Welcome to Our Test Kitchen!
For those of you with premium ice cream machines, we applaud you. We're jealous of you. Some day we hope to join you.
But for now, we're working with our mom's passed down Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from the early 2000's.
Please note, we aren't food wasters and unless it will cause bodily harm, we eat all the ice cream we churn.
Spiced Almond Fudge
Through a whirlwind of exciting change, we’ve spent the summer downing pints and dreaming of our next dive into the test kitchen. A growing collective of tasters, overwhelming list of ideas, and two new (to us) kitchens have led us here. On National Ice Cream Day, we finally fired up the ice cream maker. This is the result.
#1 is Spiced Almond Fudge. There is something that feels cheeky about spiced cookies in summer, so we went with the best, Anna’s Pepparkakor. These were crushed and left in uneven pieces. Next, we used Salt & Straw’s almond brittle recipe, but slightly altered the preparation to end up with something closer to toffee. Finally, we went with a milk chocolate ganache to swirl through at the end.
What worked:
The spiced cookies combined with the almond toffee added a fantastic
combination of textures to the ice cream; a combination we will absolutely try again.
What didn't:
The milk chocolate ganache aired on the side of overly sweet. Next time we’ll go for dark chocolate to counteract an already sweet and spicy ice cream.
Peaches & Mascarpone Cream
#2 is Peaches & Mascarpone Cream. The ultimate late summer stone fruit chopped and paired with the ultimate rich cream (cheese?). Our favorite part was drizzling a house made peach syrup over the finished ice cream.
What worked:
The peach syrup was vibrant and added a great zing, while the high fat content in the mascarpone enhanced the richness of the base.
What didn’t:
The peaches still contained some water-causing icy crystals to form-which affected the final product’s consistency. Next time, we’ll cook the peaches down with some citrus and sugar, removing the last of the water content to make for a smoother ice cream. We also might try mixing the peach syrup into the base itself to more fully incorporate this bright peach flavor.
Chocolate & Lingonberry Jam
#3 is Chocolate & Lingonberry Jam. After thinking we had reinvented the wheel with this flavor combination, we realized IKEA beat us to the punch when they created a limited-edition Lingonberry Chocolate Ice Cream earlier this year. Nevertheless, we were happy to jump on that bandwagon and try it ourselves. This was the simplest preparation of the three, involving just milk chocolate ganache worked into our base, as well as chopped milk chocolate chips and tangy Lingonberry jam mixed in at the end. El fin!
What worked:
The lingonberry jam swirl added the perfect contrast to the chocolate with a tart tang.
What didn’t:
While we enjoyed the milk chocolate flavor, next time we will opt for a dark or semi-sweet ganache to adds some sharpness in contrast to the jam.
Wanna make it yourself?
Check below for the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Base, it’s a classic.