ice cream Archives | The Good Hearted Woman

The BEST Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream EVER

The heat is on and the strawberries are ripe, so find a cool spot to lounge and tilt back with a big bowl of the best fresh strawberry ice cream you’ll ever have.

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This fresh strawberry ice cream is – no exaggeration – the best strawberry ice cream I’ve ever had. I’ll admit though, this recipe took Mr B and me some serious trial and error to put together. We wanted to get it just right, and so a lot of strawberry ice cream had to be made – and eaten – during the “research & development” phase. (Really – a LOT.)

Strawberry ice cream is trickier than it looks. You’d think, just throw some strawberries, cream, and sugar together and you’re golden, right? Wrong.

The biggest problem with fresh strawberry ice cream is the strawberries themselves. Strawberries have a very high water content, and what does water do when it get very, very cold? That’s right, class – it freezes! Into little ice crystals. Which are fine for winter windows and root beer mugs, but no so great for ice cream.

To avoid having hard, crunchy strawberry ice cream, you have to do something to counteract water crystallization; hence the vodka and the corn syrup in this recipe. (Note: Any 70/80 proof liquor will work: we use whipped cream vodka.) With a higher freezing temp than water, the alcohol in the vodka keeps discourages water crystallization, which in turn keeps your little strawberry chunks from turning into little strawberry ice cubes, while the corn syrup adds body, and keeps the texture smooth and supple.

NOTE: If you prefer to avoid liquor completely, just leave it out. Your chopped strawberry chunks will be a bit crunchy, and the ice cream may get a little harder than optimal after a day or two in the freezer, but chances are it won’t last that long anyway.

Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

The day I took these pictures, the PNW was experiencing a heat wave. Luckily, this stuff is amazing even when it’s partially melted.

If you’ve made strawberry ice cream before, you may find a few other things are different about this recipe as well:

No Eggs – While eggs usually make for a richer ice cream, in the case of strawberry ice cream, they do so at the expense of that amazing fresh strawberry flavor – the exact thing that you want to preserve. Another bonus for leaving the eggs out – no cooking necessary. (I’m not afraid of raw eggs, but you may be, and that’s ok. Our eggs are produced in my backyard.) Anyway, that leads me to…
No Cooking – Why? First off, you don’t have eggs, so there’s no reason to make a “custard base.” Cooking also changes the flavor of the strawberries, and all I want to taste is sweet cream and fresh strawberries.
Less Sweeteners (i.e., sugar, etc.) – Almost all of the recipes I consulted as I was developing this recipe used a heavier hand with the sweeteners than my final recipe. I prefer to enhance the natural sweetness of the strawberries rather than overwhelm it. It’s a delicate balance, based in part on how sweet your strawberries are.
Corn Syrup – I use corn syrup in a number of my ice cream recipes, particularly the ones that are heavy on fruit. It adds texture and body, while discouraging ice crystal formation.
Half & Half – Yes, you can use heavy cream if you want. You can also use 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream (but that’s basically what half & half is, so why?). I’ve made this recipe using each of these three options, all with fine results; however, I think the lighter, cleaner flavor of the half & half lets the fresh strawberry flavors shine through most brightly.

We hope you enjoy this fresh strawberry ice cream as much as we do!

Best Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream Ever!

An easy-to-make strawberry ice cream that preserves the fresh taste of summer strawberries with a smooth, creamy texture.

Course Dessert

Author Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

1 quart fresh strawberries divided
1 cup sugar divided (or more, to taste)
2 tablespoons whipped cream vodka** [Optional sort of]
2 cups half & half
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 tsp kosher salt to taste

Instructions

Hull all the strawberries. Chop enough strawberries to make one cup of chopped berries. (You probably want the chunks to be pretty small, but I'll leave that to you.) Put chopped strawberries in a small bowl with 1/4 cup sugar and the vodka. Refrigerate while you make the rest of the ice cream base.
Put remaining strawberries in a blender and puree. Measure out about 1 1/2 cups of puree. (If you have extra, put it in the fridge - you can use it for ice cream topping later!)
Blend the 1 1/2 cups of strawberry puree with the remaining ingredients. Taste the mixture and adjust the sweetness to your personal tastes by adding a little additional sugar if desired.
Chill the ice cream base in the blender jar in refrigerator for at least one hour.
Take the blender jar out of the fridge and add the chopped strawberry mixture. Pulse very briefly to combine. (You want to keep those little chunks of strawberries, so don't get crazy here.)
Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions.
Serve immediately for soft serve ice cream, or, if you prefer your ice cream hard-set, put it in the freezer for 2-4 hours before serving.

Just so you know, I didn’t reinvent the wheel here – I consulted a vast number of other strawberry recipes, and incorporated some of their ideas as I developed this recipe. I think it’s important to give credit where it’s due, so here are the resources that I leaned on the heaviest:

Easy Eggless Strawberry Ice Cream [All Recipes]
Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream [Life Made Simple]
The Best Strawberry Ice Cream [Serious Eats] – I totally borrowed the idea of macerating the strawberry chucks from this one.

I’ll be posting more ice cream recipes throughout the summer. What are some of your favorite flavors? Let me know in the comments below!

^{Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. (Rest assured though, we will NEVER recommend anything we don’t believe in just to make a buck. We like to sleep at night.) Anywho, while clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running – and (relatively) ad-free!! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!}

Homemade {Dairy-free} Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

May 17 By Renée ♥ 30 Comments

The Richest, Creamiest Dairy-free VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM Ever ~ Made with Coconut Milk!

Mr. B loves ice cream, and last year I splurged and bought him a new ice cream maker for his birthday. (Well, to be perfectly honest, it was more for “our” birthdays – he’s only three days older than me.) It was definitely a great purchase!

^{This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.}

Our oldest daughter is on a dairy-free diet right now, so when she came over for dinner the other night, I whipped up this delicious coconut milk-based ice cream. It never made it from the ice cream maker into the freezer – it was gone too fast! And it was scrumptious with the fresh berry compote I made last week!

5 from 3 votes

Dairy-free Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Author Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

4 egg yolks
2/3 cups cane sugar
2 13.5-ounce cans full-fat coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 whole vanilla bean
2 tablespoons vodka

Instructions

Combine egg yolks, coconut milk, sugar, and salt in a blender and process until smooth.
Pour mixture into a medium sauce pan, and heat over medium low just until steamy. DO NOT BOIL.
Slice vanilla bean down the middle, and scrape the inside into the hot coconut milk mixture. Whisk to combine. (I also put the vanilla bean pod in and fish them out before I put the ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker.)
Continue to cook until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of a thin custard.
Remove from heat and whisk in the vodka. (This keeps the ice cream from getting too hard in the freezer. For alternative preparation, see note below.)
Refrigerate mixture about 2 hours, or until completely cold.
Pour mixture into ice cream freezer and prepare according to manufacturer’s directions.

Recipe Notes

Alternate "vodka-free" Preparation: 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract can be substituted in place of the vanilla bean and vodka.

Note that, if you are concerned about alcohol in your ice cream, vanilla extract contains as much alcohol as vodka. Either way, the vanilla extract or vodka MUST be added AFTER the mixture is taken off the stove. The alcohol helps to keep the ice cream from getting too hard.

For soft-serve style ice cream, serve immediately. For a harder scoopable ice cream, place in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Take out and place on the counter for 10 minutes to soften for serving.

^{Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!}

It’s Soda Time! {How to Make an Old-fashioned Chocolate Ice Cream Soda}

October 19 By Renée ♥ 19 Comments

You need just three ingredients to make a delicious old-fashioned chocolate ice cream soda – and a glass full of wonderful, bubbly memories to share.

^{Disclosure: We teamed up with Canada Dry for this post. All images and opinions are my own.}

My brother LA is sixteen years older than me and left for college when I was just two, so the only time I ever saw him when I was little was when he came home for holidays or spring break. Because of our age difference, it would have been easy for us to never have had any kind of real relationship, but LA didn’t let that happen. From the time I can remember, he has always made an effort to make a place for me in his life.

One way he did that was to establish a few simple traditions between us, the most enduring and dear to me being our Soda Time.

Whenever he came home, LA would always make us chocolate ice cream sodas. It was our thing. Soda Time was the one time I had my big brother all to myself, and as I grew up, it became a tradition that – to this day – I look forward to with great anticipation.

I’m pretty sure I drove my mom and dad nuts back when I was a kid, because whenever I caught wind that LA was on his way home, I’d make one of them go up to Freddy’s to get the Canada Dry, chocolate syrup, and ice cream so that we had everything we needed when he arrived.

LA always made a big, fun production of making our sodas, what with his special soda-mixing skills and spoon flourishes and all. He also taught me that you can’t just dump everything into a tall glass and call it good: making a perfect old-fashioned ice cream soda requires some finesse.

How to Make an Old-fashioned Ice Cream Soda

For each soda, you will need:

2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream
6-8 ounces Canada Dry Club Soda or Seltzer Water [Original flavor] (We prefer Club Soda)
2-3 tablespoons chocolate syrup

First, find a suitable vessel. A soda glass is perfect, of course, but if you’re short on those, you can use any large, tall glass. (You can even do what my brother and I do when we’re feeling lazy and make a soda-in-a-bowl.)
Next, drop one scoop of ice cream into the bottom of the glass and pour about 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup on top.
Use a soda spoon to squish and mash and mix everything around until the ice cream and the chocolate syrup become a sort of chocolate ice cream slurry.
Now comes the tricky part: you need to take a soda spoon in your dominate hand and stir constantly while you very slowly pour club soda or seltzer water into the glass with your other hand. Continue adding seltzer until the glass is about three-fourths full.
Taste the soda to make sure it’s chocolaty enough for you. (If not, just stir in a little additional chocolate syrup.)
Finish it off by adding a scoop of ice cream to the soda glass, and mount an additional scoop to the rim, sidecar style.

Top it off with one last splash of club soda or seltzer water (I prefer club soda), pop in a straw and enjoy! We usually serve ours with extra club soda on the side so that we can make our sodas last as long as possible.)

For the record, LA has lived in Iowa for decades now and sometimes years pass without us getting together. However, whenever he visits, you can bet that I will have the chocolate syrup, ice cream and Canada Dry waiting for him.

Who will you share SODA TIME with?

Butterscotch & Caramel: First Cousins of Sweet {Recipe Round-up}

September 3 By Renée ♥ 9 Comments

Caramel sauce (and its first cousin Butterscotch) can take a simple scoop of ice cream or a slice of pie to a whole new level of awesome.

Butterscotch and caramel remind me a little of Patty and Cathy Lane. (Showing my age again. Oh well.) Patty and Cathy were identical first cousins, both played by Patty Duke in The Patty Duke Show, which aired on television back in the early 60’s. (I only remember seeing it in reruns, if that makes you feel any better.) While both girls were identical in physical appearance, their style, tastes, and attitudes were very different, as the show’s theme song illustrates: “…where Cathy adores the minuet, the Ballet Russe and crêpes Suzette, our Patty loves to rock ‘n’ roll, a hot dog makes her lose control...”

Butterscotch and caramel are like that. Except maybe the hot dog part. And like Patty and Cathy, people get butterscotch and caramel mixed up. If you see them from across a crowded room, chances are you won’t be able to tell them apart. But up close, there are some distinct differences.

What’s the difference between butterscotch and caramel?

The primary flavors of caramel are the sugar and cream (or milk), and ingredients usually include granulated [white] sugar, milk and/or cream, butter, and vanilla.

The dominant flavors in traditional butterscotch, on the other hand, are brown sugar and butter, and it does not contain dairy except for that in the butter. Historically, butterscotch was made with treacle (a by-product of sugar refining) or molasses, but today it is generally made from brown sugar.

Butterscotch has an interesting history. While there are many theories about its origins, food historians (yes, that’s a thing!) agree that the first record of the word “butterscotch” appeared in 1817, when Samuel Parkinson began making the candy in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. The candy soon won royal approval, and became an attraction in Doncaster until production was ceased in 1977. Then in 2003, a Doncaster couple discovered the recipe inside an old Parkinson’s St Leger tin found in their cellar. They went on to form Parkinson’s Doncaster Butterscotch Ltd, and now produce butterscotch made from the original recipe for sale all over the world.

While making either one in candy form can be tricky (or at least require a candy thermometer), both caramel and butterscotch sauces are very easy to make, and store well for weeks. Mr. B and I keep some in our fridge at all times, for pouring over ice cream, drizzling on desserts, and mixing in coffee and other delicious beverages. Here are a few of my favorite recipes from around the web:

Ridiculously Easy Caramel Sauce [The Cafe Sucra Farine]
Divine Caramel Sauce [Mel’s Kitchen]
Buttermilk Bourbon Caramel Sauce [Mom On Time Out]
Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce [Simple Roots Wellness]
Whiskey Caramel Sauce [Mountain Mama Cooks]
Dulce le Leche (Oven & Slow Cooker Methods) [The Yummy Life]
Homemade Butterscotch Sauce [The Brown-eyed Baker]
Maple Butterscotch Sauce [Maple Syrup World] ← wouldn’t that be an amazing theme park?

Note: You may notice that there are no recipes on this list for “salted” anything. I don’t have anything against salted caramel per say, and even enjoy it on occasion, but I find that lately you can’t even throw of glance around the room without hitting a “salted caramel” something, and I’m tired of it. This is my soapbox and I’m standing on it – with my spoon in a bowl of ice cream and unsalted butterscotch sauce.

For an easy, impressive dessert presentation, serve vanilla ice cream and a sidecar of banana lumpia.

4-Ingredient Pineapple Ice Cream {Dole Whip Recipe}

July 24 By Renée ♥ 18 Comments

No need to travel to Hawaii (or Disneyland!) to enjoy a refreshing cup of Dole Whip pineapple soft serve – you can make it yourself with just four ingredients!

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Last Monday was my friend Michelle’s birthday, and since Dole Whip is one of her favorite things in life, I decided to make her some. Unfortunately, many of the Dole Whip copycat recipes I found required fresh pineapple, and the fresh pineapple sold outside of Hawaii seems to be much more acidic than that sold in Oahu (and likely the other islands as well, based on what I’ve been told). Like many people, Michelle doesn’t do so well with very acidic foods, so I decided to try shake things up a bit and use pineapple juice instead.

The end-product of this recipe is a very smooth soft serve that tastes a little creamier and a bit less tart than the official Dole Whip, but it is nevertheless deliciously refreshing. If you prefer a harder, more traditional-style ice cream, just pop it into the freezer for a few hours before serving. Enjoy!

No need to travel to Hawaii (or Disneyland!) to enjoy a refreshing cup of pineapple soft serve - you can make it yourself with just four ingredients! 4-Ingredient Dole Whip Copycat - Pineapple Ice cream | The Good Hearted Woman

5 from 1 vote

Dole Whip {Copycat Recipe}

Course Yummy

Cuisine Dessert

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 2 quarts

Author Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

3 cups pineapple juice and chunks** See note!
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups heavy cream

Instructions

Mix pineapple juice and sugar together until sugar has dissolved. (I do this in a blender becasue I think it makes for an airier end product.)
Add vanilla and heavy cream.
Pour into a prepared ice cream maker and follow ice cream maker directions.
When ice cream is ready, you can serve it immediately, or put it in the fridge and allow it to set up.

Recipe Notes

*Use Dole pineapple juice. You can use all juice, but it's even better if you add some fresh pineapple. To do this, put about a cup of pineapple chunks to a measuring cup and then pour in pineapple juice until it reaches the 3-cup line.

This recipe fits my 2-quart ice cream maker perfectly; however, if you have a larger ice cream maker, simply adjust the amounts accordingly.

_{Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running – and (relatively) ad-free!! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!}

Sweet Spot for Doernbecher

May 15 By Renée ♥ 7 Comments

Chevy Shop Social: Portland {Part 2}

My editors used to tell me, “Put the important stuff up front, because a lot of people don’t read the whole thing. SO…

C’mon down to Pioneer Square next Thursday! The party starts at 6pm and Raffle Tickets are just $2 a pop!

Really, that’s all you need to know. (But keep reading anyway.)

Last time, I told you why the Chevy Shop Social event to benefit Doernbecher Childrens Hospital is so important. (A few of you even pulled out the Kleenex, didn’t you?) Now comes the fun part! The part where I tell you how you can win some amazingly cool stuff for a song. {Seriously.}

Wherever you are in Portland, make it your Sweet Spot!

My “Sweet Spot Basket” [Retail value $520] is full of items from some of the sweetest spots in town. Sink your teeth into decadently delicious handcrafted chocolates from BATCH Chocolates, take a PDX Food Cart tour with your honey, or enjoy a dish of homemade ice cream with all the fixings from your new Cuisinart Gelateria Ice Cream Maker.

I spent the last few days driving around in this sweet little number (courtesy of Chevrolet, thank you very much!) and shopping at some of my favorite Portland places to put together this awesome raffle basket full of some of my Portland favorites!

I am so in love with this Chevy Impala. Leather interior, amazing responsiveness. Red. LOVE it! I think it loves me too… maybe we should stay together. Whaddaya say, guys? My birthday *is* next week, ya know?!

I’m just one of fifteen event ambassadors that are participating in the Chevy Shop Social. On Wednesday, I went shopping with another ambassador – my friend Marlynn of Urban Bliss Life – and we had a blast. We practically had to tear ourselves out of ~~cookware heaven~~ Sur La Table with a cast iron spatula!

Marlynn has been driving this Chevy Corvette Stingray all week! She’s a braver woman than I am: I don’t think I’d have the nerve to take it around the block – it’s worth more than my first house cost. (A lot more!) I happen to know that Marlynn has some awesome items going into her basket as well. (Do the Olympia Provisions or Ringside ring a bell? And that’s just the beginning!) I can’t wait to see what else she pulls together. (You can read all about her baskets here!)

Here’s a few of the items going into my basket:

I fell in love with this adorable polka dot apron at Sur La Table. It goes so well with Batch Chocolates and homemade ice cream!

Wait! Did I say “homemade ice cream”? Well, yes I did. This Cuisinart Gelateria Ice Cream Maker from Sur La Table is top-of-the-line. It will make ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt or sorbet at the touch of a button. I’m pretty sure it will do your dishes too. (I might have made that last one up.) If you win my basket, you’ll also get some beautiful little ice cream dishes and a bright red scoop!

Other PDX entries into my Sweet Spot Basket include hand-crafted botanical syrups from the lovely ladies of RAFT Syrups and two Portland Food Cart Tours with PDX food cart guru Brett Burmeister. The sweet ladies at Fancy That Celebrations Shoppe in Hillsboro spent an hour helping me make everything pretty for you, and included a gift certificate for their store too!

Here’s how to win: Just come on down to Pioneer Square on May 21 at 6pm for the Chevy Shop Social: Portland. Raffle tickets are only $2 each, and baskets have a retail value of at least $250, and many are much more. (Mine is worth $520!!!!) Simply enter by placing one or more raffle tickets in the bowl in front of the basket you want to win. Boom! Then cross your fingers and have some fun!

Did I mention that the event is on my birthday!?! All the more reason for you to come to the party!

The Chevy Shop Social is open to the public and will also feature live music by Adventure Galley. Food trucks will be on hand, including the Grilled Cheese Grill and Ramy’s Lamb Shack, as well as samplings of local beverages including the Portland Cider Co. and Abbey Creek Vineyard & Winery. Chevy Shop Social: Portland is sponsored by Chevrolet and SheBuysCars.com, and proceeds directly benefit Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

See you there!

In my basket –

Sur La Table
Cuisinart Gelateria Ice Cream Maker (Makes up to two quarts of ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt or sorbet.)
Polka Dot Apron (So Cute!!)
Zyliss Red Ice Cream Scoop
Insulated Ice Cream Container
Glass Ice Cream Bowls (Set of 4)

Food Carts Portland
Food Cart Tour for 2

Batch Chocolates
Assorted Truffles (Box of 12)
Batch Bars (2-2/packs)

Raft Syrups
Hibiscus Lavender
Lemon Ginger Syrup

Fancy That Celebrations Shoppe
Gift Certificate
Assorted Pretty Candies
Hand-stamped Ice Cream Spoons (from Inkberry Printing)
Ice Cream Party Decor

Total Basket Value: $520+

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream {Sponsored}

July 28 By Renée ♥ 28 Comments

Ice cream is the stuff memories are made of. The bell of the ice cream truck ringing through the neighborhood, a cone at Goodale’s after a haircut, a chocolate soda with my big brother. These are my earliest recollections – my senses overflow with sweet ice cream memories. I’ll bet yours do too.

Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream has tubs and buckets and barrels of ice cream memories, and she is sharing them with everyone she can, all across the US.

Jeni has been pursuing her passion for creating ultra-smooth, cleanly melting ice cream for nearly 20 years now, beginning in 1996 when she opened her first ice cream shop – Scream – in Columbus, Ohio. After a few bumpy years, the formerly pink-hair art student celebrated the grand opening of the first Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Shop (also in Columbus) in 2002, and she has been churning out her uniquely inspired frozen flavor concoctions ever since.

No one else makes ice cream like Jeni Britton Bauer.” ~ Food & Wine Magazine

Watch Jeni’s Easy How-to for Ice Cream & Sweet Berry Empanadas!

(I read somewhere recently that “hand pies” are the new cupcakes!)

Take a look at the Breville food processor that Jeni is using in the video in real life. I love how big the bowl is, and how easy it looks to add ingredients. It gets great reviews on Amazon, and best of all, it comes in Red!!

For me, ice cream is number one… everything ice cream touches becomes richer, and more deeply perceived. “ ~ Jeni Britton Bauer

All across the internet, folks with easy access to Jeni’s Scoop Shops – mostly found east of the Mississippi – are raving about the uniquely dense, creamy texture and intense, creative flavors of Jeni’s ice cream. Unfortunately, the nearest Scoop Shop to Portland is in Chicago, Illinois – a bit of a drive, even for flavors like Brambleberry Crisp, Sweet Cream Biscuits and Peach Jam, or Askinosie Dark Milk Chocolate. Here in the Pacific NW, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream is currently only available in select stores, where it sells for an astounding $11 a pint! Wow! With a price tag like that, Jeni’s ice cream may well be a treat best reserved for Date Night or Girl’s Night Out.

Too bad you can’t just make it at home.

Oh wait – you can!

Which brings me to what I’m most excited about – Jeni’s Ice Cream cookbooks.

Written to allow people to make the same ice cream at home that is served in Jeni’s Scoop Shops, both in flavor and in texture, Jeni’s latest book – Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts – is filled with picture after picture of melty, layered deliciousness and easy-to-follow instructions. Inside you’ll find more than 100 “ice cream-centric” recipes, including recipes for one-of-a-kind cakes, cobblers, cookies, pies, pastries, puddings, biscuits, empanadas, sundaes, sauces, and parfaits. It makes my tongue tingle just thinking about it!

What I love about ice cream is that is accessorizes a dessert. And it can change the conversation. You can start with just a beautiful, well-made but very simple cake, and if you put it with a coriander ice cream, for instance, it says one thing. Something like raspberry sorbet, which is much lighter, say something altogether different. And so you can choose ice cream to accompany your dessert, and that sort of creates the conversation around the table.” ~ Jeni Britton Bauer

Jeni’s Ice Cream! Waffle Recipe by Breville USA, on Flickr

Jeni lists an amazing array of ice cream flavors both in her stores and her books, but they all start with one simple base. (In fact, you can find the entire recipe right here → Jeni’s Ice Cream Base.) For Jeni, creating an ice cream dessert is all about what she calls Freestylin’ – “Mixing and matching recipes and “cooking between the pages,” or freestylin’.” Her book is designed so that the reader can simply select any recipe as a starting point, and by mixing and matching it with other recipes, they can create something uniquely their own.

Which brings me back to those ice cream memories. My all-time favorite wedding gift for young couples is an ice cream churn. The old-fashioned kind, with a crank and no motor. I usually give it to them with a little laminated card. On one side is my mother’s vanilla ice cream recipe, and on the other is a note that reads:

There is no celebration that cannot be made sweeter, or heated words that cannot be cooled, by making and sharing a batch of ice cream together.” ~ Renée B.

Next time, I’ll include a copy of Jeni’s book with my gift as well – it is full of memories waiting to be made.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All photos were used under a Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License via Flickr. Sweet Empanadas video courtesy of Breville/Viral Gains. This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions expressed are my own.

What is your favorite ice cream memory?

Raspberry Ginger-Butterscotch Sundae

June 25 By Mr. B 2 Comments

Notes from the Man Cave

Last night, I had a serious craving for something sweet, so Renée went down to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of this stuff. After the first bite, my exact words to her were, “Oh Baby, you need to blog this!” But I know she won’t. She doesn’t usually like blogging about stuff that’s bad for you, or meat, or stuff made with a lot of store-bought ingredients.

I, on the other hand, have no problem with any of that.

So here’s Renée’s Raspberry Ginger-Butterscotch Sundae, which I’m pretty sure is one of the best ice cream combinations I’ve ever tried.

Raspberry Sundae with Ginger-Butterscotch Sauce | The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Ginger Syrup
Butterscotch Syrup
Fresh Raspberries

Instructions

Mix one part butterscotch syrup with one part ginger syrup. Drizzle over ice cream and garnish generously with raspberries.

I’m pretty sure that after this, Renée will be making butterscotch sauce from scratch. See how I suffer?

Thanks to my lovely wife for taking this picture and Picmonkeying it up for me.

Pumpkin Fall Fantasy Smoothie

October 21 By Renée ♥ Leave a Comment

You can thank Fantasy Basketball for this post. Or Mr. B. Or both. Anyway, tonight while he was deep into the draft for his leventy-seventh fantasy sports team (which are not real, guys, in case you were confused) I got bored, so I started throwing things in the blender and when I was done, I had my first ever Coconut Peach Pumpkin Smoothie!! Super-awesome! So good, in fact, that Mr. B actually came back to reality long enough to tell me so.

(When I read that intro to Mr. B, he told me that it sounded like I may have a bit of an attitude, which wasn’t my intention at all. So just to clarify; I think Mr. B is adorable, and I think his little pretend sport teams are adorable too. I think I’ll keep him. ♥)

Tropical Fall Fantasy Smoothie

Combine the following in a blender:

1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 whole peach, fresh or canned
½ cup crushed ice
1/3 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup sweetened coconut
2 tbs. cooked pumpkin, fresh or canned
1 tsp. vanilla
½ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

I’m thinking this would make a fantastic ice cream too, but it was all gone before I had a chance to freeze any! Makes about 2 servings.