whole Foods didn't carry it!

Finally, while home for Christmas, I talked to a cousin who works at an ice cream shop in town and got a chocolate malt, as well as a nice to go cup of malt powder. Rather than bring it back on the plane with me in a plastic baggie and getting some 'friendly' treatment from the TSA, I shipped it back along with a variety of gifts I had received for Christmas.

When making this recipe, you'll end up making a chocolate ganache to mix into the normal cream base. I had never made ganache before but it is surprisingly easy and awfully tempting to eat right out of the double boiler (I had to stop after a few spoonfuls or else it would have been vanilla malt). Going forward, this might just be my preferred method for making chocolate ice cream. Compared to other recipes, the process of melting the chocolate, mixing it into cream, etc. seems fairly similar but the result of this one was just stupendous!


Ingredients

Nutritional Info
Serving Size 1/2 cup Servings 10
Calories 400
Fat 16g
Sat Fat 18g
Carbs 32g
Sugar 4.2g
Protien 24g
*Nutritional Info from: Livestrong.com/myplate

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup half n' half
• 5 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup malted milk powder
• Pinch of salt

Modified from, The Perfect Scoop

Equipment

• Double boiler
• Measuring Cups 
• Measuring Spoons 
• Medium sauce pan (2-3 qt)
• 2 Mixing Bowls
• Sieve/ mesh strainer 
• Whisk

This recipe has a lot of concurrent steps so make sure to read through once or twice before you get going.

Some of the basic ingredients, cream, malt powder, chocolate

Start by chopping the bittersweet chocolate into pieces and leave to the side. Take the five eggs, separating the yolks from the whites, putting the yolks into a medium sized bowl. The whites can either be thrown away or frozen for later use. In another medium sized bowl mix whisk together the malted milk powder and one cup of cream.

Here you will have two pans going on the stove, the first is to make the chocolate ganache, another for sweet cream base.

Pour 1 cup of cream and the cocoa powder into a medium sauce pan. Bring up to a slight boil. Once up to temperature, turn off the stove and mix in the bittersweet pieces. Whisk or stir until chocolate has thoroughly blended in and pour through sieve into the cream and malt mixture.

At the same time, heat the remaining half n' half, sugar, and salt over a double boiler, stirring constantly. Once the mixture begins to steam/ simmer, slowly pour into the egg yolks, whisking as you pour.

Now you have two bowls, one with malted chocolate ganache and another with sweet cream base.

Pour the bowl of chocolate ganache through a sieve (you can use the same one as earlier) into the sweet cream base. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill. Once chilled (about 2 hours), pour into ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturers instructions. Mine took about 20 minutes.

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No, This is Not a Cosmo Sorbet

Seriously, it's not! I left out lime, triple sec, and it wasn't served at a bar to a woman saying "I want my cosmo no darker than my lips" (say that with a gravely accent and you'll understand what I mean). It's just a cranberry orange sorbet- I swear! Anyways, back to the sorbet itself... Last week, before heading to Atlanta I realized that I had a whole bag of cranberries in my fridge that were bound to expire while I was gone. So rather than let them expire, which is what usually happens, I threw them in a Zip-Lock bag and into the freezer. Upon returning from my gluttonous Christmas vacation, I decided that cranberry orange sorbet would be a nice 'healthy' diversion from my week of IPAs, biscuits and gravy (thanks Uncle Dan!), chocolate, and what turned into a very large serving of prosciutto on Christmas day.

While writing this post, it occurred to me that I threw out a fair number of rinds after juicing the oranges. There is almost always some waste as a result of cooking but, it never hurts to limit the amount of trash produced. Searching online, I found dragon fly in the kitchen and her recipe for orange zest sugar. Next time I buy oranges, this will most definitely be made!

After making the sorbet, I found it to be quite rich, possibly as a result of my heavy hand when measuring cranberries. That being said, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Like many sorbets, it has a very clean taste and leaves your mouth refreshed after eating. This could definitely be a palate cleanser of sorts between courses at a fine restaurant.

Ingredients

Nutritional Info
Serving Size 1/2 cup Servings 8
Calories 113
Fat 0g
Sat Fat 0g
Carbs 28g
Sugar 21g
Protien .5g

• 1 1/2 cups cranberries
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• Grated zest from 1 orange
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (5-6 oranges)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons orange liqueur (optional- adds to the cosmo-ness)

Modified from, The Perfect Scoop

Equipment

*Nutritional Info from:
Livestrong.com/myplate
• Fruit juicer
• Fruit zester
• Food Processor
• Medium sauce pan (2-3 qt)
• Mixing bowl
• Sieve/ mesh strainer 
• Measuring Cups 
• Measuring Spoons 
• Whisk

Measure out the cranberries (frozen or fresh) and set aside.

 

 Zest an orange to mix in with the cranberries while they boil. The left over orange can then be juiced for the orange juice that will be needed later on. While you are at it, zest the remaining oranges and make some orange zest sugar! Thank you dragonfly in the kitchen for the idea.

In a medium sauce pan, bring the water, sugar, corn syrup, and cranberry/ orange zest mixture to a boil.

Side note:
In The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, he calls for 3/4 cup of sugar and no corn syrup. After my experiences with the Apple Cider Sorbet I decided to add corn syrup in place of some of the sugar. 

Let boil for 1 minute and remove from heat. Cover and let steep for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes is up, pour the mixture into a food processor and puree. I'd share my pic of the food processor but it made the sorbet look fairly unappealing. Once the cranberries have been thoroughly pureed, pour through a sieve into a medium sized bowl (2-3qt). Stir in the orange juice and or liquer.

Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. With how cold it is outside, you might even be able to cover it and put it on the porch- just make sure the critters don't find it! Once thoroughly chilled, freeze according to your ice cream machines instructions.

Peppermint

Growing up, the holiday season did not begin until a healthy supply of Bobs' candy canes were acquired and the Christmas tree could be smelled throughout the house. But, now that I am living in an apartment, I do not have the conveniences of a mother to furnish the house with Christmas decorations and treats. This leaves me baking my own cookies, drinking bourbon/ eggnog (not a childhood tradition), checking out Creepy Santa Photos for the latest updates, watching Christmas Vacation, and making ice cream!

Thinking back to peppermint ice creams I ate growing up, there were always morsels of 'melted' peppermint candies in the ice cream. You know, the spoonful that you would get and find gooey pepperminty red streaks throughout? One of my goals when making the ice cream was to have these nuggets of flavor in every spoonful and that they would provide a little bit of crunch when you bit into it. Unlike the mint chocolate chip ice cream that you will find in the store, I did not want mine to have too much mint in the ice cream itself. Rather, I wanted the ground up mints to be the primary source of minty-ness.

The resulting ice cream came fairly close to my expectations of having the right amount of minty flavor contrasting with the vanilla cream base. However, and perhaps this was due to me wanting to use my food processor more often, the chunks of peppermint were either very very small or the size of half a mint. Looking back, I probably should have used either a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer to keep the mints from becoming dust.  In the end, I garnished the ice cream with some crushed mint and a large mint Christmas tree (instructions for this below).


Ingredients

Nutritional Info
Serving Size 1/2 cup Servings 8
Calories 420
Fat 26g
Sat Fat 17g
Carbs 19g
Sugar 29g
Protien 3g

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup half n' half
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/2 - 2/3 cup ground peppermint candies 

Equipment

• Double boiler (1 inch of water in the bottom)
• Mixing bowl*Nutritional Info from:
  Livestrong.com/myplate
• Food Processor or Rolling Pin
• Sieve/ mesh strainer 
• Measuring Cups 
• Measuring Spoons 
• Whisk

Crack 5 eggs, separating the yolks from the whites and place the yolks into a medium sized bowl.  You can save the egg whites to use later in other recipes. For some ideas on what to do with them, check out David Lebovitz's blog here. Whisk the yolks so that they are well blended.

Heat 2 cups of cream and 3/4 cups of sugar over a double boiler. Once the milk and sugar mixture begins to steam slowly pour a third to a half of it into the egg yolks, whisking as you pour.

Once thoroughly blended, pour the egg yolk/ cream back into the double boiler and whisk. Pour in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract and whisk.

Before pulverization

Let the mixture chill thoroughly before pouring it into your ice cream machine, I covered mine and put it on my balcony. While waiting for the mixture to chill, unwrap 1/2 to 2/3 cup of peppermints (I counted around 25ish). At this point you can either put them in a food processor or, place them in a plastic bag to break with a rolling pin. If you are using the food processor, do not remove the lid immediately as the 'dust' needs to settle. Alternatively, you can open the lid right afterwards and accidentally inhale a huge cloud of peppermint and cough up a lung- your choice (written based on experience)!

Freeze according to manufacturer instructions. As the ice cream firms up in the machine, pour the crushed peppermints into the bowl.

Garnish with melted peppermint Christmas trees, candy canes, gingerbread men, etc.

Preheat the oven to to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a Silpat on a cookie sheet along with a variety of metal cookie cutters. Place unwrapped peppermint candies into the cookie cutters, filling extra space with broken mints. Bake for 3-5 minutes until the peppermints have melted together. Remove from oven and let cool until firm. Once cooled, the candies should easily pop out of the cookie cutters.

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