Birthday Cake Ice Cream

One year ago, I got the crazy idea to start a food blog. So, what better to celebrate a Blog Birthday than with Birthday Cake Ice Cream?!

Had the anniversary come in the fall or winter, I would have made a cake. However, the heat index has been holding steady at 105 or higher (today it's 110), I avoid turning on the oven at all costs.

Ok, so I really just wanted an excuse to make ice cream. Can you blame me??

Thank you for sticking with me this past year! In honor of the anniversary, I'm going to have my very first giveaway! In order to enter, all you have to is comment and answer:

What should I make in the next year?

In can be anything, anything at all. Please no brussel sprouts though. I'm not ready for that! :)

Entries must be in by 10:00pm Central Time on July 18, 2010. I'll choose a winner at random. So what will you win? My very favorite Ice Cream Cookbook:


David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, as well as a $30 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com for you to spend on whatever your heart desires!

So be sure to comment and tell all your friends!

One Year Ago: Where it all began...

Birthday Cake Ice Cream

Source: One Ordinary Day

1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup yellow cake mix
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, sugar, and cake mix. Whisk to remove lumps. Stir constantly until mixture starts to bubble. Remove from heat and place directly into a water bath or into the refrigerator. Chill completely.

When thoroughly chilled, stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Pour into ice cream maker and mix according to manufacturer’s directions. Add sprinkles during the last 5 minutes. Remove ice cream and transfer to a freezer-safe container.

Printable Version

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

When I made the Apple Pie Ice Cream, Brian's gears started turning. He tasted it and said "You know what you should make? Banana pudding ice cream!"

Banana's are on my list of "Don't want to try, don't like them, never have, never will like them" list. The only things that are banana flavored that I will eat are Laffy Taffy's and the banana Runts. That's the extent of my banana consumption and I don't plan on changing that any time soon. Potassium intake be damned.

So, I had Brian design up the ice cream. He wanted the Cinnamon Ice Cream base that I used with the Apple Pie Ice Cream and then add in some bananas and Nilla wafers.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Source: David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Caramelized Bananas

2 bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up bananas and place into a large bowl. Toss with the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Place in a 8x8 baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

For the Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Puree the bananas and their syrup in a food processor. Once your cinnamon ice cream is ready to be chilled in the refrigerator, whisk in the pureed bananas. Chill in the fridge until thoroughly cooled. Freeze in your ice cream maker per your manufacturer's instructions. In the last few minutes of churning, add in some crushed Nilla wafer cookies.

Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

Hi, my name is Page and I have an addiction to my ice cream maker.

Whew, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. My waistline, however, does not feel better about the added poundage as a result from the ice cream maker addiction. So Giada came to my rescue Saturday morning on Giada at Home.

She made this wonderful looking sorbet and I had to have it. Plus it's all fruit juice with some sugar and chocolate chips...it's healthy!!! My waistline thanked me for sticking to something without heavy cream.

The only thing I would change about Giada's recipe would be the addition to a couple tablespoons of vodka. The sorbet has turned into a big brick in my freezer, so I think the added vodka would help it stay scoopable.

Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

Source: Giada

1 cup Mint Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 cups 100 percent pomegranate juice (recommended: Pom Wonderful)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions
Special equipment: an ice cream maker

In a glass pitcher, combine the Mint Simple Syrup, pomegranate juice, and orange juice. Pour the pomegranate mixture in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. During the last 10 minutes of freezing time, add the mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the sorbet into dessert bowls and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 packed cup packed fresh mint leaves
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and mint leaves over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool for 20 minutes. Strain before using.

Yield: 1 cup

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Ok, so it looks more like Apple Pie Ice Cream soup. I promise, it's ice cream and it still tastes very yummy. I'm just impatient and didn't let it sit long enough in the freezer.

What says summer more than apple pie and ice cream? How about the two mixed together? July is National Ice Cream month, so to celebrate the last day of July (where is this year going, by the way?) and to participate in Bake at 350's Flavor of the Month, I give you Apple Pie Ice Cream.

It's Cinnamon Ice Cream with graham cracker crumbs and caramelized apples mixed into it. Yummy yum yum. It's like summer in a bowl.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Source: David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Caramelized Apples
3 Fuji apples, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of salt

In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the apples, cinnamon and salt. Caramelize until apples are deep brown and soft. Cool in refrigerator before stirring into ice cream.

For the Apple Pie Ice Cream
Place 6 graham crackers in a large Ziploc bag. Break up the graham crackers with a mallet, rolling pin, or heavy skillet. Within the last few minutes of the ice cream churning, pour in the graham cracker crumbs. When ice cream is finished, fold in the caramelized apples.

Check out the other entries into the Flavor of the Month:

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Along with my addiction to pasta, I've come to obtain a new addiction to my ice cream maker. If you looked in my freezer at any given time, you'd see about three or four half eaten containers of homemade ice cream. I love ice cream. Love it.

Brian's two favorite ice cream flavors are Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream. When I got my ice cream maker, Brian asked me to make Cookie Dough Ice Cream, which I finally did but didn't take pictures of it and have now eaten all of it. Oops. However, I did make Cookies and Cream this weekend. I have been eyeing the Limited Edition Strawberry Milkshake oreos in the grocery store and figured they'd be a good twist to regular Cookies and Cream Ice Cream.

For the base, I used Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. It's seriously the best Vanilla I've ever tasted. It does not even compare to what you can buy in the store. Thank you David Lebovitz. I always use the cream and milk version of the recipe, and it's so creamy and so vanilla-y. It's just perfect. I could go on, but I won't. Just make it and see for yourself. Trust me. Also, if you have an ice cream maker, I highly recommend buying David Lebovitz's cookbook. He has such fabulous recipes and he hasn't let me down yet.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Source: Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
3 cups heavy cream, or 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Pour one cup of the cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and add remaining two cups cream (or one cup cream and one cup whole milk) and add the vanilla. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, and then freeze the mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about one quart.

To Make Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
While ice cream mixture is churning in the machine, place about ten oreos in a Ziploc bag. Break up cookies in the bag. When mixture is finished churning, stir broken cookies into the ice cream.