Homemade ice cream - my new favorite thing!

Back to school and community groups have started again. Birthdays are also in full swing (September and October are full of them!) I have noticed that people aren't branching out much with their choices. Hey, I guess if you like something you like it! So since my blog is a couple of years old now, I don't have as many new recipes to post. I end up making the same favorites over and over. In my Tuesday group, there are three birthdays in a row - Tyler, Marby, and Ryan. All three of them pick French Silk Pie. French Silk is pretty amazing, but three weeks in a row? That is a lot of chocolate. I emailed Tyler this week asking him if he wanted French Silk Pie this week or if he wanted to branch out. He replied by saying "No Branching". All right, fine. I will be boring.

In my Wednesday group, it is Trevor's birthday next week and he asked for Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake (again). I made that for him last year but this year I decided to take it up a notch and make homemade ice cream (which I have never done before). My friend, Darla, made me some amazing mint ice cream on my birthday so I got her recipe and decided to give it a try. The thing that was unique about this recipe is that it uses actual mint leaves rather than extract so it tastes organic and earthy. It is a little different upon the first bite but by the end of the bowl, I was sold. It was sooooo good. 

I got the ice cream maker attachement for my Kitchen Aid and I have decided that it is the greatest thing EVER! Making ice cream was soooooo easy. You just freeze the Kitchen Aid Bowl, follow any ice cream recipe then put it in the frozen bowl and let it mix for 20 minutes - voila! Delicious, homemade ice cream!!! I now have added a new skill to my repertoire. So if you want homemade ice cream for your birthday, don't hesitate to ask, I can accommodate :)

Here is the recipe for the ice cream cake I am making for Trevor's birthday this week:

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Brownie Bottom:

1 box Brownie Mix

Ice Cream:

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups heavy whipping cream

pinch of salt

2 cups lightly packed mint leaves

5 large eggs

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

3/4 cup Andes mint candies, chopped into small pieces

Ganache:
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix brownies as directed on the box and bake in a 10 inch spring form pan.

Ice Cream:

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of whipping cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they’re immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy whipping cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you still, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, craping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. 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 manufacturers instructions. In the last five minutes of mixing, add in the chocolate and Andes pieces. 

Top brownie with a layer of ice cream, freeze until solid. 

Ganache:

In a small saucepan combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream and vanilla. Stir over medium heat until everything is combined. Keep stirring! Keep your eye on it! You will magically get an amazing ganache in a matter of minutes. Set it aside to cool down.

Once the ganache has cooled, pour over cake ice cream cake, freeze until solid. 

Is it Fall yet?

It is no secret that I LOVE fall. In fact, since moving to California, I have become rather obsessed with it. I think it is because I am denied a proper fall season. Don't get me wrong, I love living where I live, but the main downside to being in such a temperate climate is that there are not really distinct seasons. Winter is simply a slightly cooler version of Summer. September and October in San Diego don't bring beautiful colors of gold, amber, and rust. I don't get to hear the crunch of dry leaves under my feet as I walk through the crisp, cold air. I don't smell the scent burning leaves or of an impending snow fall (those are real smells). It is just... the same.

Consequently, I try to create fall as much as possible in the land of eternal summer. My house pretty much looks like fall all year round (proof) and I love baking pumpkin type of things (my favorite) and I make my annual pilgrimage to Bates Nut Farm to pick out a pumpkin. I do what I can to convince myself it is fall when it clearly isn't. Some people would call that delusional... but I don't listen to those people.

Last week I was so badly wanting it to be fall that crocheted a hat (when am I ever going to wear a hat?!?) and I made homemade chai tea mix. The chai turned out perfectly, which is awesome since shelling out $3.50 for the drink at Starbucks is just lame and I don't do it very often. Chai is fall in a cup, I LOVE it. In fact, after I finish posting this blog I am going to make a cup and turn the fan on me so I get really cold and have to wrap up in a blanket. It WILL be fall, darn it! (Don't even get me started on Christmas in So Cal!)

Chai Tea Mix

Ingredients:

1 cup dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer

1 cup french vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer

2 1/2 cups vanilla sugar

1 1/2 cups instant black tea

2 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground cardamom

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, vanilla flavored creamer, sugar and instant tea. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup at a time, until mixture is the consistency of fine powder.

To serve: Stir 2 heaping tablespoons of chai tea mixture into a mug of hot water.

Note:

To make vanilla sugar scrape the seeds out of a vanilla bean pod. Add the seeds and the scraped pod to 3-4 cups of sugar. Let sit for about a week, shaking mixture daily to infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar.