On the Lamb threw a Speakeasy last night… complete with Bathtub Gin and Juice, Pork and Wild Boar Sliders and Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream. There was bourbon and scoundrels as far as the eye could see. Before we get down and dirty with my new favorite ice cream flavor, here’s a peek at what setting up a roarin’ Speakeasy looks like.

A Speakeasy requires a guest list, a password at the door, and a cash box for cashmoney.  

The menu.  Stellar.  

I think every good Speakeasy should have the option to play Spin the Bottle… don’t you? 

As the night progressed, we would come to know these strawberry flavored marshmallows very well.  

Silly games for a party full of strangers.  

We are the ladies of On the Lamb and we require pretty dresses.  

We had streamers on the ceiling.  No… these streamers did not hang themselves.  We hung them.  Every one. 

Ever go snooping in a medicine cabinet?  Yea…. me too.  We have candy in our medicine cabinet.  Everybody wins. 

Brioche buns for the pork and veal sliders.  Shut up.  So good!

We run a tight ship.  Our night was all planned out.  

And before we got the hungry grumpies from all our prep work, Rachel made us lunch.  Bless her soul. 

The Speakeasy was a raging success.  Pictures of the evening will be up shortly.  I was running around with food and cocktails, not my camera.  Thank you to everyone who shared their evening with us.  You people made our gathering amazing!  Y’all know how to bring the fun!  Thank you for your support and your thirst and your appetites.  

If you’d like to know more about On the Lamb and be on the mailing list for our upcoming events, check out onthelambfb.com.  Oh!  Daily Candy likes us too.. RAD!

Now let’s get down to business.  We have some ice cream to talk about… just about the best ice cream ever!  Bourbon soaked cherries in a gorgeous vanilla ice cream.  Take a few days to soak dried cherries in bourbon.  They’re amazing in desserts, in cocktails, in your face… you can’t go wrong.  

This ice cream base is Alton Brown’s recipe.  I love that it is devoid of eggs.  Sometimes ice cream bases with egg yolks get a little too… eggy for me.  In this recipe, the cream is heated to 170 degrees F, then cooled overnight and churned the next day.  It works out wonderfully!  The bourbon in this recipe really works to keep the ice cream pretty soft even when it’s in the freezer.  Dreamy.  Do it.  

Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream
     adapted from Alton Brown

     makes 1 quart of ice cream

     Print this Recipe!

2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cherry preserves (not jelly. preserves)
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
1/4 cup bourbon soaked cherries, roughly chopped
1 to 2 cups of bourbon for soaking cherries, 2 Tablespoons bourbon for the recipe

Make bourbon soaked cherries by combining 1/2 cup dried cherries with 1 to 2 cups of bourbon. Let the mixture sit in a clean jar with a lid, for at least two days. Once the cherries have plumped up you can make this ice cream with the cherries and a bit of the bourbon… and you can sit around just sipping on the rest of the bourbon. Deeelicious.

Combine all ingredients except the chopped cherries and bourbon, in a large saucepan over medium heat. Place a candy or frying thermometer in the milk mixture. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. This is pretty hot for milk. If your milk breaks a bit, don’t worry too much. It’ll work out in the end.
Once 170 degrees F is reached, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the vanilla bean and add the chopped cherries and bourbon.  Stir to combine  and  place mixture in a lidded container and refrigerate overnight. This will allow the flavors to mellow and improve the texture of the milk.
Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine but will increase in volume and be the texture of soft serve ice cream. Place the mixture in a container with a lid and freeze for at lease one hour before serving.

I have this nasty little habit that shouldn’t bother you in the least… unless of course you’re one of the unlucky people in the world that might have to share a pint of ice cream with me.  

See… I’m a picker.  I will shamelessly pick out every good morsel of ice cream chunky goodness from a pint, leaving only half melted ice cream for you.  Cookie Dough Ice Cream is only Cookie Dough Ice Cream until I get my paws on it for five minutes.  After a cool five minutes, that pint is just a sad excuse for vanilla ice cream.  Don’t even get me started of Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream.  I’ve got enough skills to dig out every ounce of peanut butter in seconds flat.

It’s a shameless habit.  It’s terrible and selfish… and it’ll never change.  I can’t help myself. 

Cookie No-Dough Ice Cream may have just solved my ice cream picking issue.  Instead of having vanilla ice cream with chunks of cookie dough embedded within it, this ice cream… the entire ice cream is the flavor of cookie dough!  Holy heck balls!  That’s amazing.  Yea.. it is. 

This ice cream is thickened with egg yolks.  Some ice creams are thickened with cornstarch.  I think egg yolks are the way to go, creating a super luscious and velvety ice cream.  The thing with thickening custards with egg yolks is that they’re very easily over cooked.  I do it all the time.  I did it with this batch of ice cream.  

There’s a point after you’ve tempered the egg yolks, when you’re reheating the whole custard, stirring constantly, and you’ll test the concoction to see if it coats the back of a spoon.  Coat the back of the spoon with custard.  Run a finger down the center of the custard, and if a line remains separating the two custard halves, then your custard is thick enough.  170 degrees F is you have a nifty thermometer.  

Now… if you overcook the custard, it’ll look a little grainy.  Why?  Because the egg yolks cooked.  Yikes!  Not to worry.  All is not lost.  Simply run the custard through a fine mesh strainer before cooling and freezing.  Run it through a strainer twice if you have to.  No shame in that.  Keep on trucking!

Ooooh… and this is the ice cream maker I use.  I kinda love it. 

Cookie No Dough Ice Cream

     recipe from Claire at The Kitchy Kitchen (how cute is she!?)  ((seriously!!!?)

     Print this Recipe!

This deliciously light, sweet and refreshing Cantaloupe Sherbet has everything and nothing to do with what I’m about to say.

I do a lot of thinking in the shower. Why do you need to know that? Well, you probably don’t. Nevertheless, allow me to over share. I got this new minty shampoo and it works wonders in the thought department. I think the fresh minty smells might be penetrating my brain.

Last minty shower I got to thinking about my dream job. After I mulled over my dream job I got to thinking about you. Yes, you. I think about you. It’s true. What’s your dream job? Are you lucky enough to have it? Does it pay you the millions of dollars that you deserve? Are you paid in smiles from your little squirt? Do you wake up in the morning before the alarm goes off because you’re thrilled to get to work? If not, what’s the difference between what you do now and what you really want to do? What will it take to make your dreams your reality?

I know. Lots and lots of questions. I told you the minty shampoo was good!

In some ways, I think I have my dream job. I get to cook and write about food virtually every day of the week. If someone would have told me two years ago, while I was grinding away in college, that I would soon get to write about and photograph food, I would have said to them “Awesome Opossum!”

So I feel like I’m mostly living the good life. Of course there’s the day to day of life that sometimes seems daunting or downright annoying, but all things considered it’s a dreamy.

This can’t be it though. I’m not done dreaming it yet! I think one of my dream jobs would be working for Epicurious or Bon Appetit or Gourmet Magazine in some way. Dreamy right!? I’d also like some sort of television or Internet show. I know. I owe you another podcast. Long story. I’m working on that. Maybe more minty showers will lead me in the right direction.

You?

Remember I said that this post has everything and nothing to do with my ramblings?

Well this lovely Cantaloupe Sherbet is a recipe from Epicurious.com- my dream job destination. The recipe didn’t have a picture attached, so you can say you saw it here first.

The flavor of the cantaloupe sherbert is just outta sight. It’s light and sweet but the cantaloupe flavor really comes through. It’s not over laden with sugar. The consistency might be an issue. I keep my freezer very cold and this sherbert isn’t exactly a scoopable treat. Once in the freezer overnight, the only way I got it into the cup was as a shaved ice/granita kind of thing. Let’s just say I did more scraping than scooping . Maybe I churned wrong? I dunno. Hard to say.

Important! Check out the second installment of Baking Basics at Foodproof.  It’s more than you ever wanted to know about muffins.  Good stuff.

Cantaloupe Sherbet

Gourmet June 1993

Print this recipe!

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Pernod (Forgive me, I used a bit of rum. If you leave out the booze just add substitute corn syrup and a pinch of salt.  But as Shawn noted in the comments below, the alcohol is an important part of the freezing process.  Thanks Shawn!)
two 3-inch strips of lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cantaloupe (about 2 1/2 pounds), seeds and rind discarded and the flesh chopped (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup heavy cream

In a saucepan stir together the water, the sugar, the Pernod, and the zest, boil the mixture, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, and simmer it for 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, transfer the syrup to a bowl, and chill it, covered, until it is cold. In a blender or food processor purée the cantaloupe, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula, until it is smooth, blend in the cream and the syrup, and force the mixture through a coarse sieve set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Freeze the mixture in an ice-cream freezer according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

We’re going back to the beginning with this cake. Ice Cream Cakes- that’s what started it all. Can I tell you a story?

I moved from Los Angeles, California to Burlington, Vermont when I was 18 and straight out of high school. I had it in my head that I didn’t want to go to college right away, and that I wanted to do some soul searching, as far away from my parents as I could get. I landed in Burlington with one suitcase and the phone number to one friend that I knew there. My friend Niki graciously let me stay in her apartment, and her Lisa friend gave me a job at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream flagship store. Miracously I had it all worked out. I had a place to stay and a job. There was just one small hitch- I was TERRIFIED. I had never been so far away from home and out in the world on my own. I literally stayed in Niki’s apartment for a full week. I never even cracked the door open. I knew that I was in a strange place, surrounded by people I didn’t know and I, frankly, didn’t want anything to do with any of it. I stayed in that apartment listening to Niki’s entire music collection and taking lots of baths. That’s when I discovered I loved Billie Holiday and grapefruit bubble bath.

What finally drove me out of my cave? Food of course, I ran out of food and I’m no good with hunger pains.

Once I was out of the apartment and well fed, I realized that my new surroundings were actually pretty awesome. People acknowledged me as I walked down the street. I lived right around the corner from the most beautiful lake, a glass blowing studio, a picture perfect chapel and a culinary school that fed me samples of their student food every day. It was the most beautiful, friendly, warm and open place I’ve ever been.

My job scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s quickly turned into the head cake decorator position. I could frost and decorate an ice cream cake like maniac. And because we’re talking about wild and wacky Ben and Jerry’s, the flavor combinations and signature tie dye frostings were completely over the top.

I loved my job. I loved Vermont. I met some characters that I won’t soon forget.

Once I stepped out of that apartment door, after a week of solitude and regret, I felt that I was blazing forward on the life I knew I wanted for myself. I also learned how to make a killer Ice Cream Cake along the way. That’s was almost ten years ago…. wow.

How I made a Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake-

Print this recipe!

What You’ll need:

2 8-inch (3-inch deep) round baking pans- you’ll need a deep cake pan to build your cake.

Vanilla cake batter (recipe to follow)

Half Gallon Strawberry Ice Cream

Heavy cream to make whipped cream frosting (recipe to follow)

Vanilla Cake

adapted from the “Confetti Cakes” cookbook via ButterCakesbyEvan

2 cups cake flour (8 ounces)

1 3/4 cups plus 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (8 ounces) (yes, two types of flour)

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

3 cups granulated sugar (21 ounces)

3/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (8 ounces; about 7 eggs)

1 1/2 cups milk, room temp (12 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter, flour, and line pans with parchment paper (optional) and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla to the eggs and then add the egg mixture, a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Try to do this as quickly as possible so you don’t dry out the cake by over mixing. It is okay to add the milk immediately after adding the flour, and vice versa.

Divide the batter between your cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For cupcakes, bake 20-25 minutes.

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl of an electric mixer add whipping cream and vanilla extract. Using the whip attachment, begin to beat the mixture on medium speed. Gradually add the powdered sugar, increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembling the Cake

Step One: Grease the two 8-inch round cake pans. Make the vanilla cake batter and add about 2 -2 1/2 cups of batter into each cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove cakes from oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Once cooled, loosen the edges of the baked cake with a butter knife, flip the cake pans over onto a wire rack. Return 1 cake round to one of the 8-inch cakes pans and place the other cake round on a plate. Place both cake pan and plate in the freezer to begin to freeze the cake rounds.

Step Two: Freeze the cake rounds for 1 to 2 hours. You’ll need the cakes to be firm enough to spread fairly hard ice cream over them. Take the ice cream out of the freezer about 15 minutes before you’d like to use it, letting it rest on the counter.

Step Three: Remove the cake that’s in the cake pan from the freezer. Using the back of a stiff spatula, spoon the strawberry ice cream into the 8-inch cake round, on top of the first layer of vanilla cake. I used all but 1 cup of the half gallon of ice cream. Leave about 1-inch of space from the top of the 3-inch deep cake pan. At this point you’ve got a vanilla cake bottom layer topped with strawberry ice cream, leaving about 1 inch of empty space at the top of the pan.

Step Four: Remove the plated vanilla cake layer from the freezer. Place the second layer of vanilla cake inside the 8-inch round, on top of the strawberry ice cream. Return pan to the freezer to set for about an hour, depending on how soft your ice cream became while you were shaping the cake.

Step Five: Make Whipped Cream Frosting and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Step Six: After 1 to 2 hours in the freezer, remove the cake pan. Run a butter knife under hot water and run the knife along the cake, in between the cake pan and the ice cream cake to loosen the sides. Flip pan over onto a serving plate or cardboard cake round. Return cake to freezer if you find it too soft.

Step Seven: Quickly frost Ice Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting. Return to the freezer to chill. Decorate the cake as you like. I used fondant to make a layered heart topper.

A warning about this ice cream- don’t make it if you’re not prepared to eat the entire batch in one sitting and feel sick afterwards. Don’t do it. Don’t even think about making this ice cream if you think this is the kind of dessert that sits in the freezer waiting for after dinner, or company. This ice cream isn’t the one.

This Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream is the kind of summer time dessert that you eat, sitting on your patio at sunset saying hello to your neighbors as they come home from work while you watch episodes of Big Love on your laptop. This is that dessert.

If you’re trying to exercise self control, don’t make this ice cream. If you’re trying to set an example for your children about moderation, turn away now.

BUT! If you’re looking for the most amazingly decadent, lick your finger, lick the spoon, lick the scoop, lick the bowl, go back for more and lick it all again ice cream. Well friends, this is the one.

Peanut butter and chocolate. I’ve died and gone to heaven. It reminds me of being a kid and ordering a scoop at the local shop. It makes me so happy that I’m an adult and can have as many scoops as I like.

What a world.

Seriously.

This ice cream is proof that God loves us.

Oh!  On the savory side- check out this simple Caesar Salad I made.  It’s over here!

Double Chocolate peanut Butter Ice Cream

Print this recipe!

2 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup smooth salted peanut butter ( I like the all natural peanut butter)

In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together 2 cups whole milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk start to steam, but before it starts to boil.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of whole milk and the cornstarch. Stir until no lumps remain.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will look the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from flame.

In a small sauce pan, heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated.

Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. Place in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.

Once cool, follow the manufacturers instructions on the ice cream maker to churn ice cream. Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream.

Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

Yum!

I love comfort.  Ok.. I know that’s a stupid thing to say.  Who doesn’t like comfort?  That’s like saying that kittens are cute.  Not so controversial right?

Well, this Banana Pudding Ice Cream is an exploration in comfort.  I absolutely love banana pudding.  It not just the pudding, it’s the fresh whipped cream and vanilla wafers that just make the dessert feel like ultimate comfort.

Banana Pudding reminds me of laughter- comfortable summertime, gather in the backyard after a big summer meal- laughter.

I decided to put all of the goodness of Banana Pudding into my ice cream maker, laughter and all.  I have to admit, I did feel a bit like Ben and Jerry throwing this dessert together.  The batch was HUGE, so I’ll cut it half for you all.  The ice cream is pretty sweet, has lots of banana pudding flavor, fresh bananas and bits of vanilla wafer cookies.   If you have an ice cream maker, do try this dessert.  It’s summery goodness.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

adapted from recipezaar

Print this recipe!

4 ounces Cool Whip (1/2 of an 8ounce container)

7 ounces sweetened condensed milk (1/2 of a 14 ounce can)

scant 1/2 gallon milk (reserve about 1 cup for you morning cereal)

1 (3 1/2 ounce) package Jello Banana Cream Instant Pudding

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 bananas (mashed)

1/2 box of vanilla wafers, crushed

In a bowl mix cool whip, condensed milk, banana pudding and about 1/2 of the half gallon of milk.  Add chopped bananas and vanilla wafers.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker.  With machine on, pour in the rest of the half gallon of milk.

Stir the mixture and begin freezing according the manufacturers instructions.  My ice cream machine took about 15 minutes to get to soft ice cream.

Remove very soft ice cream and place in a freezer friendly plastic container.    Serve with slice bananas and vanilla wafers.

I absolutely LOVE Memorial Day weekend. It’s like all the good things in the world come together in one weekend. I look forward to this three day weekend at the start of May. Not only is it my birthday weekend, but it’s also the unofficial start of summer, the start of outdoor grilling and parties with friends, and just all around good times.

If I had a lake anywhere near me, I’d be down at the lake all the time, just so I could say, “I’m going down to the lake!” That feels like an ultra summer thing to say. Lake or no lake, I feel a beautiful summer coming on.

And as if I couldn’t get more excited, I’ve discovered I can make ice cream cupcakes! These little gems are really easy to throw together and you can make them with any flavor combination you can imagine. The only slight downside is that they melt (as ice cream tends to do) when they’re not in the freezer. Melting won’t be too much of an issue because these don’t tend to stick around long. I’ve already eaten 5, and the party isn’t until Sunday.

How to Assemble Ice Cream Cupcakes

Print these instructions!

Start with cupcakes. I made mine mini cupcakes in a tiny muffin pan, making 2 bite ice cream cupcakes. You can use a regular sized cupcake pan if you like! You’ll just have bigger treats.

Make any sort of cupcake batter you like. I used cake mix (gasp!) because… I just did. Spray the muffin tins with nonstick spray. Fill the muffin tins only half as full as you normally would. For the mini muffin tins, this means using a little less than a teaspoon of batter. For the regular muffin tins, this means using about 1 Tablespoon of batter. Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees F and check them after 8 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let cool in their tins for 15 minutes. Loosen the cupcakes by running a knife along the edges of the muffin cups. Make sure that none of the cupcakes stick to the pan, but keep the cupcakes in the cupcake pan, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 3 hours, or overnight is best.

Remove the cupcakes from the freezer when you’re ready to use them. If some of the cupcakes have domed up while cooking, remove them from their cup and use a small serrated knife to even out the top of the cupcake. Ideally, you’d like to have 1/2-inch little cupcake bottoms.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer to let soften before filling cupcake tins. Leave on the counter for 10minutes or defrost in the microwave. When ice cream is softened, use a quick hand to spoon and flatten ice cream on top of the cake. It’s a little messy, but don’t worry about that. When all of the cakes are topped with ice cream, return to the freezer to harden. I left my ice cream cupcakes in the freezer over night, but give them at least 4 hours.

Be creative and top your cupcakes with anything you like. Whipped cream, chocolate ganache or caramel would be lovely.

To remove the ice cream cupcakes from their tins, warm a small sharp knife under hot running water. Run the warm knife along the edges of the ice cream cupcake until it’s easily lifted out of it’s tin. This isn’t too hard a process, mine practically jumped out. Place the cupcakes on a plate and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer and apply whatever topping and decoration suits your fancy. I chose chocolate ganache and colored jimmies. Apply the topping and decoration quickly and return to freezer on the dish you’d like to serve them on. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and eat promptly!

Update: If you’d like to make ice cream cupcakes in cupcake liners, I wrote another tutorial.  Here it is!

There is something in the air this time of year. I’m as restless and a 12 year old girl waiting for summer break so she can go hang out at the community pool. Maybe it’s the impending 3 months of relentless, almost suffocating Los Angeles heat. Maybe I just yearn for the carefree days of summer. Maybe I just need a vacation. I’m completely restless these days, and with no real vacation in sight, what’s a girl to do but play with her ice cream maker.

Today I bring you Mango Lime Sorbet. It’s like going on vacation with your spoon. Just like going on vacation- minus those pesky airport lines, and the passports and the exciting new places to see, and delicious new food to eat. Why do all that, really, when you can stay at home and make sorbet…

Pardon me while I wallow in woe. But seriously… someone please take me away.

Ok.. enough with the whining! This Mango Lime Sorbet is super easy to make, and ultra refreshing. I made the base for the sorbet and immediately wanted to mix it with large amounts of tequila and ice to make a margarita. I didn’t. Oh! But the temptation was strong. Enjoy the upcoming summer. Go on vacation. Please. Go.

Oh! One more thing! If you haven’t yet taken my sage suggestion of buying an ice cream maker, please, now is the time. Don’t make me yell.

Mango Lime Sorbet

from Simply Recipes

Print this recipe!

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

zest of 1 lime

3 ripe mangos

1/2 cup lime juice

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons tequila (optional)

**Learn how to cut a mango here!

Heat the sugar, water and lime zest in a medium sauce pan until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Cut the flesh from the mango.

Put the mango pieces, sugar water, lime juice and salt into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled.

When completely cool, remove from the fridge and stir in the tequila. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Transfer to a plastic storage container and freeze at least 6 hours, until firm.

I know.  I’ve been coming up with some pretty strange combinations lately.  This ice cream and hot fudge combination may be the strangest yet.  Remember that homemade hot fudge sauce from last week?  Well, after trying it on nearly everything in my kitchen, it seemed that the proper thing to do was make some ice cream.  Blueberry sour cream ice cream sounded perfect for the approaching summer, and I crossed my fingers that it would work with hot fudge.

The combination was unusual, but fantastic!!  The ice cream is a beautiful blue purple, and the blueberry flavors are highlighted by the light, slight tang of the sour cream.  Smothering that mess in dark chocolate hot fudge adds a depth and richness to the light ice cream.  It’s absolutely delicious!  Like one of those fancy, strange sounding desserts at a hip and trendy restuarant.  

I wouldn’t lead you astray.  This blueberry and chocolate combination is marvelous!  If nothing else, try the ice cream!  It’s a dream!

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

from Baking: from my home to yours

Print this recipe!

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, if frozen, thaw and drain)

1/3 cup sugar, or more to taste

pinch of salt

grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime, or more juice to taste

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sour cream

Put the blueberries, sugar, salt, lime zest and juice in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture boils and the berries pop and soften, about 3 minutes.

Turn the berries into a bender and whirl until you have a fairly homogenous puree, about 1 minute.  (It will never be completely smooth, and that’s fine!)  Add the heavy cream and sour cream and pulse just to blend.  Taste and, if you’d like, and a squirt more lime juice or a tiny bit more sugar.

Pour the custard into a bowl and refrigerate until it is chilled before churning it into ice cream.

Photo below.

Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.

Top with Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge.  Go crazy.

Thanks to all of you for the kind words in my cookie giveaway.  I’m so glad I could lure some of you silent readers out into the commenting world with the chance at free cookies!

And the winners of fresh baked, express mail, Red Velvet Black and White Cookies are:

Megan of Meganscooking

Jennifer who is pregnant and probably really needs some black and whites

Tara who’s sister is a wiz at apron making

and Whitney in Chicago.  Good luck on your big test!!

I’ll be baking this week and ship those cookies off to you all soon.  And don’t fret, there are more yummy giveaways coming soon.  I just can’t help myself!

 What’s the strawberry treat above?  It’s a simple and surprisingly delicious dessert.  A bowl of quality vanilla ice cream, topped with sliced strawberries and drizzled with good aged balsamic vinegar.  I know it sounds a little crazy, but it’s a pretty incredible, fresh, perfect for summer dessert.  Go out on a limb and try this one.  Do it for me.