Honey Lavender Ice Cream

August 24, 2014 by Mackenzie

One day… ONE DAY until I start my senior year of college! How in the world did that happen? I remember sitting in my dorm room in the spring of my freshman year deciding to start a blog and writing that first post thinking… what would I say? Well, after many iterations I am so proud of what this blog has become! A full-fledged food blog with followers, giveaways, life updates and more! For my family who has followed this blog since the beginning – thank you! And to my new readers, welcome and thanks for reading! I live a crazy, wild, exciting life and I’m thrilled to share it (and what I’m cooking) with you!

I got back to St. Louis on Wednesday and it was been a busy few days of unpacking, organizing, finding odd furniture and lugging it up three flights of stairs, struggling to drill screws into a wall to hang a shelf (how can it be so difficult?!) and now… it’s time to take a break and catch up on email, the blog and get ready for my classes tomorrow!

One of the things I was most excited to return to in St. Louis was my ice cream maker! So it is only fitting that my first post be an ice cream. While my roommate and I were reorganizing our kitchen we found dried lavender and I remembered one of my favorite flavors of ice cream – Honey Lavender. Naturally, I decided to make it and here we go! It is a perfect treat for this horribly hot weather – it has been 100+ degrees the last few days, with high humidity too!

It was a race against the heat as I was trying to take these pictures outside! The ice cream was melting SO FAST in the 100 degree heat!

Honey Lavender Ice Cream

From Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon finely ground dried lavender
Pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk, until the sugar and honey dissolve. Just before the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a shallow pan or a 4 cup measuring cup (my preference because it makes pouring into the ice cream maker much easier). Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, until thoroughly chilled.
When the mixture is very cold (important!!), pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions (note: it may take longer than usual – I’m not sure why but each time I have made it, it takes a long time to reach the right thickness). Transfer to a plastic container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Notes

It is really important that it is very, very, very cold before you churn it. Be patient and let it sit an extra hour in the fridge before churning it if need be! It will be worth it!

I’ve also joined a giveaway hosted by Juggling Act Mama! Head on over to her page and enter – who wouldn’t want $125 to start the school year!

Vegan Peach Pretzel Ice Cream

July 9, 2014 by Mackenzie

Sweet and salty. Can anyone tell me a better combination?

It’s my first summer on the East Coast and I am thrilled to say I have now experienced fresh, ripe, juicy Georgia peaches. I can’t seem to get enough of them!

I was inspired by all the peaches around here to make a peach ice cream because there’s just nothing better than a bowl of ice cream after a hot, sticky walk home from work. Two years ago I received an ice cream maker for my birthday and became an ice cream making addict! I love picking (sometimes crazy) flavor combinations, churning it up and eating my very own homemade ice cream! Here’s one of my favorites: Blueberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt!

I am totally bummed not to have my ice cream maker with me here in DC – but I really wanted to try to make some anyways. I ended up completely cheating and basically just froze the base overnight then let it melt a bit when i was ready to eat it. It certainly wasn’t the prettiest ice cream I’ve ever made but it sure did taste delicious!!

But I also love some kind of crunchy something in my ice cream. Plain vanilla or chocolate is just boring! It’s got to be moosetracks with those chocolate caramels in it, or frozen yogurt with chocolate chips. Well, this sweet delicious peach ice cream needed a salty balance and some crunchy goodness, so I added crushed pretzels and boy, what a perfect combination!

I also decided to try a vegan twist on this. I love a rich, creamy, milk-based ice cream – but thought I would see what I could do with coconut milk instead!

Vegan Peach Pretzel Ice Cream
Recipe slightly adapted from Gluten Free Goddess
Makes 1 quart of ice cream

Ingredients:

4 cups peaches, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 14oz can coconut milk
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 cups whole pretzels, lightly crushed

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine half the peaches, the coconut milk, the coconut oil and the brown sugar. Heat for about five minutes over medium heat allowing the peaches to soften and the sugar to melt. Remove from heat and cool.

2. Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the remaining peaches and the vanilla to the mixture, stir and pour into a 9×13 glass dish. Refridgerate for two hours or until very cold.

3. Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker per manufacturer’s instructions. During the last 2-3 minutes of churning, add the crushed pretzels. Alternatively, transfer the cold mixture to a large tupperware and freeze overnight – this method won’t make the softest, creamiest ice cream but it works if you don’t have an ice cream maker. But it does make it more difficult to stir in the pretzels – you may just have to sprinkle them over each serving.

4. Eat right away or transfer to a container to freeze for later use!

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

July 30, 2012 by Mackenzie

I’ve made several batches of ice cream this summer with my new Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker 🙂 And it’s been awesome! Molly Moon’s Ice Cream is my favorite ice creamery in the Seattle area and they came out with a cookbook this year. It’s got some fantastic recipes in it and I have love recreating them! I’m not going to give out the recipes in the book because I want to support this local business and make you buy the book!

However, I tried a frozen yogurt recipe from pinterest last week and it was great! So here it is!

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh)

3 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your blueberries are, and how sweet you want the result to be) – I did 3/4 cups because my blueberries were fresh and sweet!

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups full fat plain yogurt (full fat yogurt is preferred, if you are use low-fat or non-fat yogurt, substitute 1/4 cup of it with heavy whipping cream – which is what I did)

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Place the blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the blueberries. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

2. Stir in the yogurt and milk until completely incorporated. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.

3. Process the blueberry yogurt mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions (usually about 25 minutes). In the last 5 minutes, add the chocolate chips. Let firm up a bit by freezing it for several hours.

Mackenzie

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