Further Frozen Failure

Despite what you might infer from the title of this post, I don't necessarily consider this attempt a failure--I simply enjoy alliteration. Nonetheless, it is most certainly not a successful attempt either, except in the sense that it gives me more ammunition with which to go back next time and try to build upon my previous attempts. Which, of course, is the whole point of my documenting these instances, so I suppose it was a total success; just not quite what I had hoped for.

Allow me to explain. As I mentioned in my previous frozen project, I have not had great success with my relatively new ice cream maker attachment for The KitchenAid. The KitchenAid itself is, of course, fantastic, and has become a staple of most anything I produce, allowing me to remain my lazy self while still enjoying the fruits of much labor. However, all of my attempts at ice cream thus far (particularly those based on corn starch, i.e., the ones that are practical to make, as I don't keep a dozen egg yolks lying around most of the time) have resulted in delicious chunks of very solid ice that resist the infiltration of a spoon with impressive tenacity. My repeated experiments have given me some insight into this phenomenon, but I am still undecided as to whether I should blame my freezer or my ice cream making technique; consequently, I must continue attempting until I find something that works right.

This attempt was no different, as I took an existing recipe (stolen this time from The Kitchn) and tweaked it to help compensate for my previous experiences. This tweaking, as you'll see, did indeed help, but not as much as I would have hoped.

Lemon Ice Cream
(As stolen from the folks at The Kitchen)

Ingredients
1.5oz Cream cheese
3 1/4c Half and half
1tbsp Corn starch
1/3c Sugar
1/4c Brown sugar
1.5tbsp Corn syrup
1/4tsp Salt
1/2tsp Vanilla extract
1tbsp Vodka
1 Lemon

Procedure
1) Place the cream cheese in the mixer bowl and process until it is softened and resembles something like cake icing.

This softening helps produce a smoother cream later on.

2) In a bowl or cup, mix 2tbsp of the half and half with the corn starch. Ensure that no clumps of starch remain undissolved and set aside.

3) Place the remaining half and half in a skillet or saucepan and set over medium heat. Mix in the sugars and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Simmer just until the sugar and syrup are completely dissolved; this shouldn't take more than a minute or so.

Stirring gently will prevent a skin from forming on the top; not necessary, but I prefer to do so.

4) Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the corn starch mixture. Return it to the heat and bring back up to a boil, stirring continously to prevent boiling over. Boil for about a minute and then turn off the heat.

5) Pour the hot mixture into the bowl with the whipped cream cheese and stir with a spatula to ensure that the cream cheese is scraped off the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the salt, vodka, and zest from the lemon and set the entire mixture in the refrigerator to chill for at least 8 hours.

Note: Placing a cover of plastic wrap pressed against the top of the mixture will prevent a skin from forming on the top.

6) When the mixture has chilled, add the vanilla and the juice from the lemon to the mixture and stir thoroughly. Pour into your ice cream maker (making sure to start the churner first!) and proceed with whatever the maker's instructions say.

From this image, I don't think I let it churn long enough; that may be specific to my mixer.

7) When the process is finished, scoop the ice cream into a sealable container and place in the freezer to cure for at least 4 hours.

This picture is deceptive; the surface is actually very stiff. Oddly enough, it has a similar texture to that of over-solidified ice cream. Imagine that.

Lessons Learned
I added the vodka to the recipe in hopes of keeping it softer, as the alcohol would inhibit the freezing process. This did work, in that compared to my previous attempts, it was slightly more pliable when I took a chisel and hammer to it. That said, it wasn't enough; next time I think I'll bump up the mixer speed (to incorporate more air) and add an additional tablespoon of vodka to see if the combination helps. However, I'll probably try a different recipe, as I actually wasn't blown away by this one. The lemon zest came out far too stringy (as it is wont to do) and gets stuck in my teeth. I think lemon ice cream works best as a side to a different dessert, which makes sense, as the Kitchn folks were having it alongside wedding cake. Having the ice cream straight up seems to lack balance; it needs something sweet to even it out.

Fahrenheit -451

I have a confession to make, my dear readers: I actually made this recipe before the Hostess fiasco detailed below. In my vanity, I chose to post the pocket pie disaster before this one so that I could swiftly cover up my failure with a subsequent success. I'd be ashamed, but somehow, I think I'm OK with it. That said, this recipe is not a complete success, so consider this my way of easing you back into my usual batches of perfection incarnate. I like to try and make things easy on all involved.

As many folks know, with the purchase of a KitchenAid stand mixer comes the opportunity to purchase a myriad of different devices to attach to said mixer in order to perform a variety of different tasks. When the mixer is upgraded with said attachment, one can grind meat, make pasta, juice veggies, and (presumably) produce quality food products by day and fight the forces of evil by night under the psuedonym "Voltron". (Note that I haven't attempted that last one yet, but it is indeed advertised in the KitchenAid attachment catalog. Go ahead! Check for yourself.)

This overly-verbose intro is my long-winded way of saying that, despite my resistance to spend additional money on products to continue cluttering up my kitchen, I decided to succumb to temptation and buy the KitchenAid ice-cream maker add-on kit (and for approximately the same price I paid for the mixer itself, I might add). As of late, The Kitchn has been running an ice cream making contest, asking readers to submit their best recipes, and after a week or two, I could no longer resist. At this point, I needed a maker, and rather than pay for an additional appliance, I figured getting the expansion for the mixer was a savvier (and more space-conservative) purchase.

Naturally, I was eager to get my device up and running, so after waiting the appropriate 24 hours to freeze the bowl, I readied up my first trial recipe, selected mostly because I'm well-known for having a penchant for all things peanut butter and chocolate oriented.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream
(as adapted from Joy the Baker, although hers looks significantly prettier than mine)

Ingredients
2c 1% Milk
1c heavy cream
1c sugar
1/3c natural cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
3tbsp Corn starch
1/2c semisweet chocolate chips
1/4c bittersweet baking chocolate chunks
1/2c organic smooth peanut butter

As you can see, I took some creative liberties with the recipe, none of which had any adverse affect on the end result, in my opinion. I still recommend reading Joy's entry, as she does a much better job of it than I do.

Procedure
1) Place a sauce pan on medium heat and add 1.5c of the milk and half of the cream. Allow the liquid to warm up (although do not bring it to a boil).

2) Add the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt, and whisk to combine.

The mixture will take some time to get incorporated.

3) Whisk steadily until the powder dissolves completely (although some chunks are always going to remain).


4) In a separate bowl, mix the remaining milk and the corn starch until it is smooth. Note that you can't let this sit for very long or else it'll solidify, requiring further mixing.

5) When the heated mixture begins to steam, add the corn starch mixture and bring to a low boil. Whisk steadily until the solution reaches a pudding-like consistency.

Note: Do *not* eat the pudding. It'll be much better as ice cream anyway.

6) Turn off the heat and mix in the remaining cream, chocolate chips, and baking chocolate. Stir until the chunks melt and are incorporated into the mixture. Pour the mix into a bowl and chill, covered, for at least 4 hours.

The chilling process allows for a creamier ice cream.

7) Once the mixture is well-chilled, assemble your ice cream maker and follow its instructions. Note that it's important to have the churner moving before adding the ice cream base, or else it may not incorporate properly.

...Yeah, so it was harder to pour in than I had anticipated. Look at how little clearance I have between the bowl and the beater!

8) After the mixture has thickened (generally about 30 minutes), disassemble the device and move the ice cream into a freezer-safe container.

9) Use a spatula to fold in the peanut butter. Do not overmix, as you want a nice streak of peanut butter running through it, not total incorporation.

10) Place your ice cream in the freezer and allow to freeze (or "cure") overnight. Yes, it takes that long (depending on your freezer--mine sucks); I only gave it 4 hours and it was still "pudding-y". Delicious, but not ice cream.

An example of improperly-cured ice cream. Yes, it was great, but it wasn't very well frozen, and was basically like eating frozen pudding.

Lessons Learned:
Contrary to Joy's instructions, I feel that adding the peanut butter during the churning process (even at the end) caused too much incorporation of my peanut butter. While this recipe tasted fantastic, as you can see from the images above, pouring something that's pudding-like in consistency into a very small opening can be difficult. As such, I don't know that corn starch-based ice cream recipes are my favorites; next time, I'll try a custard-based chocolate recipe and simply fold in peanut butter at the end. Still, this made for a very delicious semi-failure; one can only hope all my mistakes taste this good.