POM Ice Cream

Sorry guys, no TWD this week. I'm hoping to catch up next week!

Last month, the wonderful folks at POM sent me a huge box of POM samples to try new recipes with. While I was super excited for the venture of trying new things...I have to admit...I love free stuff!

I was a bit at a loss though, when I received the box. Not because I wouldnt be able consume it, believe me, I drink my weight in the stuff so that wouldn't be the problem. You see, I've been suffering from major pregnancy brain and my creative mojo just isn't what it was! So I enlisted my cousin Lisa because she is into cooking and always has great cooking ideas. So after she rattled off a few ideas....I set on my way.

My first stop was pomegranate ice cream, or should I call it POM ice cream. Now, just hear me out on this one. I know the people at POM probably had high hopes for 'healthy' recipes. But, sometimes its fun to venture out and have fun with something healthy. Desserts need antioxidants too, don't they??

And if you are on a holiday diet, I get it. Stay tuned because I do and have been working on some great healthy options as well!

For now, I give you my homemade POM ice cream. Something so creamy, so amazing, your friends/family/guests --whatever --won't believe you made it.

And if you aren't familiar with the health benefits of POM--you really should check it out. I was blown away with the statistics.

POM Ice Cream
Recipe by: Cafe Coco

Ingredients:
1 cup POM juice reduced to 1/4 cup (reduced, see directions)
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup lowfat milk
1/2 cup half and half
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Start off by reducing 1 cup of POM juice in a small heavy bottomed saucepan on medium heat. Bring it to a soft boil and keep an eye on it so that it reduces down to 1/4 cup. It should be somewhat thick and syrupy. Let it cool. In fact, refrigerate it and mix this into the ice cream mixture when cold.
2. Whisk together milk, cream, half and half, vanilla, sugar, and POM juice reduction. Whisk until the sugar dissolves.
3. Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers instructions. I churned mine for about 25 minutes in a Cuisinart.
4. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and store in the freezer.

TWD: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This week’s TWD could not have come at a better time. First, its summer. Second, I absolutely love ice cream. (Chocolate and vanilla bean to be specific).

Despite how easy this ice cream was to make, I still put it off until the last minute. I’ll never learn. I bake under pressure. It’s just what I do.

I really enjoyed this ice cream. The only thing I changed was using 5 egg yolks instead of 6. I added the vanilla bean and planned on using vanilla extract in addition, but forgot in my haste to get this in the ice cream maker this morning.

I would definitely make this again. I think tomorrow this may go in between some cookies!

Thank you to Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu for hosting this week. Head over to her page for the recipe. Don’t forget to check out what the other TWD bakers were up to this week!

Chilled custard

Starting to churn the ice cream

Churned ice cream

TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

There is just something about ice cream that makes me happy. It just reminds me of the summers I spent in Northern Michigan with my family.

Each summer we would make the 3 hour trek to the lake…me and my two sisters crammed into the back seat. Typically we would fight about who was leaning on whom, who was breathing on whom, and who was ignoring who. I always got the middle seat because I was the youngest.
But after the one hundred questions to our mom and dad including “Are we there yet?” we would arrive at our destination, take in the smell of pine and evergreen trees and ….the smell of the lake. I love that smell.

Our vacation was never complete without a trip to our favorite candy and ice cream store, Ka-Jac’s (really it was a convenient store but to us….all we noticed was the ice cream and candy). I always got blue moon or superman. (What flavor is blue moon anyway? I’ve never been able to really figure that out?)

Even though I still love superman and blue moon ice cream, I have broadened my horizons to try a new ice cream when I go back to that party store. I don’t make it up to our family vacation spot as much anymore which is why I make a ton of ice cream at home.

I have never made peach ice cream, let alone honey peach; however it was a nice change! I left out the peach chunks because sometimes biting into ice fruit hurts my teeth. The ice cream was easy to make, and was very smooth. I used my handy Cuisinart ice cream maker. If you don’t have one—you really need to run out and get one. Homemade ice cream is so much better than store bought! The honey undertone flavor really makes the ice cream.

Thanks Tommi of Brown Interior for hosting TWD this week. If you would like the recipe—head on over to her page! You can also check out what the other bakers of TWD were up to this week by clicking on the blogroll.

Orange Sherbet

When I was a little girl, I was absolutely CRAZY about the ice cream man. My ears were conditioned like a hawk and I was able to pick up the lowest decibel of that “ice cream man music”….I can still hear it in my head…

For some reason, my dad had a soft spot for me, his youngest. And whenever I could hear the faint noise coming closer, I would dart into the house and ask if I could get an ice cream. He usually gave in, mainly because I think he loved the ice cream man as much as I did.

I can remember one time sitting at the end of my driveway-waiting. Brown hair, pig tails, my yellow cotton dress, oxford shoes, and my luggage colored, suede western purse with fringes hanging off the bottom. I just sat there. For two hours. What 6 year old do you know has that sort of dedication--to anything?

The ice cream man didn’t come that day, and when I went back into the house, my dad asked me if I got my ice cream (he had been watching me from our front bay window and knew he hadn’t). With my head to the floor, I shook my head. Barely able to keep it together. He laughed with his signature head thrown back laughter and took me into the kitchen and gave me an orange cream push up pop. It may or may not have been what I would have picked from the ice cream man (I usually got some mickey mouse or superman concoction) but I still remember that.

I still love push up pops….

So when I was on a library trip before my trip to Europe, I wandered over to the cookbook section and grabbed Williams Sonoma Ice Cream book….and the first thing I saw was Orange Sherbet. I knew I had to make it!

You won’t believe how much it reminded me of those push ups..and the day the ice cream man didn't show up.

(Twilight zone…the ice cream man just passed my house….gotta jet….I need to catch that man (or lady)!)




Orange Sherbet


Recipe derived from: Williams Sonoma Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup low fat milk
1 cup half-half
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Pour orange juice into a fine mesh sieve to get the pulp out. Then combine orange juice and sugar with a whisk until the sugar completely dissolves. Add milk and vanilla extract, whisk together until fully combined.

Run the mixture through a ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I use a Cuisinart and I put mine in for about 20 minutes.

Remove sherbet from ice cream maker and store in an airtight container in the freezer for 2 hours before serving.