#16 Harvey Wallbanger

What is a Harvey Wallbanger?

It's a cocktail.

I had no idea. Kip requested this ice cream for his office party as well. According to the interwebs o' knowledge here is a typical recipe for the Harvey Wallbanger drink:

1.5 ounces Vodka

4 ounces Orange Juice

0.5 ounces Galliano Liquor

Shake and serve. You can also garnish it with an orange slice and maybe a maraschino cherry. (And a little umbrella, if you're going to be sitting outside on the beach beneath a larger umbrella...)

Having never had this cocktail before I really had no reference for the flavor. So I winged it.

Alcohol doesn't willingly freeze like water, milk, and cream, so incorporating it into ice cream can be dangerous. So I abstained from adding vodka to the ice cream recipe, but I did use a 1/4 cup of the Galliano Liquor. First I reduced the liquor for about 15 minutes so that most of the alcohol would boil off.

Next I began heating 1 cup of cream with 1 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon of corn syrup, and 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Once that was heated I added in 2 squirts of fresh lemon juice, 1 cup of fresh orange juice (no pulp), and the remainder of the reduced 1/4 cup of Galliano liquor. Next I added 2 cups of cream and continued to heat and whisk the mixture. Finally, it was chilled and then poured into the ice cream machine, and thus a cocktail turned into ice cream!

Here's what Kip had to say about:

"The Harvey Wallbanger ice cream was really creamy and tasted a lot like the little orange cream cups you get as a kid that you eat with the wooden spoon. It had a hint of the Galliano... it was really, really creamy."

"Too creamy?"

"No, not at all. I think you should hold on to that one. It was really good."

Another positive review! Woohoo! Picture time!

#15 German Chocolate Cake

Congratulations to Justin who guessed the Sparkle Motion reference and provided the exact quote I was looking for! Justin, let me know your favorite flavor of ice cream AND/OR any crazy flavor you would like to see brought into existence!

This week I made TWO ice creams. One will be featured in this post and one will be featured next week. Both ice creams were made for Kip of Bierkast and his frequent office parties.

The first ice cream Kip asked for was a German Chocolate Cake-like ice cream. DONE.

After researching some recipes on the internet I devised the following recipe which created an uberchocolatey ultracreamy undeniably delicious German Chocolate Cake ice cream.

First I melted 8 ounces of sweet German baker's chocolate in 1 cup of 1% milk. Then I added 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon corn syrup, and a 1/4 teaspoon corn starch, and then a 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Also, I decided that I would use egg yolks in this ice cream because eggs are typically used in cakes. So I beat 4 egg yolks with a heaping 1/2 cup of sugar. Usually I use 1 cup of sugar, but since the chocolate is already sweetened I didn't want the ice cream to be TOO sweet.

When the chocolate milk portion was sufficiently hot I began to temper the egg/sugar mixture with it until I fully incorporated the egg/sugar mixture into the chocolate milk mixture. The eggs did not curdle this time! (Win.) Next I added 3 cups of cream.

And it was nearly complete.

After chilling in the freezer for about 2 hours I strained the mixture as I poured it into the ice cream machine. Then when it was nearly done churning I mixed-in a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and 1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes. This is a German Chocolate CAKE ice cream after all.

Then I added a layer of pecans and coconut flakes on top of the ice cream before I put it into the freezer to set.

Here's what the customers say:

"The German Chocolate one was awesome too. Really good mixed with the coconut / pecans ... it tasted like dark chocolate ice cream, but the coconut and pecans really made the flavor complete. My coworkers aren't much for words... I heard 'creamy' a lot and 'damn this is good'. If they don't like it they don't eat it. They ate it."

I agree that it did actually taste like chocolate cake. Personally I found the flavor to be very light and creamy, almost mousse like, but maybe that's because it was beginning to melt a little bit.

Today I had ice cream at a local mom and pop shop. One could also say I was doing some market research. Hehe!

I'm going to try something different with the pictures this time... just because there's so many I want to post, so here they are in chronological order!

#14 Sparkle Motion

Imagine, if you will, a person made of sprinkles and glitter and sugar and spice (and everything naughty, err, nice)... what kind of ice cream would you make for that person? Well, I came up with Cinnamon Imperial Jewel Blend Jimmie Rainbow Sanding Sugar Super Sweet Ice Cream. But that's too long to remember. So, this ice cream is called SPARKLE MOTION.

Now, here's a pop culture contest. If you know where Sparkle Motion comes from then be the first to quote it accurately in a comment and I'll make a specialty ice cream just for you!

So this is what happened.

I made the ice cream base (using 1% milk instead of whole) and then melted a 1/2 cup of cinnamon imperial red hots into it. They turned the mixture bright red. It was neat. After they completely dissolved I added in the 3 cups of cream which created a soft pink color. In order to emphasize the cinnamon flavor I added a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon extract and a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Then just to be safe I added a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Throwing in a little vanilla every now and then seems to accentuate the flavor of ice cream.

After the ice cream was pre-chilled in the freezer I put it into the ice cream maker. When it was nearly done I added one cup of the jeweled jimmies.

Finally I topped it off with some rainbow sanding sugar (which quickly began to melt...) and a few remaining cinnamon red hots.

This ice cream tastes remarkably similar to the Imperial Red Hot Blast I made a few weeks ago, but that's the flavor I was going for because the birthday girl said it was her favorite. ;-)

Well, there you have it - the story of a fun, party-rific birthday ice cream for the one and only Tasha, baker of tasty cupcakes and foodie extraordinaire!

#13 Roasted Black Sesame Seed

My awesome colleague Stacie used to make a special ice cream cake for my birthday every year. Layer one: Brownies. Layer two: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Layer Three: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream. Delicious. The leftovers would only last for two to three days, which made it seem like my birthday just kept going. Thanks, Stacie, for those wonderful ice cream cakes!

Her birthday was last week, so I decided to make a special ice cream for the occasion. Her favorite flavors of ice cream are: Pistachio Almond, Black Sesame, and Azuki Bean. I went with the black sesame because it sounded the most intriguing.

After perusing a few random recipes on the web, I knew what I had to do. I had to use a lot of black sesames to impart the black sesame flavor. Most recipes out there called for 2-3 tablespoons but that just didn't seem like enough...

So I roasted a 1/2 cup of black sesame seeds at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Roasting the seeds helps to release their flavor. Then I began preparing the basic ice cream recipe, although this time I substituted 1% milk for the whole milk. I also added a 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract. Next I chopped about half of the roasted black sesame seeds with the mini food processor / spice chopper. That didn't seem to work too well, so the next half of the black sesame seeds were ground up the old fashion way - using a mortar and pestle. Crushing the sesame seeds by hand was much more effective. Plus a mortar and pestle is just a neat addition to any kitchen. (Go get one!)

Anyway, I added the first half of chopped seeds to the ice cream mixture while it was on the stove. Once I was done whisking the mixture I put it in the freezer to rapidly chill, then I moved it to the refrigerator for a couple of hours until I was ready to churn it in the machine.

When it came time to make the ice cream, I strained the mixture to remove the soggy black sesame seed pulp before I poured it into the ice cream maker. As the mixture was nearly finished churning and freezing I added the other half of ground black sesame seeds as a mix-in. My theory is that the mixture siphoned all the flavor out of the black sesame seeds. So by adding a freshly ground batch toward the end of the freezing process there would be more flavor and more crunch to the ice cream.

The outcome was very "cookies n' cream" as you can see!

The flavor of this ice cream is rather nutty - most likely because this ice cream is a bit out there (but in a good way)! Luckily, the last flavor that lingers on your tongue after each bite is the sesame flavor. The cookies n' cream-like composition almost makes you think you're eating a cookies n' cream ice cream at first, but the crunch and flavor of the sesame seeds quickly makes you realize that this ice cream is in fact something else entirely. It went over very well with my coworkers. To emphasize the flavor I added a sprinkling of whole black sesame seeds to the top of the ice cream. Voila!

Thanks for inspiring this ice cream, Stacie!