Ice Cream

“Chubby Hubby ice cream – I can't say no anymore.” - Sidney Biddle Barrows, the erstwhile Mayflower Madam, on the subject of her sole remaining vice.

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 21.

Since Monday is Labor Day, a time when many people are fortunate enough to have off, I figured I'd post something to get everyone into a festive mood. For me, that screams of ice cream, especially since I remember way too many summer holidays making homemade ice cream. Today's offerings include Honey Pistachio Ice Cream (something I'm sure my dad would have loved, given his love of pistachios and homemade ice cream) and Creamy No Churn Raspberry Crumble Ice Cream. Enjoy!

WATERMELON SORBET

This came from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 8 servings.

The recipe began, “This fresh sorbet is the perfect dessert for a tropical meal.”

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 4 cups seeded and pureed watermelon

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon lime zest

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup watermelon puree and sugar to simmer and remove it from heat. Add lime juice and zest and allow mixture to cool for 20 minutes. Add the 4 cups fresh watermelon puree to melon-lime mixture, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

KEY LIME PIE POPS

This was on the TODAY website, and starts off, “Turn your favorite summer pie into an easy creamy lime and graham cracker frozen treat.

"Technique tip: You don't need fancy ice pop molds to make these pops. Try using basic tools you already have in your kitchen, such as small paper cups, a loaf pan, large ice cube trays or even empty yogurt containers.

“Swap option: To give these pops a chocolaty twist, swap 16 chocolate wafer cookies for the graham crackers.”

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

6 graham crackers

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup heavy cream, very cold

Twelve 3-ounce paper cups

12 wooden craft sticks

Preparation

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the graham crackers to form fine crumbs. Add the butter and pulse to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on low speed until smooth. With the mixer running, gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, then the lime zest and juice.

Add the cream, then increase the speed until mixture is thick and soft peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide among the cups (about 5 tablespoons per cup). Top with the graham mixture and lightly press down to flatten.

Transfer the cups to a small, rimmed baking sheet and push a craft stick halfway down into each cup. Freeze until firm, at least 6 hours.

When ready to serve, peel the cups away from the pops.

RED, WHITE & BLUE POPSICLES

This is from Matt Abdoo and was posted on the TODAY Show’s site. Matt wrote, “Who doesn't love a popsicle? Especially when it's homemade with real fruit! They're easy to eat, a fun dessert and can be color customized to suit the summer celebration. Technique tip: Use silicone molds that will release the popsicles easy.

“Swap option: Swap out raspberries for strawberries or use frozen fruit.”

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Cook Time 3 hours; Yield: 6 popsicles

To view this online, go to https://www.today.com/recipes/red-white-blue-popsicles-recipe-t154820.

Ingredients

Red Layer

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries

1 teaspoon cane sugar

White Layer

1 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cane sugar

Blue Layer

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon cane sugar

Preparation

Place the empty popsicle molds in the freezer.

For the red layer:

Puree the strawberries with the sugar in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a container that is easy to pour out of and reserve.

For the white layer:

Whisk together the coconut milk, sugar and vanilla and transfer to a container that is easy to pour out of and reserve.

For the blue layer:

Puree the blueberries with the sugar in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a container that is easy to pour out of and reserve.

To assemble:

Remove the popsicle molds from the freezer and evenly pour the strawberry puree first into the molds. Place the molds in the freezer and allow freezing for one hour or until firm.

Once the strawberry layer has set up, remove the molds from the freezer and evenly pour in the coconut mixture and return the molds to the freezer and allow freezing for 1 hour or until firm.

Finally remove the popsicle molds from the freezer a final time and evenly pour in the final blueberry layer, then insert the popsicle handles and return to the freezer for an additional hour or until the final layer has set. Keep the popsicles in the freezer to fully freeze until ready to serve.

HONEY PISTACHIO ICE CREAM

This comes from Anita Schecter, who writes for The Spruce Eats.

For this recipe, Anita wrote, “As much as I love all desserts, nothing quite makes me swoon as much as the combination of sweet and salty. It's why chocolate covered salty pretzels and I are old friends and caramel sauce only interests me if it's got a good hit of sea salt. Candied or chocolate covered nuts are good but way more awesome if the nuts are salted.

“And so, as fond as I am of pistachios, pistachio ice cream and, basically all things pistachio, store bought pistachio ice cream is usually too sweet and one note for me. I'm missing the balance of the salt.

“Fortunately, I can easily remedy this situation by making my own and by using roasted and salted pistachios. You can make this with sugar only and omit the honey, if you like, but honey vanilla is another favorite flavor of mine so I decided to combine the two.

“When it comes to homemade ice cream, you can use a cooked custard base, which contains eggs. Or you can go for a straight dairy only option which doesn't require cooking. Because I wanted little bits and pieces of pistachios in my finished ice cream, I went with a no-cook method. If I wanted to strain them out, I would have cooked them with the base mix.

“I should also note that the color of pistachios, while definitely green, is nowhere near the deep green shade you find in store bought pistachio or even mint ice cream. You can certainly add some green food color to your ice cream if you really want that bright green shade. But I prefer to keep it all natural so my ice cream is still mostly beige but with green flecks from the bits of pistachios.

“This recipe is easy and simple and results in the perfect hit of sweet, salty and creamy. A perfect treat for a hot summer day. Enjoy!”

Prep Time: 12 minutes; Cook Time: 40 minutes; Freeze: 240 minutes; Total Time: 292 minutes; Yield: 8 (1/2 Cup) Servings

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1 Cup whole milk

2 Cups heavy cream

1/2 Cup honey

1/4 Cup sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla (vanilla paste is best, if you have it)

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup shelled roasted and salted pistachios

Preparation

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, honey, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add the pistachios to a food processor and pulse a few times until the nuts are very broken down but not powder or paste. Add to the bowl.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions for use. Churn for 40 minutes and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

DARK CHOCOLATE SORBET

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 4 servings.

This begins, “Deep, dark chocolate is the perfect finish to any meal. Here, the sumptuousness of a chocolate treat is tempered by the refreshing texture of a light sorbet.”

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup cocoa powder

5 oz finely chopped dark chocolate

In a small saucepan, bring the milk, sugar, and cocoa to a gentle simmer. Whisking the mixture occasionally, allow it to simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Set aside the chocolate milk.

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler and then whisk in the chocolate milk.

Chill the chocolate mixture for at least 1 hour, and then freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

CREAMY NO CHURN RASPBERRY CRUMBLE ICE CREAM

This comes from the wonderful people at Feedfeed, and begins, “Sunshine in Vancouver got me like... let’s make homemade ice cream!!”

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

Brown Sugar Crisp

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp butter, cold

No Churn Ice Cream

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Raspberry Jam, about 2/3 cup

Directions

For the Brown Sugar Crisp: Preheat oven to 350˚F degrees and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add cold butter and work the butter into the dry ingredients with a pasty cutter until the butter is incorporated and you are left with a crumbly mixture. Spread onto prepared baking sheet and place in the oven to bake for about 10-15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and and allow to cool completely. Set aside until ready to use assemble ice cream.

For the No Churn Ice Cream: In a small bowl, whisk together condensed milk, vanilla and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment on high until smooth and creamy and there are no lumps. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the whipping cream in a steady stream. Once all the cream in incorporated, turn the mixer to high and whip until stiff peaks form; about 3-4 minutes.

Add half of the whipped cream cheese mixture to the condensed milk mixture and whisk to combine. Add the condensed milk mixture to your bowl of whipped cream and use a spatula to fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk until smooth and no streaks of whipped cream remain.

Pour 1/2 of the mixture into a 9 or 10 inch cake pan (alternatively you could use a loaf pan). Set the pan and the remaining ice cream mixture in your freezer for 15 minutes to set slightly. Once set remove and begin assembling your ice cream.

Dollop about 1/3 of a cup of your raspberry jam over the ice cream in the pan. Use a spoon to spread it evenly over the top. Sprinkle with 1/2 of your crumble mixture. Dollop the rest of your ice cream mixture on top and use a spoon to smooth. Dollop the remaining jam across the top of the ice cream and use a knife or the back of your spoon to create the pretty swirls. Sprinkle with remaining crisp mixture.

Cover with plastic wrap and set in the freezer for 5-6 hours before serving.