Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream

Who knew Tuesday would be such a culinary delight-ful day!

Again, this recipe is from the October 2011 Sunset issue. You can find the recipe here.

Do you see those little speckles? They are speckles of goodness (gingersnap cookies).


Ingredients
1 pt. whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup Homemade Pumpkin Purée
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely crushed gingersnaps
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

Preparation
1. Whisk all ingredients except gingersnaps and bourbon in a bowl to blend. Strain into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. (I actually skipped this part...oops. Hey, working from home and cooking at the same time can be distracting...but luckily it wasn't too much of an error. I'll be sure to strain it next time I make this, and I *will* make this again)
2. Scrape ice cream into a bowl and stir in gingersnaps and bourbon. Freeze, covered, until scoopable, 2 1/2 hours and up to 1 week (gingersnaps soften somewhat after 1 day).

 Ingredients:

Added to the milk & cream:

All blended together:

The ice cream maker does it's magic, and into the freezer for a couple hours:

And then, this goodness can be enjoyed!

Sunday Night Pistachio Ice Cream Success

Oh. My. Goodness. I feel like I can make anything at this point. The pistachio ice cream I made last night (and will eat more of later) was so good. I think it's just as good or even better than B&R's. Hehe. I used the recipe posted on epicurious.com, but I think that was taken from Bon Appetit - regardless, the recipe can be found here.

I used less almond extract than the recipe called for (used 1/4 teaspoon instead of 1/2 teaspoon) and I think it was the right call. I've had good experiences in the kitchen this past weekend, and it makes me very happy :)

The ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup shelled pistachios grinded with 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

After cooking the milk and pistachio & sugar until the sugar dissolved, I added it to the egg yolk and 1/2 cup of sugar and then drained it. Looks like this:

This is the liquid:

After it chilled, I added the whipping cream and tada...the batter:

I added the roughly chopped pistachios (and a handful of roasted chopped almonds) into the ice cream maker while it was churning. The result was some delicious ice cream. Yay me!

Green Tea Ice Cream: Fail

I made green tea ice cream for the first time (using my new KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment). I was happy with the consistancy of the ice cream. I wasn't happy with the taste. It tasted really bitter to me. The recipe I followed called for a lot of matcha (green tea powder). I will try again, using less and I think it should be ok.

The ingredients:

The batter:

Ice cream maker at work: