Peach Blueberry

I picked a lot of peaches and blueberries last weekend, so I had a lot of fruit that needed something done with it. I also had a picnic this past weekend and I needed to bring something. I decided I would make a double batch of peach blueberry ice cream. I based the recipe on David Lebovitz's recipe for peach ice cream.

First, the cook the fruit down in water for about 10 minutes. Then, you puree the fruit and the dairy in the food processor. Done. The only minor hitch was that double batch didn't fit into the food processor all at once.

The color was a really nice light purple. The taste was a nice balance between the two fruits. The texture was very smooth and light. A perfect summer ice cream.

Corn Starch Chocolate, No Fat

I made chocolate ice cream using the corn start recipe. This time I used skim milk instead of a mix of skim and heavy cream. It mixed up fine this time -- no trouble with it freezing too quickly.

I'm not sure why, but there's a bit of an after-taste that I don't really like. I haven't eaten enough of it to be able to describe the after-taste accurately. I did use Stop and Shop-brand cocoa powder, so that might be it. The texture is still good. Next time, I might use whole milk and see how that goes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

I reserved a copy of David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop at the library a while ago. I just picked it up the other day. I need to buy it. The breadth of recipes is fantastic. The recipes themselves seem well-designed, too.

The book actually has a recipe for chocolate peanut butter ice cream. This is something that I've been fooling around with for some time. The book's recipe is simplicity defined. Pour a pint of half-and-half into a pot, add some sugar and cocoa powder. Heat and stir. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter. Chill. Pour into machine.

The texture is smooth and coats your mouth in a pleasant way with the two flavors. The overall flavor does lean just a little towards the PB side but that's good. If I want to change it in the future, I'd probably add just a little more cocoa powder.

Peach! Philly style

It's peach season in Connecticut. I do love peach season and picking peaches. In comparison to the forever long berry-picking sessions, peach picking is a dream. It's quick. There's no bending over. It's in the shade.

I let some peaches ripen and decided to make the peach ice cream from Emily Luchetti's Passion for Ice Cream. It's a Philly style ice cream. It's a nice technique. The peaches get peeled and roughly chopped and then placed into a put with some sugar. You let them cook down for about 20 minutes -- essentially making peach jam. That gets mixed with the warmed-up dairy and then into the fridge.

I was slightly worried as I put the mix into the machine since it was a little thick. But, the thickness was due to the peach chunks. The ice cream froze pretty quickly. The flavor was excellent. If peach ice cream was always like that, it'd be my favorite. The texture was very smooth, too. I'm making this again. Or possibly making peach blueberry.

Corn Starch Chocolate, Redux

I put the mix made with corn starch back into the machine last night after letting it sit overnight in the fridge after adding some skim milk. Again, it froze pretty quickly but this time, the whole of it was frozen. It still tastes chocolately and has a smooth texture. It received Katie's approval as well. This is a nice technique and I'm going to continue playing with it.

Gonna have to try that again

I tried the corn starch ice cream from the NYT. Except, of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. It calls for dairy that isn't heavy, which is what I used for two cups (the other half cup was skim milk). This probably made a difference. The mixture was about as thick as pudding. It definitely did not pour into the machine. Then, it froze on the sides of the machine very quickly and the middle was still not frozen.

I scooped it out of the machine and put it back in the fridge but not before eating a bunch of what did freeze and then adding another half-cup of skim milk. What I ate tasted pretty good. I made chocolate by adding four tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dairy that was warmed on the stove. I'll put it into the machine again tonight.