Gelato and Ice Cream… not for the dairy resistant

We thought we would end our month of eggs with ice cream and gelato! Summer is creeping up on us, and there is nothing like homemade ice cream on a hot day. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can find one relatively cheap… it may be worth it, especially if you go into hyper ice cream eating mode during summer (we wouldn’t know ANYTHING about that!).

We’re going to share with you 2 recipes, one for ice cream, and one for gelato. Don’t fret, if you’re not interested in our recipes, we’ll link you to some basic recipes.

 Chocolate Peanut Butter Gelato

2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
½ cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter chips
¼ cup peanut butter

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter chips (we just did this in the microwave).

In a medium saucepan, mix milk and cream. Warm until foam forms around the edges.  Remove from heat and stir in melted chocolate and peanut butter chips.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until frothy. Slowly add the milk mixture to the yolk and sugar mixture (we did this by ladle) whisking constantly. Return the mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture gels slightly and coats the back of the spoon.

Remove from heat and add peanut butter, stirring until peanut butter melts into mixture.

Pour the mixture through a sieve or fine strainer into a bowl. Cover, and chill for several hours or overnight.

Freeze gelato in an ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and place in freezer to harden.

*we added chocolate pieces after the mixture had gone into the ice cream maker, to make it a little chunky and fun!


We decided to continue our ice cream adventures with a honey lavender ice cream. We took this recipe from Epicurious and adapted it to our liking. Find the original recipe here, and ours below.

 Honey Lavender Ice Cream

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup honey (we used a local wild flower honey)
1 Tbsp. dried edible lavender flowers
2 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt

Bring cream, half-and-half, honey, and lavender just to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove pan from heat. Let steep, covered, 10-15 minutes (depending on how much you like the taste of lavender).

Pour cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and toss the lavender flowers.

Pour mixture into a pan (you can use the same one, just make sure it’s been cleaned) and heat over moderate heat until hot.

Whisk together eggs and salt in a large bowl. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly (we did this by ladle, not trusting ourselves to pour directly from the pan).

Pour tempered egg mixture into the remaining hot cream mixture and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 to 175°F on thermometer, about 5 minutes (make sure nothing boils!).

Pour custard through sieve into a bowl and cool completely, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.


If our recipes aren't to your liking, find links to good base recipes below and create your own:

Gelato

Ice Cream – custard style

Ice Cream- no eggs (this goes against the egg theme of the month, but I think the chickens will forgive us…)

Remember you can lighten these up to make "frozen dairy desserts" by using fat free half and half, or milk (any percent).

Have fun with these recipes, and please share what kinds you made!!