(#141-#162): Sweet Winter Churnings

And here are some more of my Winter Churnings:

Jasmine Rose Habanero & White Chocolate - Floral, spicy, sweet. Made with organic dried jasmine flowers, the slightest bit of habanero pepper, rosewater, organic dried rose petals, honey, and white chocolate. I just love how layered this flavor is!

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Orange Zest - The joys of white chocolate! (Even though it's not "chocolate.")

White Chocolate, Coconut & Clove - White on white on white. One of the flavors I brought along to Mirah's Jamaica Plain show.

Grapefruit Orange Cayenne Chip - A customized flavor for Flashnotes.com's holiday party. They asked for "a spicy, sour, sweet-looking flavor with a surprising kick" and orange in color. So I came up with this gem. Wasn't sure if it would be a hit, as it's a bit more avant-garde (a layered citrus base with equal parts sweet and spicy?). It was, though! And it sold out at The Dirty Dottys album release show the next day!

Cardamom Hot Chocolate - At a Scoopsies taste-testing for an after school program, one student described it as: "It tastes the way an old lady smells. I like it!"

Mexican Hot Chocolate - Dark chocolate with cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Each ingredient truly does its job and the result is perfection for spicy and chocolate lovers. This one is signature status!

Moscow Mule - Ginger beer, lime, and vodka. Served in a copper mug!

Hot Toddy - Whiskey, honey, mulling spices. Eat in place of an actual Hot Toddy and you'll be surprised how soothing it is! It'll cure your cold and you'll be pretty tipsy!

Poppied Almond - Inspired by Snoqualmie Ice Cream's Almond Poppy. First tried it when I did my Seattle Ice Cream Tour!

And MORE:

Curried Apricot & White Rum 

Coconut Ginger & Candied Roasted Pecans

Vegan Spiced Caramel

Blood Orange & Fennel

Quince Sorbet

Coconut Oreo

Coconut Ginger

Just Maple

North Carolina Blackberry

Vegan Salted Caramel

Sprinkled Butterscotch

Butterscotch Surprise 

Brown Butter Surprise 

(#140) Deep Fried Oreo Mint Chocolate Chip

This dirty delight of a flavor was inspired by Action Bronson's foodie web-series (NSFW). In this episode, Action takes Manhattan-made DEEP FRIED OREOS to Mikey Likes It (a homemade ice cream shop in the East Village) and folds them into a Mint Brownie Chip ice cream. He puts the ice cream over some sweet fried plantains and tops the sundae off with some freshly whipped whipped cream. I couldn't not...

I made my first batch today. Frying is the perfect remedy for the snowed-in-blues. I love frying...anything. After I finished with the Oreos, I asked my roommate "do we have anything else that I can fry?" Those sour patch kids?...

The fried Oreos were showered with powdered sugar and, along with some hefty chunks of dark chocolate, were mixed into a marshmallow peppermint schnapps batter. Mmmm...

(#138) Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow

Stay (emotionally) warm this Winter with Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow ice cream. 

(#130) Smoked Sea Salted Caramel

(#129) Baked Apples & Honey

Buttered apples baked in cinnamon and clove with a spoonful of honey. 

(#128) Pistachio & Rose Kulfi: Indian Ice Cream

Indian ice cream (kulfi) is made with sweetened condensed milk and typically pistachio, cardamom, rose, mango, or saffron. For this one I used organic dried rose petals, rosewater, pistachios.

(#127) Roasted Plantain & Coconut

I haven't been posting to the blog enough. And it's a shame because I've been coming out with some pretty out-there flavors. Like this one -- Roasted Plantain & Coconut. Plantain is the latest ingredient to be added to my stash and I can certainly say that I'll be working it into my list of regulars (alongside anise, cardamom, cayenne, ginger, and...rum). 

(#126) Anise & Orange Zest: In Love With Jersey Cow Milk

Toasted anise seeds + orange zest + Jersey cow milk = Ahhh gimme! Can't you taste the stunning texture by just looking at these photos? 

(#125) Sweet Pea: The Alternative Sweet Cream

Sweet Pea - a novelty flavor that tastes familiar and nostalgic. Another one of our fairytale inspired flavors, this one was for The Princess & The Pea. And guess what? We put a pea in the middle of each pint -- you know, for good luck! 

Grab a pint now in our Pint Club! 

(#124) Cinnamon Chai Cookie: A Flavor For Akhil

My boyfriend is the ultimate Cookie Monster. So much so, that for his birthday, I gave him a giant jar filled with a cookie medley. Note: his birthday was a few weeks ago and that jar is 90% empty (or 10% full if you're a cookie optimist!). I made this flavor for him (he's Indian, hence the chai twist) and it was such a hit that I made a ton more and put it up in my shop. As with the cookies in his jar -- there's more where that came from!

(#123) Chocolate Cayenne: Hott Chocolate

It's Hott Chocolate. Chocolate with a spicy kick. I love watching people eat this flavor. I'll warn them beforehand that it's "very spicy!" They'll take a bite, hold a neutral face, and a delayed few seconds later, nod their head as the cayenne hits.

(#122) Rose with Rose Caramel Swirl

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sharing three fairytale-themed ice cream flavors at the Nave Gallery Annex in Somerville for their exhibit opening. I brought along Sweet Pea (it had one single pea in the middle that brought good luck to whoever found it in their scoop), Red Bean, and this Rose Ice Cream. The homemade rose caramel, made with organic rose petals, was just...magical!

(#121) Butter Pecan with White Chocolate & Oreos: Buzz Bickerton's Buttered Bonanza

Two things I love: making custom ice cream flavors for my friends and making my own version of classic flavors. This one is for Andy. 

Butter Pecan with a twist (white chocolate and Oreos, to be exact!). 

West Coast Ice Cream Tour, Part I: Beachy Cream, Mother Moo Creamery & Cool Haus

LOS ANGELES | July, 2014
The incredible edible West. 

In July, I set out for California on an ice cream tour that spanned the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The plan was to feed my curiosity; to taste the craft ice creams I had been following for months. But I returned (with a few extra pounds), enlightened with a grand sense of community. In two weeks, I met a South African ice cream pioneer who services the community with her all-natural vegan ice creams, a store owner in her second day of business, a manager of a 65-year old ice cream company that recently underwent a drastic rebranding, the head scooper of a shop that created a new technology for liquid nitrogen ice cream...and those are just a few in a cast of memorable characters. 

I thought Los Angeles was the land of frozen yogurt - generic froyo chains on every other block. I lived in L.A. in 2008 and that's all I knew it to be. But when I booked my flight to L.A. this time, I started adding them up -- the long list of craft ice cream brands I've been dying to try.  I would finally get my hands on a Cool Haus sammie and could devour a scoop of Beachy Cream on the Santa Monica pier. 

BEACHY CREAM | Santa Monica

First stop, Beachy Cream. Organic craft ice cream with a 1950's pin-up feel.  An example of Beachy Cream's clever branding: Their ice cream socials consist of B.A.D. (Beachy After Dark) girls dressed in sequined old-fashioned playboy corsets, serving booze-infused ice cream sandwiches.  It felt like we were in the 50's at an ice cream shop in Cape Cod. It was very surfer-meets-sweet, West Coast meets East.  I scanned all the flavors in the case. "How many could we try without looking like jerks?" A thought that came across my mind every stop on the trip until I began prefacing each taste test with "I'm an ice cream maker from Boston!" 
After literally fifteen minutes, I decided on the flavors I wanted to try.  I tasted their Fresh Mint Brownie Chunk, Balsamic Strawberry, and Coffee Toffee, and I ordered a bowl of half Candied Ginger, half Salted Caramel. The consistency of their flavors is very similar to Scoopsies! All of their flavors are really sweet, possibly the sweetest of all of the shops I visited. I loved their rich coffee base in the Coffee Toffee but thought their Salted Caramel was a bit burnt and their Fresh Mint too minty. I loved the texture of their Balsamic Strawberry. The balsamic was subtle, but this was still one of the best strawberry ice creams I've ever had! Balsamic Strawberry and Salted Caramel were in almost every scoop shop I went to so I made an attempt to try these flavors in as many shops as possible.

Visiting all of these creameries in such a short period of time made it so easy to compare and really focus on what makes each shop unique! Beachy Cream was such a nostalgic experience. I've never before been to a craft ice cream shop that has the feel of that beach town ice cream joint. They nailed it! I spent the night reflecting on the experience, looking forward to the next stop...

MOTHER MOO CREAMERY | Sierra Madre

Nestled in the foothills in the San Gabriel Valley is the quaint town of Sierra Madre. We had planned to take a seven-mile hike up Mount Wilson and reward ourselves with some craft ice cream. We began our hike and thirty minutes later we were sitting on a bench outside Mother Moo Creamery, eating our Grapefruit Campari Sorbet. It reminded me of home - specifically J.P. Licks. The menu made me feel at home too - specifically at home in my kitchen. They were flavors that I've made, flavors that I had been wanting to make. The menu was limited yet I still couldn't decide. So we tried four before settling on the sorbet. The Orange Blossom & Cardamom was very rich and well-balanced. The perfect amount of cardamom (which I'm ALL about!). The Mint Chip was a bit strong for my liking, but a mint fan would love it. The Salted Butter Caramel was dense with a deep caramel flavor. The Local Fig & Honey, which I was most curious about, was the most subtle but my favorite of the flavors I tried. Our scoop of Grapefruit Campari Sorbet was very tart and full with flavor. We enjoyed our scoop in the 90-degree heat and returned home for the nap of naps (20 minute hikes are DRAINING!). Tomorrow was Cool Haus. 

  


  

COOL HAUS | Culver City
I couldn't believe I would finally be tasting Cool Haus! They were trumping my list of ice cream crushes. They were the crush that, even though we hadn't met before, I still wanted to marry. Their flavor combinations were brilliant and their Instagram feed left me feeling unfulfilled. I needed some!
I loved everything about Cool Haus. They lived up to and exceeded my already high expectations. Just a few things I loved: the entire experience had simultaneously everything and nothing to do with ice cream. Their brand is known as "architecturally inspired ice cream," with flavors named after famous architects and their designs. The shop captured this well and had no traces of the traditional ice cream store experience. I loved this. You might think that minimalist, art warehouse decor would work against your desire to eat some ice cream. But it made me feel inspired. Cool Haus is one of a kind!
Oh, yeah...and I tried their ice cream, too. The flavor selection was the best that I had come across so far. I was intrigued by every flavor in front of me, but I had to settle on just a few. I had mini spoons of: Mango Saffron, Beer & Pretzel, and Olive Oil Rosemary. Akhil ordered Fried Chicken & Waffles ice cream sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies, and I ordered the Balsamic Fig. The ice cream was some of the best I've ever had. The consistency was smooth and creamy and the "swirls" were perfectly incorporated. The flavors were subtle in the best way, especially the Olive Oil Rosemary. I think a lot of ice cream brands focus on the intensity of a flavor but in my opinion, it's the subtle and properly balanced ingredients that make it stand out. I felt so (architecturally) inspired. I missed my ice cream maker and couldn't believe I was only a few days in to my adventure. I was about to head up the coast, but I had one more stop in Los Angeles...

(#120) Vegan Turkish Coffee: Dairy-Free Delight

You wouldn't even know this flavor was vegan! Made with only four ingredients: coconut milk, dark-roasted coffee, espresso, and cardamom. 

(#119) Mint Chocolate Chip: With Peppermint Schnapps!

Catching up on posts from months of ice cream making. This one's a classic with a boozy twist -- Mint Chocolate Chip with Peppermint Schnapps. 

(#118) Mango + Wineberry Sorbet: Fresh Off The Bush

My dear family friends invited me over for lunch and to pick some wineberries in their backyard. WHAT is a wineberry? I had no idea either until I picked them. They're much like raspberries, but way cuter! And pulling them off the bush was so satisfying.  I came home and made Mango & Wineberry Sorbet. Perfectly sweet with a touch of tartness from the berries. 

(#117) Riesling Poached Pear & Apricot Sorbet: A Collaboration With 90+ Cellars

Who doesn't love a good collaboration? Especially when it's nice and boozy! 

I met the folks behind 90+ Cellars at a BBQ festival along the Charles River a few months ago and I have to say -- we're a match made in foodie heaven! They gave me a few bottles of their Riesling (and a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon -- Sangria Sorbet?) and I whipped up an elaborate sorbet with an assortment of dainty ingredients. With hints of vanilla bean and cardamom, Riesling Poached Pear & Apricot Sorbet is a real trip for the taste buds. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with 90+, they buy wine from top vineyards all around the world and sell them under their brand for a decent price. Grab a bottle of Riesling at and try whipping up this sorbet!

Scoopsies' Riesling Poached Pear & Apricot Sorbet
(yields 1 quart)
1 1/2 cups 90+ Cellars' Riesling
2 1/2 cups cold water
2 bosc pears, peeled and cored
3 apricots, halved and pitted
1 cup sugar
12 cardamom pods
1 vanilla bean, split in half length-wise

Directions: 
1. Pour all of the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Lower the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes or until pears are tender.

2. Strain fruit out (but keep wine!) and discard cardamom and vanilla pods. Puree fruit in a food processor and set aside. 

3. Pour the strained wine back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat. Once mixture starts to boil, lower heat and simmer for another 30 minutes, until wine becomes a thick syrup. 

4. Add a 1/2 cup of the wine syrup to the fruit puree and stir. You can discard the rest of the syrup.

5. Pour the wine and fruit puree into a container, let cool to room temperature, and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge to cool for a few hours. When mixture has cooled, pour in ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Enjoy!