Some things to keep you cool

For several years now I've heard about Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio via Ravelry via TNNA. I was seriously close to ordering pints online before but the pricey shipping stopped me. Lucky for me (and everyone really) Jeni Britton Bauer (the Jeni) has written an ice cream 'cookbook'. I picked it up a few weeks ago and it has so many delicious-looking recipes in it for all seasons of the year. I cannot wait to make the Pumpkin Five Spice in the fall. My favorite part of all the recipes is that none of them use eggs. I just don't like homemade ice cream with egg yolks, the texture always seems weird to me. Instead the ice creams in Jeni's book are made with whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, salt, cream cheese and then whatever the flavor components are. Perfect! The book is also just really well put together with lovely photos and cute artwork.

 

The first recipe I made was Pistachio and it is perfect! I used pre-roasted/pre-salted pistachios but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I was so anxious to try it and it did not disappoint. The pistachios make the ice cream a pretty pale green. 

The second recipe I made was the Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk. We've passed prime strawberry season here but I picked up some non-local berries at the grocery store. To achieve the maximum strawberry flavor, you slice the berries, toss them with sugar and lemon juice and roast them for about eight minutes in the oven. After that you puree them in the food processor. Since you only use 1/2 cup of the puree, there's a lot leftover and I'll tell you what I did with the leftovers below.

I love, love, love this flavor. The pistachio is wonderful too but the strawberry is my favorite of the two. However, I managed to get some tiny cornstarch clumps so I guess I didn't get the cornstarch mixture fully incorporated. The flavor of the ice cream wasn't hurt though but I'll be more careful next time.

With the leftover strawberry puree I added a small amount of vanilla bean paste and a small container of vanilla yogurt. After I whisked it all together I poured the mixture into some of my popsicle molds and froze them.They turned out really well, not too sweet and lots of strawberry flavor. These particular molds remind me of a unicorn horn.

I love this book so much and I anticipate making many more of the recipes, mainly the Sweet Corn Black Raspberry!