I don't know about you, but my favorite ice cream since childhood has been cookie dough. While normally a cookie dough ice cream will be your basic sweet cream or vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough as the dough, who says that chocolate chip cookie dough has to be the cookie dough of choice? No one! That's just what's expected. So, after making some delicious Oat and Pecan Brittle Cookies recently, I was like wait a minute. This dough is awesome, why not use it as the cookie dough in a homemade ice cream?!
So, here's the truth about this particular cookie dough -- it's very time consuming to make. You've got to make a pecan brittle, and then blitz part of it in with some of the flour, and then also brown some butter. But the result is so good! If you're ever planning on making the cookies, definitely save some of the dough to mix in to a homemade ice cream. You won't regret it. That being said, you can totally swap in any cookie dough here. The ice cream is just a sweet cream base without any special specific flavorings, so it's extremely versatile.
I just used Salt and Straw's Ice Cream Base in this particular combination, mostly because I didn't want to use up a bunch of egg yolks, and their recipe uses xanthan gum to thicken the ice cream and hold it all together instead of said egg yolks. But say you have some cookie dough and you'd rather use a custard-based ice cream as the base. That's totally fine! As I said, this recipe is very versatile, you can swap the ice cream or the dough and you'll probably still end up with a result that you love.
What's nice about this ice cream is that it is a bit lighter, almost like what you'd find in an ice cream sandwich, and it works quite well with the toffee oat cookie dough. Honestly, I could probably eat the whole container in one go, but let's not get crazy here.
Toffee Oat Cookie Dough Ice Cream Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Prep time: Cook time: 25 Total time:
A take on homemade cookie dough ice cream, highly customizable to your own cookie dough preferences.
Combine the sugar, dry milk, and xanthan gum in a small bowl and stir well.
Pour the corn syrup into a medium pot and stir in the whole milk. Add the sugar mixture and immediately whisk vigorously until smooth. Set the pot over medium heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent a simmer, until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.
Add the cream and whisk until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours, or for even better texture and flavor, 24 hours. Stir the base back together if it separates during the resting time. The base can be further stored in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freeze for up to 3 months. (Just be sure to fully thaw the frozen base before using it.)
Once chilled, churn according to your ice cream maker's specifications. Place your storage container in the freezer while the base churns. Break up your cup of cookie dough into pieces about 1/2 inch big. Once the ice cream is ready, transfer the it to your storage container, and gently fold in your prepared cookie dough with a rubber spatula.
Did you know that I love ice cream? So why haven't I made any homemade ice cream on here since, oh, 2013? I'll tell you exactly why - using the Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker Attachment is super annoying when you have what seems to be an extremely tiny freezer. Honestly, the fridge in my apartment is nice and all, but it is constantly running out of space, and that freezer is no exception. And the Kitchenaid attachment is, shall we just say, LARGE. Like, huge. So not only finding the space, but also remembering to put it in there at least 24 hours ahead of time is nigh impossible.
Enter: this Christmas and the gift of a fancy ice cream maker that requires no pre-freezing of a bowl. What's this magic? An ice cream maker made in Italy that has a built-in compressor that allows you to make ice cream pretty much on the fly: the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino. She's a hefty beast that certainly takes up space either on a counter or in a cupboard (lift with those LEGS!), but after making one batch of ice cream so far I can report that it makes the smoothest ice cream I've ever had in a homemade ice cream, and that's even after freezing it fully in the freezer.
Indeed, while in the past the ice creams I have made have tasted better when they first come out of the maker and are more of a soft serve situation, this ice cream was actually better after fully freezing. Part of that has to do with the consistency of the caramel when you put it together, because it gets hard while the ice cream is quickly melting directly out of the maker, so it's an odd combo. But once fully frozen? So much better! This recipe is from the Salt and Straw Ice Cream Cookbook - Salt & Straw holds a place in my heart because it started in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I also have one of their ice cream scoops, so I had to give it the inaugural whirl in the new machine.
Salt & Straw takes a different approach than your typical ice cream. Rather than using eggs and making something of a custard, they use xanthan gum as the binder. It's not as rich as an ice cream with eggs in it (and maybe slightly healthier?), but it's still very creamy. My next recipe will be something a little more typical in its ice cream construction, so it will be interesting to taste the difference. Until then, if you want a little sweet cream/caramel ice cream situation in your life, check out the recipe below...
Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons Ice Cream Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Servings: 2 Pints
A slightly salty, sweet cream ice cream with a swirl of deeply flavored caramel ribbons.
Ingredients:
Ice Cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel
Caramel
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into several pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions:
Combine the sugar, dry milk, and xanthan gum in a small bowl and stir well.
Pour the corn syrup into a medium pot and stir in the whole milk. Add the sugar mixture and immediately whisk vigorously until smooth. Set the pot over medium heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent a simmer, until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove the pot from heat.
Add the cream and whisk until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours, or up to 24 hours for deeper flavor. Stir the base back together if it separates during the resting time.
Meanwhile, make the caramel. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan, and stir until all of the sugar looks wet. Cover, set the pan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely melted, about 3 minutes.
Continue to cook, covered but this time without stirring, until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking, without stirring but paying close attention, until the mixture turns the color of dark maple syrup, about 5 minutes more.
Take the pan off the heat and immediately and gradually pour in the heavy cream, going slowly at first and then speeding up to a nice steady stream, whisking as you pour.
Put the pan over medium-high heat again. Let the mixture simmer away, stirring occasionally, until it register 230F on an instant read or candy thermometer, about 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and add the butter and salt, stirring slowly but constantly until the butter has completely melted.
Let the caramel cool to room temperature, then use it right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two weeks. If it separates, just give it a stir before use. You're only using 1/2 cup in the ice cream, so you'll definitely have some left over.
Once your base has cooled and you're about ready, combine 1/4 cup water and the fleur de sel salt in a small saucepan, set it over medium heat, and cook, stirring, just until the salt has completely dissolved, less than 1 minute. Let it cool to room temperature.
Put the ice cream base and the salt mixture into a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and turn on the machine. Churn until the mixture has the texture of soft-serve. Time will vary depending on the machine, anywhere from 20-30 minutes.
Put the caramel in a warm place or warm it in a small saucepan over very low heat just until it's drizzleable, but not so warm that it'll melt the ice cream.
Quickly alternate spooning layers of the ice cream and drizzling on a generous spiral of caramel in freezer-friendly containers.
Cover with parchment paper, pressing it into the surface of the ice cream so it adheres, then cover with a lid (you should make your final layer ice cream as the caramel will stick to the parchment paper). Your parchment can hang over the rim, that's fine. Store it in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours. It will keep for up to 3 months.
I may be having a slow baking season this summer. One, summer is hot and turning on the oven no matter the time of day heats up the entire apartment. Not the greatest. And two, the bf and I have been on something of a health kick. We even joined a gym! I can tell you I haven't worked out some of these muscles in years, and the burn the day after some of these workouts is pretty harsh.
But what it also means is that we've been trying to eat healthier. So, less cookies. Less bars. Less everything sugary and fatty and delicious, basically. Which brings me to this "ice cream." Because it's not really ice cream. There is no cream present at all. In fact, this is perhaps the easiest dessert you can make - ever.
Now, if you don't like bananas, this probably isn't for you. But if you want a light dessert that tastes like banana ice cream, then heck, get on it. I was actually quite amazed at how ice cream-like this is. All you do is cut up a banana, freeze it, then put the frozen pieces in a food processor and wham-o! Grind that up and up until it comes together into what basically resembles ice cream. I mean, can you tell from the pictures that there isn't any actual cream in it?!
It's sweet and creamy all on its own, and if you buy a bunch of bananas and can't eat them all before they go bad, then here is a great summer solution. Next time, I'm going to add in some peanut butter for some peanut butter banana ice creamy goodness. I think there are quite a few different possibilities here - add in chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips, for example. Basically whatever you can think of that sounds good with banana ice cream!
Banana “Ice Cream” Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Servings: 1 cup Prep time: Cook time: Total time:
The easiest “ice cream” you’ll ever make.
Ingredients:
1 or more bananas
Instructions:
Cut up and freeze banana(s).
Once frozen, place slices in a food processor and process until smooth like ice cream.
You know sometimes all you really want is to make something that will not dirty up a bunch of pots, pans, bowls, etc. And sometimes that desire can combine with something that is an entirely awesome idea. You know how you can get a pizookie type thing at some restaurants? Basically it's just a giant cookie baked in a mini skillet. Now, sure, you can buy some mini skillets if you want and go that route, but why not just go full speed and make it in your full size cast iron skillet? I mean, come on.
I don't know many people who would deny eating some warm chocolate chip cookie goodness with some nice melting ice cream on top. If you are one such person, I really question why you're here reading this blog post in the first place. Perhaps you are lying to yourself that you don't like ooey gooey goodness. Is that some drool hanging off your lip? Yeah, I thought so.
This is so easy to make, you guys, and an instant gratification deal. It comes out of the oven, and you really only have to wait a few minutes for it to cool down just a bit so it won't burn the roof of your mouth. So if you are just dying for some chocolate chip cookie goodness, but want it nice and warm and with some ice cream on top and none of that scooping out onto a cookie sheet stuff, try this! I don't think you will regret it one bit.
Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Servings: 1 Skillet Cookie Prep time: Cook time: Total time:
A giant cookie made in a cast iron skillet - best eaten warm with melting ice cream on top.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt butter over medium-low heat in your 8 inch cast iron skillet. Stir in the sugars and vanilla and remove from heat. Let it cool for about 5 minutes until the pan is warm but not hot.
Add in your egg and mix with a fork until well mixed. Dump your flour, salt and baking soda in and mix that in carefully with a wooden spoon until it is just incorporated. Then, stir in your chocolate chips or chunks.
Stick that in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or perhaps longer depending on the consistency you like. This is more about personal preference here as some like it a bit more underdone. In any case, the edges should be a bit golden brown with the center still soft. Serve it on up with some vanilla ice cream (because why not?).
Melt your stick of butter in your skillet on medium-low.
Once melted, stir in your vanilla and sugars.
Take it off the heat and let it cool down for five minutes, then mix in your egg thoroughly.
Then dump in your dry ingredients - flour, salt and baking soda - and mix carefully until just combined.
It will turn into that!
Then add in your chocolate chips and make sure it is fairly evenly distributed in the skillet.
Bake at 350F for 15-20ish minutes until the edges are golden, but the middle still a bit undercooked. This is all a personal preference area at this point, whether you like it undercooked or you want the edges a bit harder.
Scoop some ice cream on there and dig on in while it's still warm!
Recently, I tried to make a peanut butter pie that was more of a pastry cream filling, you know, without cool whip. Alas, it didn't set up in the fridge. But lo, when I put it in the freezer? What do you know - I actually made peanut butter ice cream pie! Yes, mistakes can sometimes turn into wins! I was actually quite sad at first that it did not set up. And if you would prefer a pie that is less ice cream and more pastry cream, you just need to cook your mixture on the stove a bit longer until it really starts to thicken up. But if you're as big of an ice cream fan as I am, that won't be an issue.
You can totally just eat this pie without any topping, but I had also made some marshmallow fluff/creme and figured it might just be a great idea to put some on top, for a bit of fluffernutter action. Because peanut butter and marshmallow go together extremely well. But, of course, you already knew that. I mean, just look at that. Can you resist that combination of peanut butter, ice cream, graham cracker and marshmallow? I think not.
This pie is sweet without being cloying, and the fact that it's frozen into ice cream actually makes that happen. In case you didn't know, sweetness is harder to taste when things are super cold, so that's why ice creams are always so full of sugar - so that you can taste it! Perhaps this pie would've even been too sweet if it set up like it was supposed to? Regardless, it's quite delicious as an ice cream pie! Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Servings: 8 pieces Prep time: Cook time: Total time:
Not overly sweet, this peanut butter ice cream pie will satisfy both peanut butter and ice cream lovers.
If you want the marshmallow fluff topping, make that first. You can make it ahead of time and stick it in the fridge until you want to use it. Directions are here.
Now, make your crust. Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine your graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. If you end up using something like the Trader Joe's graham crackers, which already have cinnamon and sugar in them, don't add the extra sugar, you don't need it. Anyway, pour your crumb mix into your pie pan and press firmly with your hands, making sure to press all the way up the sides. Using a measuring cup, press the bottom firmly. Then, bake for 15-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. This will take at least an hour, so plan accordingly.
Next up, the peanut butter ice cream filling. In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup cream or milk, and cornstarch. Set aside. Pour your remaining milk/cream and add in the sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it just starts to bubble.
Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks into the milk and cornstarch mixture until well combined. Carefully add in about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture to the eggs while you are whisking, to temper the eggs. Once it's warmed up, pour that egg mixture into the hot milk in the saucepan. Over medium-low heat, whisk constantly until it just starts to thicken, coating the back of your spoon, about five minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter and vanilla until all combined.
Pour the peanut butter filling into your pie crust, cover with saran wrap, and stick that in the freezer for eight hours or overnight, until it has firmed up. If you are so inclined, before you cut it up, spread some of your marshmallow creme over the top to make it a fluffernutter ice cream pie.
If you are only going to eat a few pieces, I would recommend just spreading the creme onto the individual pieces as I'm not sure how it would freeze on the top. Because yes, you definitely need to keep whatever leftover pie there is in the freezer. Since it's ice cream pie and all!
In Photos:
Mix together your graham crumbs, sugar and butter. (If your grahams already have sugar or cinnamon in them, just add in the butter.)
Press those crumbs into your pie pan. This is a 10-inch pie pan and it was the perfect size. Bake at 350F for 15-25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool COMPLETELY before you do the rest. It will probably take about an hour.
Whisk together 1/2 cup milk/cream and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Set aside for now.
In a medium saucepan, cook on medium high the remaining milk and your sugar until it just starts to bubble.
Whisk in your eggs and egg yolks into your milk/cornstarch mixture until well combined.
You take a bit of the milk mixture and add it into the egg stuff and whisk, whisk, whisk. This is tempering the eggs so they don't just cook. Then, add that egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium low until it just starts to thicken, coating the back of your spoon/spatula. This will take probably about five minutes.
Take that off the heat and add in the peanut butter.
Pour into the prepared pie pan, cover with saran wrap, and stick that in the freezer for 8 hours or overnight.
Once it's frozen, you can cut 'er up and chow down. Or, if you're feeling so inclined, spread on your marshmallow cream.
Growing up in Portland, sometimes we would head over to this one restaurant that was famous for its strawberry shortcake. The restaurant in question is called Tebo's, and it's kind of almost an assembly line situation. You go in, wait in line and order things as you move down a sort of buffet, with little plastic tags informing those doing the cooking on the other side of the barrier what you're waiting for. Anyway, I have fond memories of ole Tebo's, and they are due in no small part to the strawberry shortcake.
This homemade version is more like biscuits with strawberries and whipped cream. Yep, it's a drop biscuit recipe! And you know what? It works just as well as regular shortcake. For reals, try it and just see. I don't think you'll be missing anything. Though I'm not sure Tebo's would agree!
It's funny, though, because I forget how great strawberry shortcake is until I have it again, and then it's like whoa, I have been missing out! There's not much better than fresh strawberries tossed in a bit of sugar with some warm biscuit and whipped cream. Or even some vanilla ice cream. I've been having the ice cream variety the last couple of times, and it's pretty damn good as well. Whatever your heart desires, you can't really go wrong. Unless you're like my stepdad and are just not a fan of whipped cream in general, then I suppose you're going to go for the ice cream straight off the bat.
Go forth and eat this deliciousness! For reals.
Strawberry Shortcake Author: Jen @ Fresh From The… Servings: 1 Dozen Prep time: Cook time: Total time:
Strawberry shortcake using biscuits instead of the traditional shortcake. Yum!
Ingredients:
For the Biscuits:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 Tablespoons melted butter, for brushing biscuits
For the Strawberries:
16 ounces strawberries, washed and sliced
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
For the Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 475°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and buttermilk and stir until the butter forms small clumps.
Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. With a greased 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop level amounts of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. The biscuits should be about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the top are golden brown, 12-14 minutes.
While the biscuits are in the oven, prepare your strawberries. Mix the sliced strawberries with the sugar and set aside. Also stick your mixing bowl and whisk attachment you will be using for the whipped cream at this point.
Once the biscuits are golden brown, remove from the oven and brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 2 Tbsp melted butter, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
For the whipped cream, assemble your bowl and whisk attachment, then mix together the cream and sugar on medium-high until it reaches stiff peaks.
Stick down a biscuit, top with whipped cream and strawberries, and go to town! You can also, of course, substitute in vanilla ice cream for the whipped cream, or heck, if you're feeling really adventurous, do both!
In Photos:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.
In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter and buttermilk until the butter forms small clumps.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Don't overmix.
Using a greased 1/4 cup measure, scoop out level biscuits onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Stick those in the oven for 12-14 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
Stick your mixing bowl for the whipped cream in the freezer at this point, and also get to work on your strawberries. Mix the sliced strawberries with 2 Tbsp granulated sugar.
The biscuits are ready!
Brush the tops with the extra 2 Tbsp melted butter, and set on a wire rack to cool.
Now it's time to make your whipped cream. Beat with your whisk attachment the heavy cream and sugar until it forms stiff peaks. It can be used right away or you can stick it back in the fridge and give it a quick whip when you're ready to use it.
