benny – Page 14

June 13, 2013

Spicy Jerk w/ Dark Rum Caramel

This flavor falls in line with the Caribbean influence we’ve had over the last couple of months, as well as with some of the spiced ice creams we’ve been experimenting with, such as Baharat. The idea hit a few weeks back when I was preparing a Jerk paste to be used for some grilled chicken. With sweet spices like Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice, and a good amount of brown sugar making up the majority of the Jerk seasonings, I couldn’t help but begin to think of ice cream. Add in a dark rum caramel to round out those Jamaican flavors, and you have a winner.

For this flavor, some of the savory elements of traditional Jerk seasonings have been left out, primarily the onion and garlic. The primary components of this flavor are those aforementioned sweet spices, as well as thyme and a habanero pepper to provide the heat that “Jerk” is known for. Since the spices are almost identical to what many identify as the “pumpkin pie” flavors, the pepper and herb are essential to keeping a dividing line between the Thanksgiving dessert and the Caribbean spice.

Since Brown sugar is often used when making Jerk seasoning, I went with our brown sugar base for the foundation of the ice cream.

The spices, and the sole habanero are blended into the brown sugar base to steep while it is cooked.

The caramel begins with brown sugar, and is combined with molasses. Rum is often made from molasses, and since rum burns off with the heat from the cooking process, we use molasses in its place. A bit of real rum is added to the caramel after it cools, so as to not lose the alcohol to evaporation from heat.

Once we’ve spun the Jerk ice cream base, we layer the dark rum caramel in as we pack the pints.

The resulting ice cream is a rich, spicy brown sugar Jerk ice cream with rivers of dark rum caramel.

Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 6/14/13 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

May 30, 2013January 29, 2024

Lilac

Easily my favorite flower, Lilacs mark the beginning of spring, or in the case of this year – summer. Once they are in bloom their smell is unmistakeable. In my opinion, it’s the best time of the year for many reasons, and lilacs are a pretty awesome part of it.

We’ve toyed with exploring floral flavors before, such as with our valentines day inspired flavor earlier this year – Rose with Cinnamon Honey. The idea of lilac ice cream has been percolating since last spring, but since their blooming season is so short we didn’t have enough time to get it done. With a whole year to prepare, (and big thanks to Erik’s neighbor for letting us steal from her tree) it was time to make it happen.

The first step to making this ice cream is to pick the little flowers from the lilac branch and make sure that there is no green stem left. Any green part at all adds a bitterness to the cream and taints the lilac flavor. Its a very laborious process because so many tiny flower buds have to be plucked perfectly to provide enough of the lilac flavor – but with some patience, and a good cup of coffee, its cathartic.

The cream base is made using our standard recipe with organic cane sugar. I toyed with the idea of using coconut milk or adding chevre, but in the end kept it clean to maximize the flavor of the lilac. The lilac flowers are steeped in the base to suck out every ounce of flavor we can get. After the steep, the flowers are strained out right before the churning process begins.

Finally, Lilac ice cream. It’s a light, delicately floral bite that tastes ever so subtly like that wonderful lilac fragrance, without being overpowering.
Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 5/31/13 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

May 16, 2013

Fenugreek Praline Pecan

The first time I considered Fenugreek as an ice cream flavor was after trying some gouda cheese with fenugreek seeds in it; amazed at the sweetness and maple like flavor the fenugreek added. After some deliberation, and some more research, I discovered that fenugreek is one of the main flavor components of fake maple syrup. My curiosity was piqued, and I was sold. To round the flavor out, I chose to add caramel coated pecans to the mix and make it our own spiced up version of praline pecan.

First the pecans..

To make praline pecans we first roast and salt whole pecans and smash them into smaller, more bite friendly sized pieces.

Then we make a simple caramel that is boiled to a “hard crack”, so it doesn’t pull your fillings out when you bite into it, but instead as a crunch. The pecans are added in at the very end and then cooled to keep the caramel coating.

After the pecans are cooled they are broken out of their caramel sheath and end up with a perfect caramel praline coat.

For the ice cream, we steep the Fenugreek seeds in our organic cane sugar base and strain them out before the churn.

What we get is a spiced maple kissed ice cream studded with crunchy praline pecans.
Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 5/17/13 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

May 2, 2013

Aged Gouda + Honey

Our love for cheese just about eclipses our love for ice cream and that’s been no secret over the years. One cheese at the top of my list for use in an ice cream flavor is the incredible aged gouda “Jeff’s Select”. The cheese is the product of a partnership between Jeff Wideman, master cheesemaker from Maple Leaf Cheese in Wisconsin, and Jeff Jirik, founder of Fairbault Dairy in Minnesota. What could be more perfect than a cheese that geographically represents our former and home state? The gouda is warm aged for 9 months in the sandstone caves of Fairbault.

The result is an aged gouda with an incredible nutty flavor to it, without being overly salty. So good we chose it to be the main flavor component of the ice cream.

The cheese was finely shredded to allow it to evenly melt into the cream base during the cooking process. For a harder cheese, it melted wonderfully and incorporated into the cream base without issue.

I wanted to pair the cheese with something, and considered a lot of fruit options. However Ames Farm honey from Watertown, MN was the hands down winner.

Ames Farm honey is something for Minnesota residents to be proud of, and been a staple in our kitchen for years. For this flavor we swirled it in as the aged gouda ice cream was packed into pints.

What we ended up with is a magical pair. The nuttiness of the aged gouda translates perfectly in the ice cream, and its subtle salty undertones are nothing less than harmonious with the ribbons of honey.

Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 5/3 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

April 18, 2013

Coconut Hibiscus and Lime

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a dinner at a local mexican restaurant when I noticed a hibiscus drink on the menu. I had been kicking around the idea of making a hibiscus ice cream for awhile and this cool, sweet hibiscus tea got my gears turning. After some more research, I discovered this dark red tea is an international favorite, loved in the Phillipines, Middle East and South America. Different cultures have slightly different ways of making it, but all utilize the Hibiscus flower as the main flavor component. However, with the Jamaican kick I’ve been on, my path was already chosen. It turns out Hibiscus tea is so popular in Jamaica that it is actually ordered simply as a Jamaica in some areas of the U.S.

For this flavor, I went back to our vegan friendly/dairy free coconut base. The coconut cream was a perfect backdrop for a Jamaican inspired flavor.

As is often done when this drink is served in Jamaica, i added lime zest to give it a citrus-y kick.

These gorgeous Hibiscus flowers are packed with Vitamin C and are steeped in our coconut cream base to extract all of their bright floral flavors.

The Hibiscus petals dye the ice cream a pretty pink.

The result is a rich, coconut based ice cream, laced with a tangy, floral hibiscus with a zippy finish of lime. Vegan friendly and dairy free.

Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 4/19 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!