Caramel Cashew Icecream | Icecream recipes

I.love.icecream... period. Open my freezer and you can find a tub of icecream anytime of the year, be it summer or spring or fall or even during the peaks of winter. Sometimes I make it at home and sometimes I buy it from the store.
The huss is a big fan of nuts in icecream. The likes like butter pecan and caramel cashew from Kopps make him go bonkers and we end up buying a scoop or two whenever it is the flavor of the day at Kopps. Few days back there was a sale for cashews in one of our local stores and I picked 2 packets to stock up. I then felt it was way too much (thats how I roll, guys) and so wanted to use up atleast one packet. Half of it went into making this yummilicious caramel icecream. Well, dont ask about the rest.

~What U Need*~ Granulated sugar - 1 cup Heavy cream - 2 cups, 1+1 Rosated salted cashew - 1 cup Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp Whole milk - 1 1/4 cup Egg yolks - 5, large How I Made it: Bring 1 cup cream to a gentle boil. Heat 1 cup sugar in a thick bottomed vessel with 4 tbsp water swirling occasionally to melt the sugar evenly. Melt the sugar till it turns dark amber. Add the cream to the caramel and stir gently until it forms a homogeneous mixture. Be careful the caramel will splutter a lot as soon as you add the cream to it. Remove from the flame. Meanwhile, bring milk, remaining cup cream, to boil in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Add the milk mixture in a thin stream into the yolk whisking all the time. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, and then stir in cooled caramel. Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold overnight. When you are ready to make ice cream, add chopped salted roasted cashew to the custard mixture and make ice cream according to your manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have ice cream maker, freeze the mixture for 45 minutes. Take it out, break up frozen bits with whisk. Repeat this process at 30 minute intervals for 2-3 hours. Freeze until ready to serve.

Yummy ice-cream is ready...

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Mango Icecream

Something about winter makes you crave icecream. I don't know about you but that is me. I love eating icecreams on a wintery night or on a snowy evening. If you follow me by instagram then you would have known the recent addition to my kitchen ~ my brand new Cuisinart icecream maker. Ever since I got this beauty I have been churning out different flavors non stop. The inaugural was done with the huss's favorite flavor, mango. I used canned sweentened mango pulp but if you are using fresh mangoes then increase the sugar content to your taste.

~*What U Need*~ Egg yolks - 3, large Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup Heavy cream - 350 ml Milk - 200 ml Vanilla extract - 1 tsp Mango pulp - 450 gms, I used canned How I Made it: Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale. In a saucepan set on medium heat bring the cream and milk to a boiling point. Add the vanilla and mix well. Temper the egg yolks with a small amount cream mixture, stir well. Slowly add the cream mixture over the egg yolks whisking all the time. Pour back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Add the pureed mango, cover and refrigerate until cold. Freeze the mixture as per your icecream maker's instructions.

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Chocolate Icecream | A David Leobitz recipe

Come on guys, lets take a break and chill out. And what best way than icecream. I wanted to take a break from the cookies but wanted to keep up with the season of sweetness and indulgence and this chocolate icecream is just right. Something about winter and chillness makes me have icecreams. And when it is chocolate, I have to go for it.
I have become a firm believer of "you taste what you add" after having this icecream. I used Ghiradelli chocolate and that is what tasted in every bite. Its rich, its smooth, its creamy and it is absolutely chocolate-y. So I strongly urge you to use the best quality chocolate that you can lay hands on.

~*What U Need*~ Heavy cream - 1 cup Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp Semisweet chocolate - 70 g, I used Ghiradelli Whole milk - 1/2 cup Sugar - 6 tbsp Medium egg yolks - 3 Vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp How I Made it: Warm 1/2 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1/2 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Or whisk the mixture every 1 hour to remove the ice crystals for 3hours and then freeze overnight.

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Banana Pudding Ice Cream | Easy Icecream recipes

I am part of this cooking challenge where we share two secret ingredients every month and cook a dish using one or both of the ingredients. This month I was paired with The Food Samaritan a.k.a Amrita Iyer who gave me 'banana' and 'condensed milk' as the secret ingredients. I was thrilled with the choice cos I knew what I would prepare immediately. This icecream has been in my mind for a long time because I loved the flavors(not the regular chocolate or vanilla) and the ease in making the icecream. The huss was totally thrilled with the icecream and so was pappu. A total winner, I would say.

Adapted from here ~*What U Need*~ Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can/14 oz Banana cream Jell-o Instant pudding - 1 pk/3,4 oz Banana - 1, sliced Heavy cream - 2 cups, 1 pint Peanut butter - 1/2 cup Chocolate syrup - 1/2 cup Digestive biscuits - 1/2 cup, chopped(I used ragi biscuits) How I Made it: Whisk Jell-o into sweetened condensed milk. Stir in sliced banana and digestive biscuits. Beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture. Layer 1/3rd of the icecream in your icecream bowl, place dollops of peanut butter on top, drizzle chocolate syrup, repeat with the rest of the mixture finishing with the icecream. Freeze overnight.

Serve topped with fudge sauce!!!

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Strawberry Cheesecake Icecream

Be it summer or winter icecreams are always welcome at home. Pappu loves 'iceseem' to the core. And whenever he wants a scoop he goes to the refrigerator and says "kadaa thora iceseem kudu". Thats open the door and give me icecream in our native language. Thats how much he loves his icecream. Well, I am no less. Now coming to this flavor, I love icecream, hubby loves cheesecake and pappu loves strawberries. So combining the three into an icecream for the season sounded just right.

To say that I am totally in love with this icecream is an understatement. I am mad about the flavor pairing. I steal a scoop whenever I pass by the refrigerator and I steal from the kid's share too. The icecream is creamy, slightly tangy and the itsy bitsy white chocolate graham crackers adds to the texture... 

~*What U Need*~ Strawberries - 8 oz, hulled, sliced Cream cheese - 5 oz Heavy Cream - 1 cup Lemon juice - 1/2 tbsp Sugar - 1/2 cup Strawberries - 2 oz, Hulled And Finley Diced Sugar - 1 tsp Honey Graham crackers - 3 sheets White chocolate - 1/4 cup Heavy cream - 1 tsp How I Made it: In a blender, puree the strawberries, cream cheese, cream, lemon juice, sugar and salt. Pour into a stainless bowl and place in the freezer. After 1 hour, take the container out and whisk to break all the ice crystals. Repeat this for every half an hour till the icecream is frozen. For the mix-ins: In a small bowl combine the strawberries and sugar, mix well and place in the refrigerator. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler with the cream. Cover the graham crackers with melted chocolate and place in the freezer. Once completely frozen, chop into pieces. Before the final cycle of whisking the icecream add the strawberry and graham cracker pieces. Freeze till completely frozen...

Scoop and serve!!!

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Eggless Vanilla icecream with Peanut Butter swirl

Temperatures have started rising here and I have started increasing fruits and water intake for the family. Since its the season of watermelons and sweet melons here, we never forget to pick one whenever we go grocery shopping. And then there are lemonades and sweet lassis. But at times that craving for frozen treats hits you in the face. Generally after having a hearty meal of chicken biryani. Ever since I made the strawberry icecream, the huss has been demanding homemade icecreams. Since he is a big time fan of peanut butter, I added a peanut butter swirl to the vanilla icecream after the last churn.

~*What U Need*~ Half and half - 1 cup Whole milk - 1 1/2 cups Whipped cream topping like cool whip - 1/2 cup Confectioner's sugar - 1/2 cup Vanilla extract - 1 tsp Peanut butter - 1/4 cup How I made it: Combine all ingredients together, mixing well to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a freezer safe bowl and freeze for one hour. Remove and whisk well till all the icecrystals are broken. Repeat every hour for 3 times. When ready to freeze overnight, add the peanut butter in chunks here and there and then freeze overnight.

Serve as desired!!!

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Eggless Strawberry icecream | No Icecream machine

Strawberries have started cropping up everywhere in the market and they are big, bright and juicy to look at. I have never missed picking a carton for the past three weeks. Moreover pappu is a big fan of strawberries, he likes munching them for snack and so its a must in the grocery list. Last week he was down with a mild cold attack and the strawberries were left untouched. I had a whole carton of them and I wanted to put the whole box into use.

I knew the solution was icecream. We have never been big fans of strawberry icecream, its always been chocolate and so I was a bit hesitant. However I am happy that I made this. The tartness seemed to cleanse the palate with every bite making us to want more. I am totally in love with making icecreams at home and am sure gonna try more flavors.

Prep time: 20 mins; Cooking time: Nil; Serves - 8-10 Adapted from here ~*What U Need*~ Sliced strawberries - 1 cup Sugar - 1/2 cup Whole milk - 1/2 cup Heavy cream - 1 cup Vanilla - 1 tsp How I Made it: In a bowl, add 2 tbsp sugar and strawberries. Give it a good sir and let it sit for 2 hours at room temperature. After 2 hours, puree 3/4 th of the strawberries with the syrup and using a fork mash the remaining strawberries. Add the remaining sugar to the milk and melt it in low heat. Cool to room temperature. Whisk the cream to soft peaks. Mix the milk, strawberry puree and vanilla. Fold in the cream. Pour into a freezer proof container and chill for one hour. After 1 hour, take the icecream and whisk to break all the crystals. Repeat procedure 3 times and then chill overnight.

Serve with some chocolate sauce!!!

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Peanut Butter milkshake | PB Milkshake

Mr.A hates cooking or to be more precise anything cooking. Right from prepping to chopping to sauteing he detests cooking... And so on days when I am late from office or on days when I am lazy to cook us a decent meal, we order take-aways. However he makes smoothies (at times) when mood suits him. And we have it for breakfast with some toast or at times pour it into our cereal bowl, top it with cornflakes and nuts and dig in.

Mostly he makes this nutty banana smoothie cos bananas are a pantry essential at my place and most of the times we will be having one or two over-ripe ones, atleast. But when we are out of bananas, he tries something new or suggests a new combo (I would like to put that as "makes me try something new"). We tried this when were out of bananas, had an untouched bottle of peanut butter tat was gonna reach its expiry date and a desire to try something new.

Most of the recipes I came across used too much of peanut butter, say 1/2 cup for every one cup milk. We did not want the smoothie to be that heavy and so we reduced the amount of pb but if you want the drink to be thick, creamy, luscious and heavy then go with the original recipe.

~*What U Need*~ Milk - 2 cups Peanut Butter - 1/4 cup Sugar - 2 tbsp Vanilla ice cream - 2 scoops(optional) Icecubes - optional

How I Made it:
In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend till smooth. Pour into chilled glasses; serve immediately.

Serve chilled!!!

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Red Wine Poached Pears with Sticky Red Wine Sauce and Vanilla Whipped Cream

Its been a long time since I posted something exotic or romantic here and so am pausing the amma cooks series and diwali recipes just to post this masterchef inspired dish.
Have you ever seen the Junior masterchef series??? If not Indians Indian home chefs Indian foodies or if you are anyone who love to cook or eat and if you are from India, do not forget to switch on your TV every weekday night at 9 pm and tune over to Star World. The second season is being aired in Star world and I never miss a single episode. Oh all those boys and girls, cooking like professional chefs and cooking their hats off are a beauty to look at. And their plating skills are spot on. You can look at them forever and you would never want to take a bite from the plate. This recipe has been adapted from the Junior masterchef series. I don't remember the season nor the name of the chef-ling who made this but I still remember how the gal was confident that her poached pears recipe would be a winner. And George was simply bowled over by the outcome... U should have seen the way the spoon slid into the pears, it was like knife passing through softened butter. Since then I was hooked to the recipe. It was restaurant-y and beautiful.
The original recipe used only sugar syurp to poach the pears but I had some red wine sitting on my countertop and that inspired me to poach the pears in the wine. I spiced it up with cinnamom and star anise and the flavor was not too overpowering but gave a beautiful kick to the dish. I haven't done justice to the plating but the dish was addictive till the final bite.

Pears poached in spiced red wine, served with spiced red wine reduction and quenelles of vanilla whipped cream and vanilla ice cream... exotic indulgence...

I wanted to try this for the huss because its been a while since I made something exotic just for him. I wanted to surprise him when he was back from work and so started juggling around by 4. Taking the day off rewarded with a romantic evening and that was all we wanted. Nothing can beat a happy smile and a firm hug from ur love.
Its an easy dish to put together provided you have all the components 'mise en place'. Poach the pears first, dump them in the fridge, whip the cream and put all the elememnts in the freezer. Everything came together so beautifully and when I plated it, I just loved the way it looked.

~*What U Need*~
Firm and Ripe Pears - 2
Red wine - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Fresh Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Star Anise - 1
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

For Vanilla Whipped Cream
Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Vanilla ice cream - 2 scoops

How I Made it:
Peel the pears carefully with the stalk intact. Cut a straight slice off the bottom, this is to make sure that the pears can stand straight.
Next in a deep bottom pan, add red wine, cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice, star anise and vanilla extract and bring to a boil. Add the pears to the pan on their sides.
Bring the heat to low flame and cook the pears for 15 mins on each side. Remove the pears and cook till the wine has reduced and you get a nice thick syrup. Chill the pears until serving.

Lets prepare the whipped cream. Freeze the bowl in which you are gonna make the whipped cream and the blades for 2 hours. Place the bowl with the cream over an iced bath and add the cream, sugar and vanilla extract and whip the cream till you get stiff peaks.

When serving, keep the pears on a plate, drizzle with 1 tbsp of the wine sauce and serve with a dollop of the whipped cream and 2 scoops of vanilla icecream.

Verdict: It was top notch restaurant-y. The smoothness of the pears with the not so sweet wine reduction and chilled ice cream is a perfect combination.

Suggestion: Make this for your valentine on V day and find him mesmerized !!!

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Stracciatella icecream ~ adding oomph to Vanilla icecream

Cream + Vanilla Custard = Simple Vanilla ice cream.
Vanilla ice cream + melted dark chocolate + drizzled all over = Yummy Stracciatella ice-cream.
...and that is how I oomphed it.
Making homemade ice-creams have always been on my to-do list and after the success with the mango ice-cream, I was so eager to try again. I kept it simple by making a simple vanilla ice cream without eggs but then I wanted an extra touch and so I melted some dark chocolate, drizzled over the frozen ice-cream.. and viola, I had a crunchy and yummy Stracciatella ice-cream.

The ice-cream had only a tad bit of icicles which could be easily ignored given to the fact that it is homemade and sans the preservatives. We don't generally buy ice-creams from outside and after this am never gonna even think about it. You can omit the chocolate drizzle and make a simple vanilla ice-cream which could be easily used to make cold-coffees, ice-cream shakes and so on.

~*What U Need*~   Milk - 1/2 cup Sugar - 7 tbsps (adjust to taste) Powdered sugar / icing sugar - 2 tbsps Fresh cream - 1 cup (I used Amul cream) Corn starch - 1 tbsp, heaped Vanilla extract - 2 tsps For Stracciatella Double Boiler Dark chocolate - 50 gms

How I made it:
Chill the bowl in which you will be whipping the cream in for half an hour. In the meantime, combine the corn starch with 2 tbsps of milk and mix well without any lumps. Now bring the remaining milk to boil and add vanilla extract and whisk.

Add the corn starch mixture and stir without forming lumps and till the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Take the chilled bowl from fridge, start whipping the cream at medium speed gradually adding the powdered sugar. Beat till you get soft peaks.To this add the prepared custard.

Whisk till everything combines well. Transfer the mixture to a freezer proof box and chill it in the freezer for 3 hours. After 3 hours remove from freezer and blend it again in the mixie or you can whisk it with a hand whisk. Repeat after every one hour for 3 times. This is done to break down the ice crystals forming.Freeze overnight and the next day you will find a fully formed ice cream with some ice crystals here n there. Blend it again in the mixie and then chill it till firm.

Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler. Using a fork, drizzle this over the chilled icecream.

Your creamy home made ice cream is ready. When serving break the dark chocolate to get Stracciatella ice cream.

Licked clean :D

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