Monkey Bread Ice Cream

What a busy month June has been! After wrapping up the school year, we headed north for a long overdue trip to Ohio to visit family. Two days after returning home, we headed out again, this time to South Padre Island. This was our second time to South Padre. Both times we camped in tents at Isla Blanca Park, the absolute cheapest accommodations on the island. While I like hanging out at the beach, my favorite thing to do is to explore the as of yet undeveloped part of the island, driving all the way to the end of the road where you can get a good view of being surrounded by water. I feel uncomfortable going off road at this point because much of the island is privately owned, and, well, we'd be trespassers. But it is beautiful, and you can get a glimpse of what the whole island must have been at one time. If you are ever down there, I also recommend the birding center and Sea Turtle, Inc., a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles.

South Padre Island

I also dusted off the ice cream maker this month. Making ice cream from scratch takes me back to Mom and Dad making ice cream from fresh milk and cream in one of those old fashioned wood slat ice cream makers. The process seemed almost magic to me as a young kid. I was thrilled when I finally picked up my own ice cream maker a couple years ago so I could continue the tradition of homemade ice cream in the summer with my boys.

Our first batch this summer was basic vanilla bean ice cream. After that quickly disappeared, my oldest son requested monkey bread ice cream. It was enough motivation to get him out of bed on a summer Saturday morning to go to the farmers market to pick up a loaf of our favorite monkey bread from Sol y Luna Bakery. So, yes, I was going to make it happen. I made some tweaks from the original recipe to avoid using corn products, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It is a rich, creamy ice cream with yummy chunks of monkey bread through out. You can bet on this becoming a summer favorite.

Monkey Bread Ice Cream

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 tsp tapioca flour
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 TBSP cream cheese at room temp.
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• monkey bread, torn into small pieces ( I used half of a standard loaf)

Mix tapioca flout with 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl and set aside. 

In a large pan, stir together remaining milk, cream, sugar, honey, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Whisk in tapioca flour mixture and continue cooking until thickened. Remove from heat.

Add small amount of hot mixture to cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pan with the rest of the hot milk and add vanilla. 

Allow mixture to cool in ice water or over night in your refrigerator. Once cooled, freeze following the directions for your ice cream maker. When the ice cream is nearly finished, add the chunks of monkey bread. My ice cream maker has a hole at the top that allows for adding goodies into the mixture, but if your machine doesn't have this, simply fold the monkey bread pieces into the ice cream when it is finished churning.

Allow ice cream to set in freezer for a couple hours.

Enjoy!

Chai Tea Ice Cream Recipe

For our second batch of homemade ice cream this summer my oldest son picked this delicious, exotic treat. If you love chai tea, you are going to love it as ice cream. It is sweet, spicy, and oh, so creamy. It is a rich, heavy ice cream so a couple scoops is quite satisfying. Serve it up with some ginger snaps or top with graham cracker crumbs for a really special treat.

Chai Tea Ice Cream

• 1 C milk
• 2 C whipping cream
• 3/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp whole cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 peppercorns
• 2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 6 tea bags (Darjeeling or English Breakfast)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk or 3/4 C sugar

Mix milk and cream in large pan. Add spices and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add tea bags, and cover pan to steep for 45 minutes to an hour. 

After mixture is finished steeping, remove tea bags and strain through cheesecloth or a wire strainer. Add egg yolks to empty pan. Slowly stir in milk mixture, especially if still warm, to avoid cooking egg yolks. Bring to low boil over medium heat while stirring. Add desired sweetener and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool several hours or overnight.

Once mixture is cool, freeze according to your ice cream maker's specifications. Enjoy!

I'm Back with Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream.

I had to take a leave of absence while I took care of some things I needed to do but I am ready to share with you again! I thought it would be a great way to begin the summer by dusting off the ice cream maker and trying out a new recipe. The little one and I recently shared a pint of Haagan Dazs pineapple coconut ice cream that was absolutely yummy, so I thought I'd try making my own batch.

Overall, this is a great recipe but I will probably tweak it a little bit just for our tastes. If I add the coconut flakes next time, I will probably cut it in half and I may try crushed pineapple instead of the tidbits just to get a more even pineapple flavor throughout. If you love a chunky ice cream, add the whole cup of coconut flakes. Otherwise, if you like a creamier, less chewy ice cream then you might want to omit the coconut flakes altogether. Either way, it is still a trip to a tropical island and who can say no to that? Especially on a hot summer day! It would be delicious served over grilled pineapple.

Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 1 14oz Can Cream of Coconut (found in the alcohol isle)
• 2 Cups Heavy Cream or half and half for a bit less fat
• 1 Cup Sweet toasted coconut flakes (optional)
• 1 8oz Can pineapple tidbits, drained and pat dry with a paper towel.

Combine cream of coconut with the milk and mix together well. Stir in the cream, pineapple, and, if desired,toasted coconut flakes. Pour everything into the canister of your ice cream maker and freeze following manufacturers guidelines.

Easy and delicious!

Stay tuned later this week for a homemade toothpaste recipe, and more...

Homemade Blackberry Ice Cream

Yesterday I dusted off the ice cream maker to make our first batch of ice cream for the summer. Since we had blackberries on hand from last week's trip to Green Country Farms it was perfect to use them up in a batch of ice cream. Ah, what a little bit of heaven for the taste buds! If we had this sitting in the freezer all the time I'd probably gain 20 pounds! My oldest son is already asking me to make another batch sometime and we still have plenty left from this one. But I hear the peaches have already shown up in the farmer's market and fresh peach ice cream also sounds like a piece of summertime heaven to me. We have one more batch of blackberries in the freezer, so I am sure we will be having another batch of blackberry ice cream before the summer is over.

I keep thinking about Ohio and Mom and Dad. I would love for the boys to go berry picking with their Papaw, and then we could whip up a batch of ice cream to share on their back porch while listening to the sounds of a summer evening. Maybe the boys could even help Dad make a batch of blackberry jam to take home with us so we could savor our visit long after we return home. But, sadly, it doesn't look like a trip to Ohio is in the cards anytime soon. 

Blackberry Ice Cream

3 cups blackberries

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 1/4 cups half and half

1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract

Place berries in a food processor bowl and puree. If desired, run berry mixture through cheesecloth to remove seeds (recommended). Set aside. 

In large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and half and half. If using, split vanilla bean in half and scrape seeds into mixture. If not, add vanilla extract and mix well. Stir in berries and pour into ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions.