Tiramisu Ice Cream

Tiramisu is a dessert I never tire of in any form (tiramisu brownie anyone?). I experimented with a tiramisu ice cream during the summer and it was really tasty. But just because the weather is starting to cool down doesn't mean I have to stop making ice cream. I'm with Brilynn on this one; I'll be making ice cream through the winter, clutching the spoon with my fingers poking out of convertible mitten gloves, and trying not to dribble any on my Slanket. Plus, I still need to try David's tiramisu ice cream recipe because my goodness the mocha ripple swirl-in sounds fantastic.

I prefer marsala in my tiramisu but you can also substitute rum or kahlua, since those liquors are stronger, you can use half as much... if you want *wink* (ice cream can be a pick-me-up too). I think that doubling the mascarpone and using the whole 8 oz. tub would make it even tastier. The alcohol and extra fat will keep the ice cream soft and creamy in the freezer.

Tiramisu Ice Cream
1 C milk
2 egg yolks
1/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
1/2 C heavy or whipping cream
1/4 C marsala
4 oz. mascarpone

Stracciatella, mix in
About 1 to 2 oz. dark chocolate, melted

Heat the milk in a saucepan to almost a boil. Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick, pale yellow, and ribbony.

Anchor the bowl by wrapping a damp towel around the base. With one hand ladle scoops of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks while constantly whisking. Continue to temper the egg yolks with all of the milk. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat. Continually stir and scrape the bottom with a spatula and cook until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula. Draw a line with your finger down the spatula, if the edges stay clean and do not run then the mixture has throughly thickened.

Off heat, whisk in the espresso powder and cream. In another bowl, mix the mascarpone and marsala until combined and smooth. Whisk in the custard mixture. Chill throrougly in the fridge. Then freeze in your ice cream maker according to machine instructions.

In the last few minutes of churning, melt your chocolate. Then in the last minute of churning, pour a thin stream of the chocolate into the ice cream. As it churns, the chocolate will harden instantly and become shardlike pieces in the ice cream. If your machine does not have a hole to pour in the chocolate, fold in the chocolate with a spatula after churning.

Green Tea Ice Cream

Ever since I bought my ice cream maker back in February, I have a mile long list of ice cream flavors I want to make this summer. Now that I finally got a copy of "The Perfect Scoop" that list has tripled, maybe quadrupled. I'm jumping on the bandwagon a little late here but man that book is a-ma-zing! When Meeta announced the theme for this months Monthly Mingle, I had a hard time deciding which ice cream flavor to make. I finally settled on green tea ice cream (and whatdoya know David has a recipe for it!) with the intention of wrapping them in mochi, ala Mikawaya. Unfortunately, the mochi making turned out to be a disaster. It stuck everywhere and to everything. I could not get it off my hands let alone wrap it around ice cream. They weren't kidding when they said that stuff is sticky. (I read that not even the Heimlich can dislodge it!) Thankfully the ice cream was delicious so I didn't dwell long on the failed mochi.




Notes:
- I changed the milk/cream ratio because I didn't have enough cream and I felt almost guilty using as much as the recipe suggested, though I'm sure it would have made the ice cream even more delicious! I stuck with the recommended number of egg yolks, though I only had extra large eggs so the end result was a tad eggy, but again it was really delicious so no complaints.
- I also divided the recipe in half
- And since my matcha was ancient, I had to increase the amount from the recipe's 2 tsp and regrettably I didn't achieve the brilliant green of the photographed ice cream in the book.

Green Tea Ice Cream
Adapted from David Lebovitz "The Perfect Scoop"

3/4 C milk
3/4 C heavy cream
3 egg yolks
6 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp matcha powder
1/8 tsp salt

Heat the milk and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until it is hot but not boiling. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it's pale yellow and ribbony.

Anchor your mixing bowl by placing a damp kitchen towel around the base of the bowl. Slowly drizzle in the hot milk into the egg yolks while whisking continuously.

Return the custard mixture into the saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir continuously with a heatproof spatula while making sure to scrape the bottom. Cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula and a line drawn across the back of the mixture on the spatula stays clear. If the line blurs then continue to cook it a little longer. Don't boil the custard.

Add the matcha powder to the heavy cream then slowly whisk into the custard. Whisk the mixture until all the matcha powder has dissolved.

Chill in the fridge for a few hours. Then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the instructions.

Coffee Ice Cream

Sometimes when I'm on the bus commuting to and from work, I like to think about flavor combinations (white chocolate with green tea, almond extract with lychee). Sort of like matching colors or clothes, but instead debating whether certain flavors compliment each other. I spent some time thinking about which ice cream flavor would be best for the Nutella brownie ice cream sandwich. In the end I chose coffee because the chocolate and hazelnut flavors combined with coffee reminded me of a hazelnut mocha.

Most of the coffee ice cream recipes I found called for instant espresso powder so I went out and bought some (I read that Medaglia D’Oro is a good brand). Since I had never made homemade ice cream before, I researched how to make the ice cream base. Some recipes were simply shocking - one called for an alarming 9 yolks! Most recipes used either a 2:1 (resulting ice cream of around 15% milk fat) or 1:1 (20% milk fat) ratio of whole milk to heavy cream and a ratio of 2:1 yolk to liquid. This got me thinking, was it possible to make homemade ice cream taste rich and creamy but use less cream and less yolks? In this recipe, I used only 2 yolks (since I had used 2 whites the day before) and 2 cups half and half, which is a combination of milk and cream that is around 11% milk fat.

I think I skimped too much on the milk fat and yolks in this recipe. The custard did not thicken either because I did not heat it up sufficiently since I didn’t have a thermometer I was afraid of overcooking the custard or because the yolk content is too low. Overall the conclusion from this first experiment is that the ice cream was okay but not perfect. The consistency was not icy but it wasn’t creamy either (unfortunately the photo makes the ice cream look really icy for some reason). Half and half and 2 yolks just isn’t enough for the rich and smooth mouth feel of really excellent ice cream. Next time, I’ll have to use more egg yolks and more cream.

Coffee Ice Cream
2 C half and half
2 egg yolks
1/2 C sugar (it was a little too sweet for me so next time I will use 6 Tbsp instead)
2 tbsp instant espresso powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
Optional: 1/4 C chocolate covered coffee beans, chopped.

Whisk yolks with sugar until the mixture is thick and pale yellow, about 2 to 3 minutes. It should fall from the whisk in ribbons.

In a saucepan heat 1 cup of half and half until 180º (I didn't have a thermometer so I just winged it). While whisking the yolks, slowly drizzle 1/4 cup of the hot half and half into the egg mixture, repeat with another 1/4 cup until the whole cup of the half and half has been added. This tempers the egg yolks and brings them up to a warm temperature without scrambling them. A neat trick is to wrap a damp kitchen towel around the base of your mixing bowl. This prevents the bowl from slipping around on the counter and frees your hand from holding the bowl to both drizzle and whisk.

Whisk in the espresso powder and salt to the custard mixture.

Add the custard mixture back to the saucepan over medium low heat and heat it up to 180º. The custard is supposed to thicken but mine didn’t. To test if it is thickened enough, dip a spoon in the custard and run your finger along the back of it, if the edges remain clean then it's done, if the edges run and blurs then it's not thick enough.

Chill the custard in the fridge for a few hours until cold. After the custard is chilled, whisk in the vanilla extract and the remaining cup of half and half. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. A few minutes before the ice cream is done add the chopped chocolate covered coffee beans if using.

Links:
Elise has a great coffee ice cream recipe that uses whole beans (can be made with decaf beans). I’ll have to try making coffee ice cream this way next time.