Hi friends! I’m back with another weekly installment of Chicken Librarian Makes. Last week, we made ice cream! Yes! Ice Cream! On my weekly facebook live video session, I showed how to make ice cream three ways. We made basil ice cream using eggs, cream, milk, sugar, and basil. And we used our ice cream maker (attachment for the Kitchen Aid) to make the ice cream. Then we used whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk to make a salted caramel ice cream. And we wrapped the session up by making ice cream in a mason jar. I have a few notes about each of the ways to make ice cream, plus a good book resource (and an online resource for recipes). It’s all below! Happy ice cream reading (and making and eating. June is national dairy month!).

Some things to note about making ice cream (I mention it in the video, but want to make it a quick reference here as well). Ice cream is made by taking butterfat (i.e. heavy cream) and breaking down the fat (i.e by shaking or stirring) and that’s what gives us ice cream. Commercial ice cream has different levels of ‘ice cream-i-ness’. That’s a very technical term, mind you. If a commercial ice cream contains less than 10% butterfat, it is not considered ice cream (check those containers of ice cream. You’ll be surprised how many aren’t considered ice cream). A commercial ice cream that contains between 10-12% butterfat is considered just ice cream. 12-14% butterfat? Premium ice cream. 14-16% butterfat is considered ‘super premium’. 17-20% butterfat is considered unheard of in commercial ice cream, but could be considered ultra-premium. When you make ice cream at home, you will most definitely get at least an ultra-premium ice cream. If you have more than 20% butterfat, you will start to notice the coating of fat on your tongue. This occurs with the no-churn versions of ice cream below. We aren’t churning or shaking the ice cream long enough to break down the butterfat to a useable level. So as long as you don’t mind the fat coating your tongue, you can make ice cream without churning it!

All this information, and more, can be found in the book above, Hello, My Name is Ice Cream. It is a fantastic resource. And one I just purchased (and will read from cover to cover) for my collection. And if you know me, or even if you don’t, I never buy books brand new. But this one I did. I mean, I’d buy the book based on the list of ice cream recipes in it alone: Bourbon-Butterscotch; Toasted Hay; Green Cardamom; Goat Cheese Ice Cream; Blood Orange Sherbert; to name a few. I mean. I can’t wait! This book is going to be an ice cream game changer for me. I hope you’ll check it out too (look for it on your library’s e-book lending platform. That’s where I found it. I like to read books before I purchase them).

Okay. Now that the technical stuff is over with, let’s make ice cream!

Basil Ice Cream
recipe from Epicurious.com
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup well-chilled heavy cream
Special Equipment
an instant-read thermometer; an ice cream maker

Instructions:
1. Bring milk, basil, 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring, then remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes. Transfer to a blender (reserve saucepan) and blend until basil is finely ground, about 1 minute.
2. Beat together yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add milk mixture in a stream, beating until combined well. Pour mixture into reserved saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture coats back of spoon and registers 175°F on thermometer (do not let boil). Immediately remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice water and stir until cold, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Stir in cream and freeze in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.

Tips & Tricks: Basil Ice Cream:
1. This is the best way to make ice cream, hands down. You need to break down the fats of the cream and whole milk and heating it and then stirring it for a long period of time is the way to do that.
2. This recipe is considered a custard style ice cream. Custard ice creams use eggs. Not all recipes will use eggs, but this happens to be my favorite style of homemade ice cream
3. I do not strain my basil out of my ice cream. I leave it in. I love having some small chunks of basil!
4. When the recipe says “freeze in ice cream maker’ what they mean is to use your ice cream maker to churn the mixture until thick, creamy, and nearly frozen. The ice cream maker will not freeze your ice cream completely. You will churn the ice cream for about 30 minutes (make sure that your ice cream maker is completely frozen for at least 16-24 hours before using) and then take it out of the ice cream maker and freeze it from there.

Salted Caramel No-Churn Ice Cream
recipe from epicurious.com
Ingredients:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (or 1 1/3 cups store-bought dulce de leche)
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus more for serving
2 cups very cold heavy cream
Special equipment:
A 9×5″ loaf pan

Instructions:
1. If making dulce de leche, place unopened can of milk in a medium pot filled with water (can should be completely submerged); cover and let simmer 2 hours. Remove can and let cool. Open can and transfer contents to a large bowl. Stir in 1/2 tsp. salt and let cool at least 10 minutes.
2, If using store-bought dulce de leche, combine with 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl.
3. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat cream in a large bowl until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Stir about 1/3 of the whipped cream into dulce de leche until just combined. Gently fold remaining whipped cream into dulce de leche mixture, then pour into 9×5″ loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 6 hours.
4. Sprinkle with additional salt before serving.

Tips & Tricks: Salted Caramel
1. I made the dulce de leche using the sweetened condensed milk. Just be very careful when opening the can. It will be very hot and the pressure from cooking it for 2 hours can cause some scalding. Therefore I would let it cool down considerably before opening.
2. This is one of the recipes that will have a very high butterfat content due to not whipping or churning the cream for a long enough period of time
3. This ice cream is so good!

No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream:
recipe from epicurious.com

Combine 1 cup heavy cream, 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, and a pinch of kosher salt in a quart-sized mason jar. Shake vigorously until the mixture thickens, coats the back of a spoon, and has doubled in volume, 4-5 minutes. Next swirl in flavor. Try a drizzle of chocolate sauce, chopped strawberries, or toasted, chopped nuts or chocolate. Freeze until the mixture hardens, about 3 hours. The “ice cream” will be a little icy when very cold, but will quickly soften to a creamy consistency.

That’s it friends! As you might be able to tell, epicurious.com has THE best ice cream recipes. Once you understand the basics of making ice cream, the sky’s the limit! Happy ice cream making (and eating!).

’til next time
-k
xoxo