Saturday, June 15, 2013

Screaming for Ice Cream



Father’s Day, you know it is Father’s Day this weekend, right?  Mothers get a lot of attention on Mothers Day. Dinner out, flowers, chocolate. But fathers? Not so much. I asked my sister the other day what we did for Daddy when we were growing up.  It was a tradition to take our mom to a really special plant nursery and get her every flowering plant she desired. But Daddy?  We couldn’t remember. We both felt awful because what we remembered was Dad grilling FOR US on Father’s Day. 

Well, this weekend Man O is grilling!  It was enough to make me scream.  I feel so guilty. What could I do to make his Father’s Day dinner special? After much pondering and head banging against the wall - oh, that was when I came to bed late and Man O had the lights off, I narrowed in on what my guy loves. Ice cream tops the list.

Let me be more specific. Man O loves Goodberry’s Frozen Custard. It is thick and creamy with a texture hard to beat. But he will eat anything frozen made of milk and cream. My dad turns his nose up at cheap ice creams with a lot of gums and other ingredients. I must have gotten ice cream snobbery from him. Even so called "healthy" non-dairy substitutes are full of guar and xanthan gum. YUCK. No way am I eating that stuff in a carton or making recipes with extra ingredients to make it "taste" like ice cream.  It's better to just have a smaller serving of the real thing. Daddy and Man O both like a smooth texture and mouth coating appeal. The richer the ice cream the better. And wouldn’t you know it, that works for me. So what could I do?

My favorite website for anything gluten free is Gluten Free on a Shoestring.com. Recently, they shared an ice cream recipe I couldn’t believe. Only three ingredient. No need for an ice cream maker. Bonus? I could make it and eat it (in limited quantities) because, tah dah, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk doesn’t have corn sugars in it!!!!  Again, IT DOESN'T USE AN ICE CREAM MAKER. Could you hear me yelling for joy? How great is that? But would it taste as well as it looks? I had to do a test run on Gluten Free On A Shoestring's Amazingly Simple Vanilla Ice Cream  



Random Factoid: Did you know a man named Gail Borden invented sweetened condensed milk in the 1850s after he saw infants starving on a boat trip when the cows on board stopped producing milk? Stop focusing on the cows on ships and think about the miracle of the product!  He made a fortune during the Civil War when he supplied the Union troops with the canned milk beverage and cooking ingredient that wouldn't spoil and sicken the soldiers. Soon, Eagle Brand was credited with reducing infant mortality, making the life of a harried cook simpler, and being the go-to ingredient for everything from fudge to key lime pie.

Hmmm, back to my dry run for Sunday. So I got out my THREE ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk, one carton whipping cream and vanilla.
Yep, that's it. Three ingredients.
I put the condensed milk and one tablespoon of vanilla in a freezer safe bowl that also has a matching lid. You could use plastic wrap and aluminum foil if you don't have a lid. I mixed the ingredients until blended and stuck it in the refrigerator.
Condensed milk with a splash of vanilla makes a great Rorschach test, you know the one where you look at an ink blot and say what you see? I am trying to decide if  I see a puppy or a flower.
I whipped the whipping cream on medium high until I had “semi stiff” peaks.  It looks pink only because I was wearing a red tank top that is reflecting on that white cream. Food stylist, I'm not.

I folded the whipped cream into the milk and vanilla until blended but not over blended, smoothed the top and put on the lid. Then I stuck it in the freezer. Once again, remember you don't need an ice cream maker!

Then the hard part.  I had to wait for at least four hours to see how it turned out! Um, I couldn't quite wait that long.

If you have the patience to wait longer, it will be a bit more solid. I couldn't!
Oh, so creamy. The mouth feel. The richness. Sigh. I probably should have added more vanilla. But I will be making my infamous chocolate sauce to make it special Chocolate sauce recipe here. and voila! Because the only thing my guy likes better than ice cream is chocolate on his ice cream AND his kids.

PS. I ended up serving Man O this ice cream and chocolate sauce when the crazy storms of the week passed through and I, ahem, couldn't cook dinner. He was thrilled. So there you go, Man O approved. 








23 comments:

  1. Julie!!!!!

    Where were you last fall when I bought my $25 ice cream maker (on a Target endcap) for my son's science fair project?????

    We had to make three batches of ice cream to test how the sugar impacted how the ice cream would freeze. So the amount of sugar had to change in each batch. Yikes.

    Ice cream used to be his favorite dessert before that......

    but he's over his ice cream fatigue now and I can try this easier recipe and use the ice cream maker as a paperweight. Thanks!

    Piper

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    Replies
    1. Glad to help. I am trying it today USING the ice cream maker and seeing if it works with half and half. It is probably doomed to failure but won't have the obligatory carageenan in it that heavy whipping cream does.

      Yep, ice cream needs to be simple!

      Delete
    2. Now THAT'S a science project, Piper! My kids did things with rocks and growing grass and flashlight batteries. Man, I wish I had a do-over on the middle school projects!

      Delete
  2. Julie, my man's always saying that Father's Day is a non-holiday. Not that we haven't treated him special for his day, so I can't quite figure that out.

    Definitely making this! Thanks for sharing. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Dora, it just doesn't shine like Mother's Day. Or guys are just more insecure.

      Enjoy making the recipe.

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    2. Hey, Dora! Glad to see you here!

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  3. That sounds amazing!!! And no ice cream freezer--perfect! I can't wait to try this. Thanks for sharing! And thank Man O for being a guinea pig. :)

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    Replies
    1. We liked it so much we are making another batch. It didn't last until Father's Day!

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  4. Sounds delicious! Oh, but the fat in whipping cream... *pout*

    Bought our son and d-i-law an ice cream maker for Christmas 2011 and they enjoy using it, but am going to steer them towards this recipe--to see if they might like to try it. She is definitely all about the fewer ingredients, the better.

    BTW, let us know how it works with the half-and-half and the ice cream maker.

    And I see the flower or puppy dog (with mismatched eyes!), too! Probably wouldn't have if you hadn't pointed them out... ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Ha! Why this recipe works is due to the fat and low moisture content. It defintely tastes more like custard than ice cream.

      Will do on the next try out!

      Peace, Julie

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  5. If it's a puppy it's a poodle in need of a trim. :-)

    Can you believe I have never tried frozen custard? I don't think we have it up here. I wonder why? Maybe I could make a fortune opening a frozen custard store!

    I'll definitely give this recipe a try. And thanks for the website referral. Awesome!!!!

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    Replies
    1. Kav, I love GlutenFreeonashoestring.com because it helps people with limited funds live a healthier life. All of us can't afford Whole Paycheck stores on a regular basis.

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  6. I've never heard of frozen custard - growing up it was Borden and down here in Houston it's Bluebell and for really sinful it's Ben and Jerry's
    off to boardgame meetup I think...
    Susanna

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  7. Here is the Goodberry's site I was referring too. http://www.goodberrys.com/html/goodberry_s_frozen_custard.html

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  8. This sounds too good to be true! I'll be trying it for sure.

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    Replies
    1. Nikki, you may have to thaw it for five minutes if you let it go more than six hours in the freezer but I dare you to wait that long.

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  9. Oh, YUM!!!! I am so trying this! We have an ice cream maker because I grew up with homemade fresh peach/ strawberry/ vanilla/ blackberry ice cream so I turn up my nose at anything in a carton. It just doesn't taste right.

    But this looks like something delicious! Of course, I don't really need anymore delicious in my life. I've got plenty of delicious, or so my pants are telling me as I try to button them.

    And my husband says Americans are obsessed with holidays. Birthdays, Father's Day, Labor Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day... he doesn't get it. So, no pressure for me there. I just cook him something special and he's happy!

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    Replies
    1. There you go. But need I remind that Catholics have tons of lovely feast days already in the mix?

      Let me know how it works out if you do any mix ins. That will be my next experiment.

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  10. Julie, this looks lovely and inventive and oh so tempting.

    I won't be trying it though. My DEAR sister was trying to be helpful about me keeping on a healthy diet, and she equated ice cream with something I won't mention here so as not to turn you all off it. Me, I haven't been able to taste a bite since. Which is sort of helpful because ice cream is a food that puts weight on me by just looking at it!

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    1. LOL, Mary! My imagination is running wild. :)

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    2. Noooo. lalalalala. Fingers in ears! I learned that one from Virginia!

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  11. I am trying a modification of the recipe in my ice cream freezer right now. With half and half instead of full on cream. And it is working. But I fear it will be too hard if I freeze it because of the extra water content. So soft serve it is. Only the heavy whipping cream whipped up and folded in makes it taste like custard.

    A poor substitute but maybe, Mary Curry, you might be able to eat a bite.

    ReplyDelete
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