Freezer Friday: Happy Ending Ice Cream (Chocolate Stout)

 I finally made the chocolate stout ice cream!  I made mine with Sweetwater Happy Ending, an imperial stout with notes of cocoa, roasted malt, and vanilla.  The beer pours heavy with a medium body.  It has a creamy mouthfeel and is highly drinkable in spite of the high alcohol content.  This is one of my favorite beers.  It's a seasonal, available sometime around January.  Sweetwater has been a bit ahead lately, so maybe I'll get to restock this beer in November.  I'm down to one now, which might need to be another batch of ice cream.  This stuff (the beer and the ice cream) is so good!

 Happy Ending Ice Cream

 

(I forgot to take a cast of characters photo, so just follow along.  As usual, I will post the recipe towards the bottom of the post.)  Whisk 4 egg yolks together in a small bowl.

  

Heat 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  It is warm enough when bubbles being forming around the edge of the pot/pan.

 

In a medium-sized bowl, melt 1.25 cups chocolate chips.  I used Ghiradelli 60% cacao bittersweet chips.  You want to use the best chocolate you can find (within reason, of course).

 

Here they are all melted.  It took about 90 seconds in the microwave, but I whisked the chips down every 30 seconds to keep the chocolate from burning.

 

 Whisk the warm milk and sugar into the egg yolks until thoroughly combined.

 

Strain the milk/egg mixture into the melted chocolate.  Straining is important!  You don't want egg chunks in your ice cream.  Straining is gaining.  Or braining.  Or something.

 

Whisk in 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

 

And now for something completely different...add in beer!  You only need 3/4 cup, which is exactly half your bottle.  That means you have to take one for the team and drink the other half of the beer.  I know.  It's amazing, right?  Obviously I'm singing praises to the beer gods for bringing me Happy Ending, but don't feel like you can't make this ice cream  if you don't live in the southeast like me.  You can use Guinness (blah), Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, New Belgium 1554, and countless others I'm too lazy to think up right now. 

 

The carbonation in the beer will make your ice cream base magical fizzy.  Please allow the base to chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  Once it's properly cold, churn the base in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.  Scoop.  Eat.  Sigh with pleasure.  Tell your friends.  Eat the rest of the ice cream without sharing.  That last one's just me?  Well. . .

 

I thought photographing the ice cream in a Sweetwater pint glass was appropriate.  Don't you agree?  I need to share this on the Sweetwater blog.  I think they'll like that.

 

See those amazing flecks of chocolate?  It's a nice bonus when you shove a spoonful in your mouth. It's kinda like the coffee grounds in the bottom of your cup at the fancy coffee places, but in a good way.  Not in the "crap, the filter fell down AGAIN" way.  And the chocolate melts.  Bad example?  Here's another picture to distract you from my nonsense:

 

This pint glass is from the 420 festival last year.  420 is Sweetwater's flagship brew.  It's a pale ale, but it has more hop than Bud Light or Miller Light do.  OHGAWD.  I can't believe I just wrote those words down.  Ick ick.  Why people drink that stuff I just don't understand.  Sweetwater 420 is much better and it's only $1 more a six-pack.  

 

Ice cream.  I ate a bunch already.  I need to control myself.

 

So..."Don't Float the Mainstream" and make yourself some Happy Ending Ice Cream!

Happy Ending (Chocolate Stout) Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup Sweetwater Happy Ending (or other stout) 
1.25 cups chocolate chips (the darker, the better)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preparation:
Heat 1 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it just begins to bubble on the edge of the pan.  While the milk/sugar mix is heating, whisk egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.  In a medium bowl, melt chocolate chips in the microwave.  This will take about 90 seconds, but stir the chips every 20-30 seconds to keep the chocolate from burning.  Once the milk is bubbly on the edges, whisk it into the egg yolks.  Next, strain the milk/egg mixture into the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.  Add in the vanilla, heavy cream, and Happy Ending and whisk until combined.  Allow the ice cream base to chill thoroughly before churning it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Pear Pie

I grew up on a big chunk of land that happened to have something like an orchard on it.  We made so many apple pies.  My property now has several pear trees on it and I have an abundance of pears between August and October every year.  I adapted the apple pie recipe I remember as a kid into this pear pie recipe.

You start with a basic crust.  I prefer butter crusts.  You can use whatever your favorite crust is.  My recipe is 1 1/4c flour, 1 stick of butter, and 2-4 tablespoons cold water.

 

I can't be the only person with a dedicated pastry board right?  

 

Roll your crust out to slightly larger than your pie plate.

 

I cut off any excess bits and add them to the thin parts on the sides of the pie plate. I never can get it perfectly round.  

 

These photos were mostly a last minute, "Oh.  I should post this on the blog." kind of thing.  You will need ~5 pears, peeled and chunked.  Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon each flour and cornstarch (or 2 tablespoons of one.  My pears were extra juicy and I wanted the cornstarch to absorb that juice.), and a scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  I use scant 1/4 frequently.  It's not to sound like one of the cool kids.  I don't have a measuring spoon smaller than 1/4.  And I figure if you are only adding 1/8 of a teaspoon, you can afford to fudge the measurement a little.  I ain't trying to be a gourmet chef over here.

 

So mix all that stuff together and put the pears on top of your crust.  

 

Here's the best part!!  The crumb topping.  Get another stick of butter.

 

And melt it all down!  (This is totally healthy for you. . . )

 

Add 1/2 cup brown sugar.

 

And 1 cup flour.

 

Mix mix mix until it's thoroughly combined.

 

Oh.  I forgot this part.  Take another tablespoon or so of butter and chunk it up into smaller pieces.  Sprinkle those around the pears.  Squirt with some lemon juice.  You can kind of see I started here.  You will take the brown sugar crumble and sprinkle it over the top.

 

You will have enough to cover the entire top.

 

Oh yes.  It's looking good.  Toss the pie (not literally toss) into a preheated 400º oven for 10 minutes.  Then lower the temperature to 350º and allow to bake for another 30-45 minutes.  The pie is done when you stick a fork in it and it easily pierces the pears.

 

My crumble top is so dark because I forgot to lower the temperature after 10 minutes.  I got sucked into candy crush.  Five extra minutes at 400º is all it took to brown that top.  :(  You definitely need to cook the crust at the higher temperature first to keep the crust crusty.  Without the higher temp or prebaking, the crust will end up all gooey on the bottom.  I don't like that. Crusty crust is where it's at.  Here's a photo of the slice at room temp on a dirty plate.  That's what happens at BBQ/potlucks!

 

Pear Pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/4c all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

2-4 tablespoons cold water

Pie:

5 pears, peeled and chunked

1/2c granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice 

2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Crumble topping:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1c flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400º

 

For crust:  Cut butter into flour and salt mixture until course crumbles form.  Add water a tablespoon at a time until the crust holds together.  Chill for a bit (I honestly usually skip this step, but crust fanatics will whip me with a feather if I don't tell you to chill the crust.  Whatever.  I'm lazy.)  Roll the dough until it is slightly larger than the pie plate.  Gently place the crust into the pie plate and cut off the excess from the top.  Set this aside while you get the filling together.

For pear filling:  Mix pears, sugar, cinnamon, flour, cornstarch, and salt together in a bowl until everything is thoroughly incorporated.  Dump the pears into your prepared pie plate.  Dot the pears with pieces of butter and squeeze the lemon juice over the top of the pear mixture.  

For crumble:  melt 1 stick of butter.  Mix flour and brown sugar with the butter until thoroughly combined.  Taking a handful of this mix at a time, gradually sprinkle/crumble the mix over the top of the pears until the top is covered.

Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350º and bake for another 30-40 minutes, or until a fork inserted pierces the pears with little to no resistance.

                                                                                                                  

I'll work on getting a printable version of this recipe up over the next week.  I've been fairly lazy about doing that.  The only way I know how to make a printable version is by using a google site and that's just more work.  It's not really that much extra considering I can cut/paste from one location to the other, but still. 

This recipe is just like apple pie, but with pears!  People think pear pie is weird,
but try it try it, you will see!
Pear pie is tasty.  Listen to me!

Freezer Friday: Strawberry Peanut Butter Froyo

Man, oh man.  This is my shiz.  Thanks to Ryan and Matthew for bringing me into the light with this flavor combo.  I never knew this was even a thing.  This recipe is a bunch of fails that just came together in the end.
First fail:  I couldn't find strawberries and I bought some the day I made the froyo.  I would have preferred to buy strawberries and allow them to sit and partially decay for a few days. That extra sweet works in froyo/ice cream.
Second fail:  I couldn't find peanut flour to make Chocolate Covered Katie's PB chips.  (Love her blog btw.  She has lots of delicious recipes over there.)
Third fail:  my version of peanut butter chips was somehow wrong and they didn't freeze properly.
But look at this photo and try to tell me this is not full of winning.  You can't.  Seriously.  It's just not possible.

Strawberry Peanut Butter Froyo

 

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter Chips:

4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

4-5 teaspoons agave, more or less to taste

1-3 teaspoons milk (just enough to get the consistency right)

Froyo:

1 quart strawberrries, hulled and sliced

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 cups vanilla yogurt (I used Chobani)

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

 

Preparation:

(I move around a lot in my kitchen.  Here's my sequence to save time.)

 

Rinse, hull, and slice the strawberries into a medium saucepan.  Add 1/4 sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, more or less depending on how big your slices are.  My strawberries were hella fresh, and I HAD to cook them down to bring out the sugar.  If you are using berries that have been in your fridge for a week, feel free to skip the stovetop step.  Do not, however, skip the sugar and lemon juice.  (and here's the moving...)

 

In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the first three ingredients for the peanut butter chips.  Add milk a teaspoon at a time until you get something that resembles the texture of play-doh.  Tamp the peanut butter mixture down into a candy mold and put that into the freezer to chill while you prepare the rest of the froyo.  (I hope you've been checking on your strawberries on the stove during this time, lol!) 

 

When you think your berries have reduced enough, take them off the stove and make them smaller in some way.  You may puree, smash with a potato masher, or whisk them in your kitchenaid like I do.  Either way, make the strawberries as big or small as you prefer.  Next, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 cups vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  Once everything is combined, put the froyo in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours to cool down.  This is mandatory if you cooked your berries.  Once the froyo base is cold again, cream it up in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.  Add the peanut butter chips duing the last five minutes of churn time.  You can eat this right away, though it's way better if it has time to firm up in the freezer for a few hours.  Your choice.

 

Cast of Characters for the PB Chips:  Milk, Peanut Butter, Agave, Vanilla (I ran out of real vanilla long ago.  Oops.)

 

Mix the peanut butter, vanilla, and agave together.  Add milk a little at a time until it reaches this consistency. It's sort of like play-doh, but a little looser.  You will need a touch more milk if you use natural peanut butter.

 

Drop the PB mix on your candy mold.

  

I found the easiest way to get the PB mix in the mold was to finger tamp it down.  I put a lump at the top of the mold and pushed it down.  The excess mix spills over into the next section of the mold.  Totally nonfancy.

 

I didn't quite have enough to fill the whole mold, but I'm okay with that.  Toss the tray into the freezer while you prepare the froyo base.

 

Cast of Characters for the froyo:  Milk, sugar, vanilla yogurt, strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla

  

My berries were very fresh and I wanted to break them down a little.  You can skip this step if you are using old berries.  Hull and slice one quart/one pound of strawberries.  Add  one teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.  Allow to cook on medium heat, stirring every now and then.  I let my strawberries cook for about 20 minutes.  Like I said, this is optional.  Cooking the strawberries in sugar brings out more sugar.  Go figure.

 

 Further break the strawberries down by mashing or pureeing them.  I use put kitchenaid and the wire whisk and beat them up for about five minutes that way.  Leave the berries as chunky as you prefer!

 

Add 2 cups yogurt, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup sugar.  Mix well.  From this point, refrigerate the froyo base for several hours.  This is mandatory if you cooked the berries!

 

After the cooling time, churn the froyo according to your ice cream maker's directions.  Add the peanut butter chips in the last 5 minutes of churn time.

 

 

This is just SO FRACKING GOOD.  You put it in your mouth.  Then it's all strawberry, strawberry, chunk of strawberry, BAM POW! peanut butter.  All up in your face hole.  Yummmmm.

Enjoy!

Freezer Friday: Peach Ice Cream

July is still National Ice Cream month!  And to celebrate, here is another recipe.  I didn't take many pictures this time, so I'll just give you the recipe and comment along the way.

Peach Ice Cream
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar (B&J Bible says fruit to sugar is 4:1; just trust it)
4 really big peaches or 6-7 smaller ones, sliced up
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:
Squeeze the lemon juice into the peach slices.  Smoosh them up or otherwise make the slices into smaller bits as desired.  Set that bowl aside.  Heat the heavy cream over the stove until it just starts to bubble, whisking constantly (about 10 minutes).  In another bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy.  Add sugar a little at a time until it is thoroughly dissolved.  Add in whole milk and almond extract while continuing to whisk.  Finally add in the warm heavy cream.  Strain the milk/egg mixture into the bowl of peaches.  Mix to incorporate.  Pour approximately half this mixture into your ice cream maker and finish according to manufacturer's instructions.  Reserve the other half of the ice cream mixture and repeat the ice cream process the next day.

The downside to this recipe is that you do have to churn the ice cream twice.  Using all that peach juice adds a dimension to the recipe that you just don't want to skip.  While it is possible for you to scale it down to try to half the recipe, I'm not comfortable guessing on the amounts this early in my ice cream churneing career.  This recipe is, um, perfect.  I had 8 people try it so far.  Seven said, "OMG!  This is SOOOO good." and one said, "I expected it to be sweeter.  I thought it would taste different."  Seven out of eight isn't bad!  If you are able, definitely put the almond extract in the ice cream.  It really takes the flavor to another level without being obnoxiously almond like you would typically expect.

Beautiful ripe peaches!

Peaches made smaller, plus any opportunity to show off my polka-dotted knives

Egg/sugar mixture

Whisking the milk into the eggs

Everything together

See this?  Don't do this.  This was my first attempt at churning.  The ice cream didn't have anywhere to go and it stayed a liquidy mess even after 90 minutes.  I wasn't ready to give up on it though!  I poured half the base into my frozen bowl a couple days later and it's absolutely perfect and delicious and I wouldn't change a thing!

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?  I would love to have a try at making my own recipe!  Leave me a comment (and a challenge) below.

~elle