Ice Cream Production – Page 3

May 18, 2011

Brown Butter Popcorn

Around a year ago, I found myself snooping around the kitchen on a Friday night looking for ingredients I had on hand to mix up a new flavor. Often times, trying to find creativity with a multitude of options at the grocery store can be self defeating, and I’ll end up defaulting to something I know rather than coming up with a new idea. Since the stores were already closed anyway, I opted to force myself to create with what I had at my disposal. Using this method can definitely up the “weirdness ratio” as far as flavors of ice cream are concerned, but every once in awhile we hit on something.

In this instance, the decision ended up being Popcorn. We’ve had success with both roasted and fresh sweet corn ice cream late in the summer, and our cornbread ice cream has always been well received, so why not try another variety?

I popped a fresh batch on the range, pureed it (pureed popcorn is interesting on its own – a substance that kind of resembled Styrofoam) and went about figuring out how to make the ice cream taste like popcorn without having to navigate the chewy kernels.

While Caramel corn was a tempting idea, and one that we’ll probably pursue in the future, we chose to go with a straight up popcorn flavor. However, as a twist we decided to add some brown butter to the base to bring out a little more of the nutty/buttery flavor popcorn gets from popping in a pan. Oh..and maybe add a little extra fat.

We ended up with a near perfect match. As we do every week, we’re giving away a pint of this weeks flavor, so be the first to comment here or on our Facebook page and you can judge for yourself.

May 3, 2011

Gingerbread

This seemingly endless winter got me thinking of the gingerbread my mom used to make when I was a kid. We always used to eat it warm with a big scoop of homemade whipped cream on top. It was hard to beat the comfort of the warm gingerbread melding with the cream. We didn’t have it that often as kids, but it has always been one of my sleeper favorites. Finding a way to make this an ice cream has been on my mind the last few weeks, and seemed like a natural combination. Thankfully my mom happily turned over the Gingerbread recipe and we were on our way.

Within a couple hours, I had a piping hot loaf of gingerbread, just like moms used to make.

These babies needed to be substantial in the mix, so it seemed right to cube them and bake them off a bit more to make sure they retain their flavor but didn’t get soggy in the batter.

Crunchy, chewy gingerbread croutons, ready to do their thing…all of those little crumbs, collateral damage from being tossed on the pan, baked much quicker and became more carmalized in the process. That flavor couldn’t go to waste and added a nice subtle, dimension to the overall flavor of the final product.

Left the cream base unflavored (other than sugar) to duplicate the clean taste of whipped cream.

Gave those little gingerbread croutons a spin in the batter..

Froz.

It turned out exactly as we were hoping. Leaving vanilla or any other flavors out of the base gave the ice cream the pure cream taste we were looking for, and let the plentiful, crunchy chunks of gingerbread do all of the work. Seems like it would make a great Christmas time scoop, but equally appropriate for right now as far as I’m concerned.

May 2, 2011

Rhubarb Crisp

May in Minnesota can often not bring in Spring quick enough, but there are always the beginnings of great things to come, such as rhubarb. I have a rhubarb plant that was given to me from my father-in-law, which was split from a plant on his fathers farm.

Heirloom rhubarb? One thing I do know is that it makes a great rhubarb crisp. When the rhubarb is young and tender, this ice cream is a Spring craving.

After this crisp comes out of the oven, we allow it to cool. We cut a few pieces and freeze before chopping and adding to our frozen ice cream base.

The tartness of the rhubarb and the crunch of the tart made for a nice little seasonal combination.

Remember, we’re giving away a pint of our weekly flavor. Be the first to ask us for it here, or on our Facebook page and its all yours. We’ll also happily ship it to you, we just ask you pay for the shipping costs.

April 27, 2011

Rosemary Lemon Bar

This batch of ice cream is a staple in my freezer. My mother makes killer lemon bars — which originally inspired plain lemon bar ice cream. I say plain, but you haven’t tasted these lemon bars. After mulling it over for awhile, I decided to infuse the cream base with rosemary to make the combination a little more interesting. It turned out to be a good idea.

I happen to have a rosemary plant growing on my desk, and I always use herbs cut fresh from the plant whenever possible.

We use about a six inch sprig of rosemary, and drop it in a sauce pan with the ice cream base. Bring the base to boil, remove from the heat, and steep until cool. Remove the rosemary (please) and freeze the base in the magic maker.

Yeeaaahhh! We add the lemon bars in the end. The only way you can sink your teeth into lemon bars this chewy, buttery, and delicious is to eat FrozBroz ice cream.

This FrozBroz ice cream.