Scooped: Smokey S'mores Ice Cream

Photo by Brinn Willis {BMW} Photography

Our blog started about 5 or so years ago as a family blog, and since then it has served as some combo of food/family/sewing blog depending on our moods. Now it is mostly sewing blog, which is as it should be, Holli is the talented one in this family with her awesome sewing skills. She is taking the blog by storm, but every so often I flex my creative muscles, hijack her blog, and post about what I am passionate about...ICE CREAM! So from now on consider this a subcategory of the Stitched blog called Scooped. In an odd way ice cream and handmade clothes have a couple things in common: 1) They are homemade and 2) a lot of people would rather just buy them instead of making them themselves. 

That being said, let's get to the heart of the matter. My newest flavor, Smokey S'mores.

I have a love hate relationship with s'mores. I like the idea of them. I like the social hang by the fire vibe, casually toasting your marshmallows on a stick and the combination of crunchy graham cracker, with toasty charred marshmallow and rich delicious chocolate seems like a match made in heaven. However I feel the execution is flawed. When you bite in, the graham cracker crumbles and the whole thing falls apart.

Pistachio Ice Cream

I love anything pistachio flavored. Holli and I are always on the look out for good pistachio ice cream. Apparently the best way is to make it yourself. I'm not really surprised though. All of these homemade ice creams we have been making are better than the store bought stuff. I really think toasting the pistachios is what sets this ice cream apart. Mine turned out just a little bit too salty, because my pistachios were salted when they shouldn't have been. Although I did like the saltier kick it was just a little too much. Lesson learned.

Buckeye Ice Cream

If you do not know what a buck-eye is, I truly feel sorry for you. Like a three legged zebra in the wild, who is bound to get eaten by a lion. Except you are the zebra and the lion is sorrow and despair from a life not eating buckeyes. Don't be the Zebra and do yourself a favor and eat a ball of peanut buttery goodness dipped in chocolate.

When I made this ice cream I thought of Holli's family. They always make buck-eye's for Christmas and I always eat them. It is a really good trade now that I think about it!

Apparently making a lot of awesome ice cream and then telling people at work how awesome they are makes people mad. So to avoid being duct tapped to my chair at work I made a double batch of this stuff and brought it over. Oddly enough the fire alarm went off that day and it happened to be a million degrees outside. So I grabbed the ice cream with a bunch of cups and spoons and quickly became the most popular person at work! Who knew it was that easy?

Bacon Ice Cream

If you are thinking bacon ice cream is crazy just stop right there! I have to admit, for a split second, and I'm not proud of this, I doubted that it would be good. Then I realized my name isn't Jane Austen and I am a man, a man who loves bacon. With that momentary lapse in judgment out of the way I got to work! See look at how beautiful it looks!

Please note this ice cream isn't straight up bacon flavored. Something that delicious would kill any one who eats it. Except for this man:

Chocolate, Cinnamon and Cayenne Pepper Ice Cream

I know the whole sweet and spicy thing sounds crazy, but if you haven't tried chocolate with cayenne pepper you really should. Lindt makes a really good dark chocolate with cayenne pepper chocolate bar, FYI. The cayenne pepper makes the flavors more complex and the heat makes it so much more interesting. This recipe is kind of a twist on Mexican hot chocolate. you don't taste the cayenne and it's not one of those things that assaults you when you first bite in. It is a warm subtle heat that grows in the back of your throat. When I was tasting the sauce I thought it was a little weak so I added a little bit more. It still wasn't doing it for me. I may have double the cayenne and it may have been a little more hot than I would have liked. I think after sitting for a little bit in the fridge the heat intensified. Next time I make this I will stick to the recipe and tone down the spice a little!

This recipe was Jeni's splendid ice cream, like most of the recipes I use. Every time I think about this recipe I think about a Brazilian Soap Opera that was really popular while I was there called "Chocolate com Pimpenta" or Chocolate with Peppers. Everyone always had it on when we were at their house. Here is an, uh, interesting clip:

Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Ice Cream with Balsamic Drizzle

We had a really hard time choosing an ice cream flavor for this week, so I cracked open my Father's day present to see if I could find something tasty to make. What was my Father's day present you ask? Well I am glad you asked because it is the perfect segue in my plug for this book!

Coconut with Roasted Cherries Ice Cream

This is the second installment of our ice cream adventures. I really loved this coconut ice cream. The cherries were a nice touch too. We had a ton of sour cherries from the farm so we decided to use some of those up. We thought if we roasted them with enough sugar that would balance out the tart. It made a nice sweet syrup, but the cherries were still really tart. We ended up making two batches of this and the first batch we added too many cherries I think. It was a little too tart. Had we used normal cherries I think those would have worked out a little better. Live and learn right? It didn't ruin the ice cream at all, but I would have liked a little less tart. Here is the link for the recipe if you want to give it a try. On to the next flavor!

Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry Ice Cream

It is no secret that we love ice cream in the Coats household. Even though we eat ice cream year round, come summer ice cream eating is in full force! Now that we have a better ice cream maker we decided to call this summer, "The Summer of Ice Cream!" I know, it took us a long time to come up with that name.

Yes I did take this picture and I'm in love with it! Try not to lick the screen right now.

Ice Cream...It's a Year Round Sort of Thing!

I know what you are thinking, why post about Ice Cream in December? To my defense I would add: 1) Holli  scored a little tiny ice cream maker at the thrift store for only a couple bucks. 2) I can and will eat ice cream all year round. 3) Who cares, this is my blog and I will post what ever I want!

This sweet ice cream maker purchase couldn't have come at a better time because I just saw an awesome recipe from Cooks Illustrated...I know it's like Sports Illustrated, but with food, and wait till you see the centerfolds...WOW-ZA! Anyhoo, I decided to try the new recipe and couldn't have been happier. They take a different approach to get the best, creamiest, and crystal free ice cream possible. It did not fail to impress this ice cream connoisseur...and by connoisseur I mean guy who really likes to eat ice cream!

So if you don't mind making ice cream in the winter give this a go. You will need an ice cream maker for this...sorry. I would buy one if you don't own one yet, you can't go wrong with homemade ice cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream
Cook Illustrated 

Blended Root Beer Float

This post will be short and sweet (no pun intended)! I love root beer floats and if you ask Holli she will tell you that in the summer I get these crazy root beer float cravings. There is something wonderful about the root beer crystals that form in the cracks of the ice cream and then drinking that creamy root beer goodness afterwards! It doesn't get much better on a hot summer day! That being said, you would think a blended root beer float would be inferior because you just don't get that same experience you do with the traditional float. I would beg to differ. I almost prefer the blended float. I can't exactly explain why, but it is just better. Don't get me wrong I still love the float, but you will just have to try it for yourself and decide.

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