s'mores ice cream

I've moved over to a new blog!  Head over to The Farmer's Daughter for the full post and recipe!

mint chip ice cream

I've moved over to a new blog!  Head over to The Farmer's Daughter for the full post and recipe!

-kels

tasty tuesday: blueberry vanilla bean ice cream

As soon as Jordyn and I found out that Clara was coming out to visit, we knew that we just had to make ice cream with her!  We had been teasing her week after week with our raspberry, salted caramel, and chocolate covered cherry flavors, so we promised her that we would conjure up a magnificent flavor while she was here!  

So we'd like to present you with....blueberry vanilla bean ice cream!

Gosh this ice cream just tastes like a dream.  The smooth deliciousness of the vanilla bean complements the taste of  blueberry perfectly, and little chunks of blueberry throughout add a wonderful burst of flavor!

Blueberry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups milk (we used 2% you could use 1% or skim, but it won't be as creamy)
5 cups whipping cream
4 vanilla beans (or 2 tsp of vanilla will work...but won't be quite as good!)
2 cups blueberries  (approximately 1 cup of blueberries cooked down)
1/2 tsp salt

*Ice and coarse salt - this will be needed for the ice cream maker

Directions:
Cooked Blueberries:
In a medium saucepan cook blueberries on medium heat for approximately 20 minutes.  Stir and mash with a fork as it's cooking.  Let this mixture cool before adding to 

*Feel free to puree and strain if you're looking for a chunk free ice cream!

Ice Cream:
1.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.
2.  Gradually incorporate sugar.
3.  Add the rest of the ingredients (including cooked blueberries, but NOT ice or coarse salt) and mix well.
4.  Place mixture in the barrel of your ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's instructions.  This will include layering ice and salt around the edges of the ice cream maker.  

5.  Now enjoy your delicious ice cream!

Bonus:  Buy (or make) waffle cones.  Dip them in chocolate.  Fill them with ice cream!

p.s.  ♥ kelsey (+ clara + jordyn) 

tasty tuesday: chocolate covered cherry ice cream

So at the beginning of this summer Kelsey and I started joking that it would be "the summer of ice cream".

Well folks, that is no longer a joke!  This is our third batch of ice cream, and every time we make it, we find inspiration for even more different types!  

The inspiration for this delectable treat came from a huge box of cherries one of our Dad's associates brought us.  I was so stoked, I absolutely love cherries.  However, I must admit that 8 bags of them seemed a bit daunting.  Then I remember that my favourite Blizzard from Dairy Queen used to be chocolate covered cherry - and the idea for this ice cream was formed.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Ice Cream

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups milk (we used 2% you could use 1% or skim, but it won't be as creamy)
5 cups whipping cream
2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup cooked cherry purée
1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate covered cherries
20 cherries
1 cup chocolate chips (melt for dipping)

*Ice and coarse salt - this will be needed for the ice cream maker

Directions:
Cherry Purée
1.  Take 4 cups of cherries (halved and pitted) and with 2 tablespoons of water cook them in a medium pot over medium heat.
2.  Cook until cherries really start to break down (I think I cooked it about 45 minutes, but if you watched it carefully, you could turn up the heat and cut down the time. You want a lot of the liquid to cook off). 
3.  Blend the cherries until completely smooth.
4.  Measure 1/2 cup out for the ice cream.
5.  Use the leftovers as topping for your ice cream! (I had maybe a 3rd of a cup left over).

Chocolate covered cherries - You can do this while the rest of your ice cream is churning.
1.  Cut about 20 cherries into quarters (though you may want to leave some whole for topping the ice cream!)
2.  Melt chocolate.
3.  Dip cherry quarters into chocolate, and place on parchment paper to harden. (I did this on a cookie sheet and then placed the whole thing into the fridge).

Ice Cream:
1.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.
2.  Gradually incorporate sugar.
3.  Add the rest of the ingredients (including cherry purée, but NOT ice or coarse salt) and mix well.
4.  Place mixture in the barrel of your ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's instructions.  This will include layering ice and salt around the edges of the ice cream maker.  Ours called for about 2 inches of ice, and then 1/2 cup of salt, repeated until the ice reached the top of the maker.  Then we attached the motor, and let it run for about 45 mins.  We added more ice about half way through.  On our machine you know the ice cream is finished when the motor stops running.  Yours may be different!
5.  When the ice cream is finished, spread a layer into your container, and then place some of the chocolate covered cherries on top.  Add another layer.  Do this as many times as you would like.  We found that a lot of them would sink, so we put lots on the top layer.  
6.  Serve with whole cherries, whole chocolate covered cherries, chocolate drizzle, and cherry purée.

This was so much fun to make, and just as much fun to eat!  We ate it in celebration of the birthday of a close friend of mine.  It was so gorgeous, and a pleasure to share with people.

"Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos." 

True fact.

Let us know if you have any yummy flavours you think we should experiment with!
We are thinking of tasty things we can find on our farm/garden - blueberries, blackberries, mint, and lavender!  All sorts of wonderful flavours just begging to be used!

p.s.  ♥ jordyn (and kelsey)

tasty tuesday: salted caramel ice cream

So....remember when I said that I kind of am totally and completely obsessed with salted caramel?  Yeah, well I couldn't stay away from it for long, so I now present you with our homemade salted caramel ice cream!  I think Jordyn and I both were astonished at how well this turned out, and we both agreed that it was potentially the best ice cream we've ever had in our whole lives.  So yeah.

Also, you have to eat it with pretzels.  That's the rule!  You won't regret, I promise.  We crushed up pretzels to serve with it, and they add just the perfect salty crunch!  Seriously, it's the best.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups milk 
5 cups whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Caramel flavoring

1/4 cup of caramel (we used homemade, but store-boughten  would be fine)

1/4 cup Skor bits
Approximately 1/2 cup of caramel for swirling into ice cream once it's done.
*Ice and coarse salt - this will be needed for the ice cream maker

Directions:
1)  Beat eggs in a large bowl.
2)  Gradually incorporate sugar.
3)  Add the rest of the ingredients, including 1/4 cup of caramel and mix well.

4)  Place mixture in the barrel of your ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's instructions.  This will include layering ice and salt around the edges of the ice cream maker.  Ours called for about 2 inches of ice, and then 1/2 cup of salt, repeated until the ice reached the top of the maker.  Then we attached the motor, and let it run for about 40 mins.  We added more ice about half way through.  On our machine you know the ice cream is finished when the motor stops running.  Yours may be different!

5)  Once the ice cream was done, we swirled the rest of the caramel into the ice cream, as well as some Skor bits for some added crunch!

6)  Serve with pretzels! (I'm dead serious...this is not optional!)

{Optional}: Homemade Caramel

1/2 cup Sugar

3 TBSP Butter (we used salted butter!)

1/4 cup Whipping Cream

1)  The most important thing to do first is to assemble all of your ingredients!  Once your sugar mixture has reached the right colour, you'll need to move fairly quickly, and don't want to be fussing around with measuring out the other ingredients.

2)  Place your sugar in a medium saucepan, and melt at a medium heat.  Once it begins to melt, you'll want to start whisking it. (You can also add a tad of water if you don't feel comfortable melting dry sugar!).

3)  Once the sugar starts to boil, you can stop whisking, and wait for it to turn a light amber colour.

4)  When it's light amber, then add your butter, and stir like crazy!

5)  As soon as the butter has completely melted, remove from heat and add the whipping cream.  Again, stir like crazy! (Be cautious when adding the cream as it will foam a lot!)

6)  Let the caramel cool for a bit, and then you can move it to a heat proof container and pop it in the fridge to help hurry up the cooling process.

Also, did I mention that as soon as this ice cream was done, Jordyn and I may or may not have stood around and dipped pretzels into it for a good ten minutes.  True story.

p.s.  ♥ kelsey (and jordyn)

tasty tuesday: raspberry ice cream

Here in Abbotsford we had a crazy mini heat wave for about a week and a half.  When the temperature hit 30 celsius, we knew it was time to break out the ice cream maker!

This heat wave lined up well with the first meeting of the "Not So Ladies' Book Club" (you may remember this silly group from our homemade s'mores posts!  It's a club that went from a ladies' book club, to a club that included lots of boys, and rarely any books).

And since I (Jordyn) had missed my good friend Joel's birthday party a couple weeks ago, I thought I would make it up to him by making raspberry ice cream!  I came up with this recipe for his birthday last year. He had a big ice cream party, and raspberries are his favourite!  It was the perfect reason to make a big batch of ice cream. 

While we do live on a raspberry farm, fresh raspberries are still about a month away.  But we used the next best thing - our own berries which we froze last summer.  They still taste amazing!

As you can tell the berries in the photo above are a little frosty, if ice cream isn't your deal, these berries make a great snack on their own!  Pop a few into your mouth and you are good to go!

Raspberry Ice Cream

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups milk (we used 2% you could use 1% or skim, but it won't be as creamy)
5 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup vanilla
4 cups raspberries  (or 1 1/2 cups raspberry purée)
1/2 tsp salt

*Ice and coarse salt - this will be needed for the ice cream maker



Directions:
Raspberry Purée:
1.  Blend all 4 cups of raspberries in a blender.
2.  Strain out all of the seeds.
3.  You should be left with about 1 1/2 cups of raspberry purée.

Ice Cream:
1.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.
2.  Gradually incorporate sugar.
3.  Add the rest of the ingredients (including raspberry purée, but NOT ice or coarse salt) and mix well.
4.  Place mixture in the barrel of your ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's instructions.  This will include layering ice and salt around the edges of the ice cream maker.  Ours called for about 2 inches of ice, and then 1/2 cup of salt, repeated until the ice reached the top of the maker.  Then we attached the motor, and let it run for about 40 mins.  We added more ice about half way through.  On our machine you know the ice cream is finished when the motor stops running.  Yours may be different!

This ice cream comes out so velvety and smooth!  The first bite is always amazing. (and the second and the third...)

We figured that a raspberry sauce would go perfectly with the raspberry ice cream!  For the sauce we just heated about about 2 cups of frozen raspberries with 1/3 cup of sugar, and when it had simmered for a bit strained all the seeds out.

Other toppings that really complement the raspberry flavour are chocolate sauce/chips and toasted almonds. 

Using the ice cream maker is always fun, and we really want to experiment with different recipes and flavours over summer!  We were thinking Chocolate Peanut Butter, or perhaps Salted Caramel Swirl?

Do we have any volunteers for taste testers? 

p.s.  ♥ jordyn & kelsey