A while back, I got an ice cream maker and I've been slowly trying out some recipes.
Vanilla - two thumbs up
Guiness Stout - thumbs down, bad recipe
Lime and Mint sorbet - okay (much better with rum)
On Sunday, I made Mint Chocolate Chip with a Williams-Sonoma recipe that I got from the Contra Costa times. The recipe was pretty specific about how to know when the milk and cream had been warmed enough (small bubbles forming around the edge and ripples in the middle of the pot). The recipe called for a cup (that is a lot) of mint leaves and when my wife saw the bunch of mint I had cut she asked if I was cutting back the mint to prevent it overrunning our garden.
Last night, I got around to eating some. The little tastes I while I prepared it were nice, but it didn't seem anything special. When I scooped it, I actually said out loud (I was alone), "This is different." Most of the other homemade ice cream gets really hard, this still had the soft, creamy texture of real ice cream. It did melt a little faster, but when I tasted it, OMG, it was really good. The mint taste was quite nice. It was a little sweet because I think the newspaper has some problems transcribing fractions on to the web ( -1/3 really means 1/3, don't assume the 1 got lost from 1-1/3).
I melted chocolate chips and let them harden about 1/8 inch thick and cut it into chunks for my inclusion. Heather said that she really liked them and they had a Ben and Jerry's feel to them. It really was a comment, although I had to take it in context, being a Dreyer's employee.
I learned some great methods with this and for recipes that require egg yolks, I'll most probably repeat it.
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream is in no danger, but over the life time of my ice cream maker, I've packed out 2 gallons.
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