The fourth of July is the kickoff of ice cream season to me. Our summer finally arrives and the fireworks begin, literally and figuratively. I think that ice cream is a very fitting way to celebrate being American as it has become an all-American dessert. People in the US consume more ice cream than any other nation, to the tune of 35 pints per person, per year. (What??)
American’s, having a sharp eye for a buck, have capitalized on this fact and specialty ice cream stores have popped up across the country like firecrackers. Now I’m not just talking Baskin & Robins ice cream type stores, I’m talking hipster, privately owned and run ice cream shops that make all their own ice creams with flavors that blow your taste buds. There are many in Portland Oregon such as “Salt and Straw”, “Ruby Jewel” and “Cloud City”. Some of the flavors that you see in these places are dark chocolate with salted caramel ribbons, pear and blue cheese, or strawberry balsamic with black pepper.
I was inspired by all this greatness recently and decided to start making our own ice cream that I control what goes into it. Especially when I read the label on our beloved Tillamook Ice cream a few months back. (Heavy sigh) Sometimes I hate to read labels because once I know the truth there is no going back. That is exactly what happened with Tillamook ice cream. (Stop reading here if you want to stay in the dark.)
Did you know it contains wood pulp, MSG and trans fats along with questionable chemicals? The wood pulp is hiding under the names, microcrystalline cellulose and cellulose gum. The MSG, in the carrageenan and the trans fats in the mono- and diglycerides. The chemicals are in the vanillin, which is a fake vanilla extract made from the wastes of the paper/wood pulp industries. Sad huh?
None-the less, that information spurred me onto cranking out ice cream here at home. I realized that making ice cream is so easy! And cheap! It is basically like whizzing up a smoothie, chilling it for a bit, then sticking it in the ice cream maker for a half hour. Easy, peasy, one two threesy. Anyone can do it.
If you do not have an ice cream maker and you love ice cream, I highly recommend you purchasing one. The ice cream maker that is very effective and a favored among my foodie friends is the Cuisinart ICE-20, that makes about 1.5 quarts at a time. It only costs about $60 and is a little trooper. I keep my freezer bowl in the freezer at all times so it is always frozen and ready to go.
This recipe I am sharing is a good overall fruity ice cream recipe. Just substitute any fruit in the place of the blueberries and ta daa! I sometimes scrape the vanilla seeds out of a vanilla pod to use in this recipe, it adds a nice dimension to the ice cream. Maybe you don’t want the lemon in there, maybe lime. Feel free to play with the recipe and add your own special sparks to it. Creativity is king in ice cream and America. (PS, don’t tell my hubby but I couldn’t help myself and I bought another cookbook, but it’s the “Spunky Coconut’s dairy free ice cream” book! Oh boy! I’ll review it soon)
Red, White and Blueberry ice cream sundaes
Make both the ice cream and the raspberry syrup the day before and the assembly the next day is a snap. Make sure and at least start the ice cream the day before so it has time to “temper” or chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Sometimes when I’m in a hurry I stick it in the freezer for an hour, stirring every 15 mins. I used the real deal whipped cream in this recipe but you can do the coconut cream whip cream over here. Just add lemon zest and vanilla to it.
Blueberry Ice cream
Makes 1.5 quarts
1.5 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups of full fat coconut milk
1/2 to 2/3 cup of maple syrup (depends on how sweet ya like it)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (the real stuff)
The zest and juice of one lemon
Put the blueberries and the coconut milk in a blender and whiz it up until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend some more till well pureed. Place in a freezer safe container and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. When you are ready to make the fun, place in the ice cream maker you have and follow the instructions for your model. I process mine for about a half hour till the ice cream is getting pretty thick and the machine is beginning to sound like it is working. Then I scoop it out into a freezer safe container and stick it in the freezer to harden a bit, about 2-4 hours or longer, then serve.
Honey Raspberry syrup
3 cups of fresh raspberries
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of honey
1 teaspoon of arrowroot powder dissolved in a wee bit of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Place the raspberries and 1/2 cup water in saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally, lower the heat to where the mixture is just simmering and cook 5-10 minutes or until berries are soft. Strain berry mixture through a sieve into separate saucepan. I used my new handy dandy food mill. (This step isn’t necessary if you don’t mind seeds in your teeth) Add the honey and arrowroot powder to the mix and bring the syrup to a back to a boil over medium heat while stirring, then remove from the heat, add the vanilla and let cool. You should end up with 1.5 cups.
Lemon Whipped cream
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
3-5 tablespoons of maple syrup
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Whip the cream with the maple syrup until medium peaks form, then add the zest and vanilla then stir till just mixed.
Assembly
Scoop up the blueberry ice cream in a small bowl then drizzle with the raspberry syrup, plop some whipped cream on there, garnish with fresh berries and enjoy the fireworks.
wood pulp…YUCKY!
I know! Crazy huh!
This is adorable. You are almost inspiring me to buy an ice cream maker!
Do it!! You’ll never go back.
What kind of coconut milk did you use? A lot of ice cream recipes call for full-fat in the can.
Full fat, preferably Native Forest. Thanks for reminding me to specify that.
Ok Great!!
I’m new to using coconut milk as a dairy substitute…and I love it! Where was it hiding all of these years? And lemon whipping cream? I never thought of that! It’s genius. Thank you!
I love coconut milk too. nom nom. Welcome to this delicious world!
So glad that you visited. We make this ice cream all the time!