Fresh Banana & Cinnamon Ice Cream

I'm here for my obligatory yearly blog post. ;)

I had a lot of ripe bananas, 11 to be exact. Hot weather is ice cream weather, although today we decided to take a hot weather break before we hit the triple digits again. I thought this would be a perfect way to use up some of those ripe bananas and I'm very pleased with the result.

Fresh Banana & Cinnamon Ice Cream

6 large very ripe bananas
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup mild flavored honey
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt

1. With a mixer, mash bananas on low until almost smooth.
2. Add in the other ingredients and mix on low until well combined.
3. Pour into ice cream maker and process for 30 - 40 minutes or until thick.
4. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze until firm.

It looks like baby food, but I promise it doesn't taste like baby food!

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

First post in over 1 1/2 years! I'm on a roll. 

So the other day my kids were complaining that we didn't have any ice cream. Most of the time we don't have ice cream in the house, but it's been really hot the last few weeks and they want (need?) ice cream. So I got out my ice cream maker for the first time in a very long time, and threw together some ice cream. I made this up as I went along and it turned out really yummy. More of a dark chocolate and was very creamy and smooth. Super simple and quick too.

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (cold)
3/4 cup regular coconut milk (not lite - cold)
3/4 cup organic whole cane sugar (I use Rapadura brand)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together with an immersion blender or in a regular blender. You could use a food processor as well. Pour into your ice cream maker and process until it's a soft-serve consistency. Mine took 20 minutes. Put the ice cream into a freezer-proof container and chill in the freezer for two hours to firm up. 

Enjoy!

Vanilla Peach Frozen Yogurt

Simple to make, light and refreshing.


Vanilla Peach Frozen Yogurt

32 ounces (4 cups) plain whole milk yogurt (don't use non-fat or low-fat)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 medium yellow peaches, diced

1. Mix together the yogurt, sugar and vanilla extract.
2. Pour into a 1 1/2 quart or larger ice cream machine.
3. Churn for 30 - 35 minutes until the mixture is a soft serve consistency.
4. Stir in the peaches.
5. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours until semi- firm.

Mango Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Mango Vanilla Bean Ice Cream


4 large, ripe mangos
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoons vanilla bean paste
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of fine grain sea salt

1. In a food processor, puree the mango pulp until very smooth.

2. Strain the pureed mango through a mesh strainer to remove any fibers.

3. Pour the mango puree back into the food processor and add in the cream, sugar, vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and salt. Puree until smooth.

4. Pour into a container and chill in the refrigerator until cold, about an hour.

5. Pour into a 1 ½ quart or larger ice cream maker and churn until a firm soft serve, 30-35 minutes.

6. Pour into a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm.

Lemon Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream

This ice cream is lovely. Creamy, tart and refreshing.

Lemon Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream

For the ice cream:

Juice from 4 lemons (about 1 cup)
zest from 1/2 a lemon
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a hand mixer or immersion blender until well blended.
2. Chill completely in the refrigerator.
3. Churn until it's a soft serve consistency. (It took 25 minutes in my machine)

While the ice cream processing, make the blackberry sauce:

1/2 pint fresh blackberries (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Puree the blackberries and sugar in a blender or use an immersion blender.
2. Push the blackberry mixture through a fine mesh sieve using the back of a spoon into a small bowl to remove all the seeds and pulp.
3. Put the sauce into the freezer to chill while the ice cream is churning.

Once the ice cream is done, drizzle 1/4th of the blackberry sauce into the bottom of a freezer safe container. Top with 1/3 of the ice cream. Drizzle another 1/4th blackberry sauce on top of the ice cream and swirl with a knife. Repeat two more times. Freeze the ice cream until firm.

Sucanat Ice Cream

Sucanat is a brown sugar from freshly squeezed sugar cane juice that is dehydrated. It retains it's minerals unlike refined white and brown sugars. It is light brown in color and has a light molasses flavor. You can buy it at health food stores as well as online. I thought it would be interesting to see what it would taste like as a white sugar substitute. The Sucanat gives this a light brown color and a slight molasses flavor that I really like.

Sucanat Ice Cream

3 cups heavy cream
1 cup half & half
1 cup organic Sucanat
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 pinch fine grain sea salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Blend using an immersion blender (you can also do this in the blender).
3. Pour into a container and put in the refrigerator to chill completely. This also gives the Sucanat time to completely dissolve into the mixture.
4. Process in your ice cream maker until it's a firm soft-serve consistency. It took about 35 minutes in my machine.
5. Put into a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours until firm.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

I'm back! Yellow Chick and I took a 2 month rest from the blog. We needed a break. But I'm back to making ice cream again, just in time for the holidays.

Pumpkin Ice Cream~

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half & half
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
4 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an immersion blender or a mixer blend until smooth and all the ingredients are well mixed.
2. Refridgerate until well chilled.
3. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour in the pumpkin mixture.
4. Churn until it's a stiff soft-serve consistency.
5. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until firm.

My Conclusion~

Wow, this is really good. It tastes just like pumpkin pie without the crust.  You could add  pie crust to it and whipped cream or even graham crackers to make a pumpkin pie ice cream.  The texture is really light, almost too light which is my only complaint. Next time I'd make it with all cream and not use half and half to give it a creamer, heavier texture. The taste is perfect though.

Reviews~

Mr. Brown Chick - Tastes just like pumpkin pie

Tween Chicks - Likes it (amazing!)

Little Chick - Loves it

Toddler Chick - Loves it

Caramelized Pineapple Ice Cream

This was eaten before I could take a picture!

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 can pineapple tidbits, juice drained and reserved
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half & half
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. In a saucepan, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and drained pineapple tidbits. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until all the brown sugar is absorbed and the pineapple is a dark golden brown color. Chill.
2. Combine the other 1/4 cup brown sugar, reserved pineapple juice, agave nectar, cream, half & half and salt. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Chill.
3. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour the cream mixture into the maker. Churn until it's a firm soft-serve.
4. When it's done churning pour the caramelized pineapple into the machine and let it mix.
5. Put into a container and freeze until firm.

My Conclusion~

Yum! This was really good. I loved the pineapple flavor in the ice cream from the juice and the pieces of pineapple. The only thing that I would do differently would be to use 2 cups of cream instead of the cream and half & half. I think it would be even better if it were a little more dense.

Reviews~

Mr. Brown Chick - Really good!

Tween Chick - Didn't like it.

Little Chick - Likes it.

Baby Chick - Like it.

Black Cherry Sorbet

I've been wanting to make sorbet for a while, but was afraid it would be too icy without something to help inhibit ice crystals from forming. Corn syrup won't crystallize and that is why it's used in almost all commercial ice creams, sherbets, sorbets, etc. It keeps the product soft after freezing and gives it a smooth texture. However, I do not want to use corn syrup, so I was searching for another product. Yellow Chick suggested that I try blue agave nectar in place of corn syrup. I found out through research that blue agave nectar will not crystallize, plus it's all natural and has a low glycemic index, so I decided to give it a try.

Black Cherry Sorbet ~

2 1/2 cups black cherries (fresh or frozen), pitted

2 cups 100% black cherry juice (I found this at Fresh & Easy)

1/2 cup blue agave nectar

1/8 cup lemon juice

1. In a food processor or blender, blend together all the ingredients.
2. Chill in the refrigerator until very cold.
3. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour the mixture in.
4. Churn until it's soft but holds it's shape.
5. Freeze until firm.

My Conclusion ~

It has a sweet taste, almost too sweet. It would be better if it were more tart. I'd also like a more intense cherry flavor, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that. Next time I'll add a lot more lemon juice, as black cherries tend to be very sweet. That would probably help with the overall taste. I over processed it as well, resulting in a fluffy texture (you can see that in the picture) which I don't really care for. I churned it for 30 minutes when I should have stopped at 20 minutes. The good news is that the agave nectar seems to have done the trick. It's soft enough to scoop right out of the container. It was okay, but nothing great.

Reviews ~

Only Little Chick & Toddler Chick would taste it and they both liked it.

(canned) Peach Sorbet

Unfortunately, Mr. Yellow Chick borrowed my camera and hasn't returned it... he's asleep so I can't ask him where it is. I'll take a picture tomorrow. :)

~Ingredients~

2 - 15 ounce cans peaches in pear juice
1/4 cup sugar
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
Pinch of Salt

~Directions~

1. Puree peaches in a blender - don't overdo it, you don't want to whip a lot of air into it, and having some "peach bits" in the sorbet is just fine.
2. Add other ingredients and pulse to combine.
3. Process in ice cream machine until a soft-serve consistency is reached.
4. Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.

~Conclusion~

I probably should have chilled the mixture - I completely forgot until it was already processing and I realized if it had been chilled it probably would have set up to a firmer soft serve.

~Reviews~

Yellow Chick: Simple, easy, tasty, and refreshing. :) This would be very nice on a hot summer day.
Mr. Yellow Chick: He's asleep, so I'll have to ask him tomorrow...