How To Make Ice Cream: The Sweet Cream Base

This comes directly from the Ice Cream Geek Blog. I am putting it here so I don't have to keep looking for it. Here is the link to the original blog post. Ice Cream Geek Blog Post.

The place to start when making ice cream is with the Sweet Cream Base. It contains the basic ingredients for lots of recipes, and then you can add flavorings to make whatever you want.

A great book to start with is Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. It’s filled with no-nonsense recipes that are easy to make, and taste fantastic. Their recipe for the Sweet Cream Base is a pretty common one, and I’ve used it enough times to have it memorized. I like recipes with eggs because I think they make a creamier, more custard-like texture, but see the second recipe below if you want to make an ice cream without eggs.

If you’re looking to duplicate your favorite super-premium ice cream, this is the one you’ll want:

Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base #1

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar

Makes about one quart at 19.1% butterfat.

The basic process:

Mix the cream and milk together and heat over medium-low heat.

While that’s heating, mix the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl.

When the cream/milk mix reaches about 140° F (60° C), remove it from the heat. While whisking the egg/sugar mix, slowly add small amounts of the cream/milk mix until about a third of the cream and milk have been added. (This is called “tempering”, and prevents the eggs from being scrambled.) Then pour the egg/sugar mix back into the pot with the remaining cream and milk, so everything’s together.

Then continue heating it to kill anything that shouldn’t be in there, especially salmonella, which is a nasty bacteria that can come from raw eggs and make people pretty sick. Heating the mix also gives the ice cream a “cooked” flavor, like the taste of warm milk. Heat the mix over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches 175° F (79° C) and hold it there for at least 25 seconds (the FDA’s official requirement for pasteurization).

Strain the mix into a container and let it cool for a bit before adding extracts that might evaporate. Add a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, pure peppermint extract, or ground cinnamon at this point to make those easy flavors.

Chill the mix until it’s below 40° F (5° C). This is important, because the mix needs to be chilled before it’s run through the machine, so it freezes faster. The faster the mix freezes, the smaller the ice crystals will be, and the smoother the texture. You can chill it covered in the fridge, or if you’re in a hurry, either stir the mix in a metal bowl that’s inside another metal bowl containing ice water, or use my latest favorite method and put the mix in a zip-top plastic bag and then dunk that in a bowl of ice water.

If you have a machine with a built-in freezer, turn it on and let it get good and cold. If you have a machine that uses a frozen bowl, be sure it’s completely frozen — 24 hours or more is best. Then turn on the motor so the dasher starts spinning, and pour in the mix.

It’ll take about 30 minutes, more or less, to churn. You’ll probably be able to hear the motor slowing down when it gets close, and you should probably stop it before it really starts having trouble. The ice cream will come out like stiff soft-serve ice cream.

If you have other things to mix into the ice cream like candy, nuts, or chocolate, you can sometimes add them to the machine just before the end of the churning, but I’ve found that it’s easier to just freeze the ice cream by itself and then transfer the ice cream to a pre-chilled bowl where you can fold in the ingredients afterward. If you’re mixing in something soft like cookies, or something you want to swirl in, you’ll want to use this method anyway because they don’t do well in a machine.

Use a pre-chilled spoon to get all of the ice cream into pre-chilled containers and into the freezer as quickly as possible. Put it in the coldest part of the freezer, which is usually near the air vents at the back. After a few hours in the freezer, the ice cream will harden and be like what you buy in the store. I use cardboard ice cream containers that freeze quickly and look great. Plus you can write the flavor and the date on the lid.

Of course, you could also just eat it right out of the machine. Especially if it’s the first batch you’ve ever made.

A quicker way:

If the whole idea of cooking the mix just seems like too much work, you might see if you can find pasteurized eggs where you live. You’ll be able to skip the cooking completely, and can even combine all the ingredients using a blender.

Or you can try Ben & Jerry’s second base recipe, which doesn’t use eggs, and therefore doesn’t require cooking.  They recommend eating it right away since it tends to turn icy in the freezer. Just mix everything together until the sugar is dissolved, and then continue with the instructions above starting with chilling the mix before churning it.

How to pasteurize eggs: (from an AI summary, but it checks out)

Option 1: Sous Vide Method (Most Reliable)

This method is highly accurate because it maintains the exact temperature required to pasteurize without cooking the egg.

1. Preheat your sous vide water bath to 135° F.
2. Gently submerge your room-temperature eggs in the water.
3. Leave them in the water bath for 75 minutes. 
4. Remove the eggs and immediately place them in an ice bath for 20 minutes to stop any residual cooking 
5. Dry the eggs and mark them (e.g., with a pencil or sticker) so you can tell they are pasteurized.

Option 2: Stovetop Pot Method

Requires close attention to temperature to avoid accidentally scrambling the eggs.

1. Fill a pot with enough water to fully submerge the eggs and attach a candy or instant-read thermometer to the side.
2. Heat the water to 140° F.
3. Gently lower your room-temperature eggs into the water.
4. Maintain the water temperature between 135° F to 140° F for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Remove the eggs and immediately plunge them into an ice bath.

Important Tips:

• Start at room temperature: Cold eggs dropped into warm water can crack. Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before starting.
• Storage: Pasteurized eggs must be kept in the refrigerator. Use them within 1 to 2 weeks for best quality

Safe Hot Chocolate

Where we live, winter gets cold! We have three brands of hot chocolate in our house, and none of them are safe for the whole family to enjoy. Thank goodness there are options to make your own! We tried THIS ONE from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and it is a winner! Check that link for her notes and instructions.

I'm recording it here, halved, because it makes a lot, and really, it's just one person who 'needs' it. Half is plenty at our house. And I'm recording it halved because the second time I made it, I started with the full ingredient list and panicked at the six cups of milk, ha. 

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup cocoa

2/3 cup sugar

>1/8 salt

1/3 cup water

3 cups milk

1/2 tsp vanilla
half and half

Whisk the cocoa, sugar, salt and water in a sauce pan.
Bring to a simmer for 2 minutes, while stirring constantly.
Add milk and vanilla, and heat to very warm, but without boiling or simmering.
Add a little half and half (or milk) to cool when you serve. Or don't! 

This photo was after it cooled and had started to separate. It is rich and delicious! 

We talked about making whipped cream to top it with, but I also found some safe marshmallows- which amazed me. Marshmallows are made of corn syrup and dusted in cornstarch...and my person can't have corn! but these are okay, so I stocked up! I hope it gets us thru the winter! 

They don't look anything like the packaging which is...cool...but they taste good and they're safe. Fine. ha.

Fried Mashed Potato Patties

No photo of today's dish- we were too hungry and just ate it. 
This is something my dad used to make when I was a kid and I always remember really liking it. I feel like I tried to make it once and it failed miserably and I had to toss it...... but honestly, I'm not THAT bad of a cook so I'm not sure how I would have messed it up so much?

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) when we were making the mashed potatoes (my job) we were discussing the leftovers. One of my kids loves mashed potatoes more than just about anything, but only freshly made. Once they've been refrigerated, this child doesn't want anything to do with it. sigh. 
My dad said "but leftover mashed potatoes are great. You can also make the potato patties." YES. Tell me how!! He said to mix some egg into it and fry it in a little butter. 

Today, after a lot of nibbling on mostly sweet Thanksgiving leftovers, we needed some dinner! I decided to make the potato patties, and have everyone get some left over meat (we had turkey, ham and pork kabobs) and some kind of vegetable and made a potato patty for each of us. 

I googled "how do you make fried mashed potato patties". I got a dozen results and I read four recipes before deciding to proceed. 

Ingredients: 

Leftover (cold) mashed potatoes (mine already have sour cream, salt and veg broth)

1 egg, beaten

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

Heaping handful shredded cheddar

Butter 

I put approximately a serving of mashed potato, per person, into a mixing bowl. I beat an egg with a fork in a small bowl and poured that over it. I added the flour and some cheese. Then I mixed it up like I do with meatballs- with my bare hand. yum.... I shaped it into five patties and then melted some butter, enough to cover the frying pan. I could cook three at a time, in the pan and I added butter as needed. I just cooked them maybe 7 minutes on each side and voila! Dinner! 

They need to cook longer than you think, to get brown and crispy, but everyone seemed to like it a lot! 

Apple Pie Spice + Chex Mix!

In an on-going attempt to have "normal" foods while still avoiding "issue" foods, we've been eating some chex mix! I forgot how much I LIKE sweet chex mixes. Personally, I really don't care for savory mixes...... 

This is a blend of several recipes, and is the faster variety, ha, so here you go: 

Apple Pie Chex Mix!

Ingredients:

9 cups Chex - any variety

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tbsp Apple Cider 
1 tbsp apple pie spice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions: 

Measure the chex into a large, microwaveable bowl. 

Melt the butter, add the sugars and spices, blend thoroughly. 

Pour butter mixture over cereal, stir to coat as much cereal as possible.

Microwave for five minutes- stirring every minute. 

Spread onto a cookie sheet to cool.

Store in an air tight container.  

*I have thought about adding chopped dried apples, but I forget every time...

To make Apple Pie Spice: 

1/2 cup cinnamon

2tbsp allspice

4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cardamom (which I don't have, so I just leave that one out.)

Refrigerator Kosher Dill Pickles

This is a keeper. The original recipe can be found here: www.food.com/recipe/refrigerator-kosher-dill-pickles-380632. Of course, I made some slight modifications.

Pickles

You can pickle just about any vegetable, but my favorites are cucumbers, English (long) cucumbers, white onions, and purple onions. You will need enough of the vegetable, cut up in whatever chunk you want, to fill the jar up to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch head gap at top of the jar. 

Pictured in this batch are English cucumbers, sliced into 1/4 slices, on a mandolin with a wavy pattern.

Pickling Brine - Per One "1 Quart" Jar

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

Bring both the water and vinegar to a boil in a saucepan, then take off the heat and let cool completely before using.

Pickling Spices - Per One "1 Quart" Jar

You can put the spices into the jar before adding the vegetables or on top of them. It won't matter once the liquid is dumped in and the you shake it up.

• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp dill seeds
• 1 tsp dill weed
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped. 
• Use fresh garlic here not the pre-minced stuff in a jar. You want the full strength of the garlic on display. 

Put one batch of spices in each jar of pickles. Add the cooled pickling brine and fill the jar to the top, covering the pickles best you can. Leave at least a 1/2 inch air gap at the top between the liquid and the top of the jar. Screw on your lid on your jar and shake for a few seconds to distribute the salt and spices evenly.

Refrigerate for 7 days, shaking the jar for a few seconds every day. These will last approximately 6 months in the refrigerator. If you can't wait a full 7 days, let the jar sit for at least 24 hours before trying your pickles. I recommend making at least two jars. The first jar can be ready to eat in 24 hours, which, hopefully, will last a full seven days so the second jar will be fully matured. 

"Safe" Cheesy Potato Chowder

This is a version of THIS potato soup that is safe for our entire family now. 
It is lacking corn, chicken bullion, and the canned cheese sauce that uses wheat, corn and soy.

~~~

Soup Ingredients: 
3 slices bacon- all but burned
onion - minced
potatoes - peeled and cubed    (I do 1-2 potatoes per person, depending on size)
carrots - peeled and cut into coins     (I do 3-4 carrots)
1 part milk to 2 parts water
1 tsp Better Than Bullion for each cup water
minced garlic
black pepper
celery flakes
shredded cheddar, or other melty cheese (we used shredded cheddar, swiss, mozzarella and asiago)
chives

Thickening Sauce:

4 tbps heavy cream

2 tbsp tapioca starch

4 tbsp butter    - all mixed together for a gloppy paste

Instructions:

Cook the bacon in the soup pot. Set bacon aside for now. Pour off excess grease.
Put vegetables in pot, cover with liquid. Add spices and allow to boil/simmer til potatoes are soft. Smash a few times with a potato masher for a creamier texture.
Remove from heat and add the thickening "paste", mixing in thoroughly.
Add shredded cheese gradually, stirring and allowing it to melt.
Add chives and crumbled bacon, serve! 

Homemade Ketchup

A member of our house is dealing with some health issues and was advised to completely avoid some standard foods for a time. The list is long and one of the most critical foods to avoid is corn. Sigh. So even when we think of something "safe" we continually discover that actually, it has corn syrup or corn starch or corn fiber or or or or or!

Ketchup is one of those.
Every single bottle of ketchup in my local store had either corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or both. Barbeque sauce was the same. (altho I think I did find one that was corn free, but it had something else on the list instead. Likely soy....) 

I found a recipe to make our own BBQ sauce, but it calls for ketchup. *face palm. 

Soo my husband found two recipes to make our own ketchup! 

The first one we tried is based on a recipe by America's Test Kitchen, buuut of course my husband changed some things up. That is what I am recording here: 
~~~
Ingredients: 

1 6oz can tomato paste

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

6 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup water 

1 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp granulated garlic

1/8 tsp paprika

Pinch ground allspice

Whisk all ingredients into a medium saucepan. Bring to low simmer, over medium low heat. Stir & scrape bottom of pan occasionally, about 10 minutes - until mixture thickens and measures about 1 cup.

Strain ketchup through a fine mesh strainer, extracting as much ketchup as possible. Discard solids.
Let cool to room temperature.  

Can be kept in a fridge for up to one week. 
            ...I intend to push that limit. As my husband points out, the only thing that "needs refridgerated" is after you open the can of tomato paste....

Anyway, we used this in the meatball recipe we enjoy, found HERE.
I doubled the batch.

Peachy Chicken

This is one of those recipes that at first glance I thought miight be too weird, but I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. It was a hit, so we'll be keeping this one too! 

Barbeque Peach Chicken found HERE. 

I made some adjustments, lol. For one thing, when I showed my husband-the-cook the recipe he said that our grill has two temperatures- nuclear hot and almost nuclear hot. I suggested we bake it a while and then grill it at the end? He suggested we bake it and then broil it, so that is what we did. 

I had some leftover peach "jam" that had been made for a dessert. I wasn't sure it would work, and my husband said it didn't quite- the cinnamon and nutmeg didn't quite work with the bbq sauce for him. But everyone else liked it so it worked okay! 

I thawed two huge chicken breasts and cut them into sections of all sizes, lol... I made the marinade as directed: 
 - 1/2 cup peach jam

- 1 tbso apple cider vinegar 

- 1 tbsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp salt

- some black pepper

- 3/4 cup bbq sauce (we have Sweet Baby Ray's right now)

- boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I let it marinate in the fridge for about 8 hours. 

I put a cooling rack onto a foil covered baking sheet, and baked it at 350* for 8 minutes, then turned them all over, basting it as I went. Then baked it 8 more minutes. It wasn't very close to temp yet, so I turned and basted again, and baked it another 5 minutes before turning it up to broil. We broiled it 5  minutes on one side, basted again and broiled another 5 or so minutes til it reached about 165*. 

We served this with a quick pasta-roni mix, and vegetables and the whole family enjoyed it! 

Updated Oreo Pie Recipe

Recipe refreshed and updated! Makes two 9-inch pies.

The idea for this pie was the result of my 9 year old self trying to come up with a pie idea for a ward dessert contest. I made it that once and didn't make it again until after I was married to take to Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws. Since they were all Oreo obsessed, it became a staple of Thanksgiving dinners, some birthdays, and other special occasions. It is a whipped cream (or cool whip) and pudding pie with crushed Oreo cookies sandwiched between the layers and placed on top. I have made it so much throughout the years that I can barely eat a slice. Too much of a good thing.  --Burt

This pie is made with mostly instant stuff that you get at the store, but it could be made completely from scratch if you are feeling adventurous. The only thing that probably would have to stay store-bought is the Oreo cookies. I have never used other Oreo like cookies for this pie and since I usually only make it once or twice a year, I stick with the name brand.

Ingredients

• 2 9-inch pie crusts that have been blind baked 
• You could swap out the pastry pie crusts for a Oreo or chocolate graham cracker crust, but I think a regular crust offsets the overwhelming sweetness inherent to the pie filling.
• 1 3/4 cups Oreo crumbs plus some cookies cut in half to put on the top of the pie for decoration
• You could buy a box of pre-crushed Oreo crumbs, but why? Take 30 cookies and run them through the food processer. Much better and you don't have to have leftover crumbs that you will go stale before you use them again.

Chocolate Layers - Chocolate Dream Pie Filling

• 2 (1 1/3 ounce) envelopes dream whip brand whipped dessert topping mix
• 2 3/4 cups cold milk, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 (3 1/2 ounce) packages of chocolate instant pudding 
• I recommend Hershey's or another really good dark chocolate pudding. I used to use a chocolate mousse pudding mix, but they got hard to find and were never enough mousse to really do a full two layers of chocolate filling.

Whipped Cream Layers - Ingredients yield 1 batch. You will need two batches.

• 1 8 oz block of cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• Pinch of salt

Make the Filling Layers and Chill

The chocolate filling is just the dream pie recipe found on the back of the Dream Whip brand whipped topping box. I recommend making the chocolate filling the night before and letting it chill overnight before assembly so it is good and solidly set-up. At a minimum, the chocolate layer has to be chilled for at least 4 hours before it can be used, as per the Dream Whip instructions.

Here are the directions from the box for the Dream Pie filling:

• Beat whipped topping mixes, 1 cup of the milk and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on high 6 minutes or until topping thickens and forms peaks.
• Add remaining 1-3/4 cups milk and pudding mixes; beat on low speed until mixed.
• Beat on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Divide the filling in half (by weight if you can) into two gallon size freezer zip lock bags.
• Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

To make the whipped cream filling do the following. You will need to make two batches of this:

• In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. 
• Beat until smooth, then keep beating for about 2 to 3 more minute. Scrap the bowl about every minute during the process.
• Add heavy cream and mix until the heavy cream and the cream cheese mixture is incorporated and smooth. Scrap the bowl to get any unmixed bits, then turn your mixer to high and whip it. 
• Whip until stiff peaks form. It should look dryish and a little bit like a frosting, but will still be quite light. 
• Put the batch into a zipper lock gallon bag and into the fridge to chill until you are ready to assemble your pies.
• Now do it again and make a second batch the same way.

The cream cheese in the whipped cream keeps it stable. The whipped cream won't deflate for several days so you don't have to worry about making the pies a day or two ahead. Just make sure to keep them cold!

Assembling the Pies

Prep your pie crusts and blind bake them. Whether you make them by hand or buy them frozen from the store, follow the instructions for blind baking the pie shells. You want them completely baked and cooled before assembling the pies. Once the crusts have cooled completely, do the following:

• Put 1/3 cup of the crushed Oreo crumbs into each pie shell. Smooth the crushed cookies out so they are a nice flat layer in the bottom of each pie 
• Take one bag of chocolate filling, snip off a corner of the bag and squeeze the filling into each pie shell in swirl pattern, using half the bag per shell. 
• Use a spatula to smooth out the layer over the crushed Oreos. Be gentle and patient as the crushed cookies make doing this tricky if you try to go too fast. 
• Take out one bag of the whipped cream filling, snip off a corner of the bag and squeeze the whipped cream into each pie shell in swirl pattern, again using half the bag per shell.
• Like before, use a spatula to smooth the whipped cream layer over the chocolate layer.
• Sprinkle another 1/3 cup of crushed cookies per shell onto the whipped cream layer evenly so the crushed cookies makes another smooth cookie layer.
• Use the second bag of the chocolate filling, squeezing out half the bag of filling in each pie in a swirl pattern, and smooth it out into an even layer. Again be patient and gentle when working the chocolate filling over the cookie layer. Gently push down as you smooth if you need to and scrap your spatula against the edge of the pie shell. 
• Use the last bag of the whipped cream filling, squeeze out half a bag per pie, swirl and smooth. If you want, save a couple of dollops of  chocolate filling to swirl in the whipped cream layer as a decoration. The filling should dome up a little over the pie shell, unless your pie shell is deeper than the standard.
• Sprinkle any remaining crushed cookies over the top of the pies and decorate with Oreos cut in half on the top. 
• Chill at least two hours before serving. The moisture in the filling will make the crumbs go all soft and allow the layers to bind together.

Ham & Cheese Crescent Rolls

I saw the pizza calzones while looking for dinner ideas one frustrating afternoon, ha. I tried to think of something I had the ingredients for, and knew I had seen something like this before, and honestly I think many times! ...but on that day I couldn't find anything to tell me if I needed to adjust the baking time or anything. No recipes like this to be found on the whole entire internet that day. What?! Sooo now there is!! 

I had all of these ingredients already in my fridge, so I put them together and it made a great dinner! I actually used two cans of crescent rolls, to make enough food for us.

I rolled out each crescent roll a bit...then laid half a slice of muenster on the edge

then half a slice of ham

and finally half a slice of swiss cheese

and rolled it up! 

When I had four left, I ran out of Swiss cheese slices, so I used a small handful of shredded cheddar instead. It worked great!

I asked a friend if she knew how long to bake it. I really wondered if the meat and cheese affected the baking time! She said to follow the instructions on the can, so I did. It said to bake at 375* for 9-12 minutes. I am pretty sure I broiled them a couple minutes to get some good browning, but everyone liked these! 

a close up of the melty cheddar....!

Calzones

We tried this recipe this week, and it was a good one! It came from HERE. 

I want to keep this one and make it again. 

I don't make bread, other than quick breads, like banana, so I bought two cans of Pillsbury pizza dough. I made "custom" calzones for my family. One wanted black olives, and another wanted olives and green pepper. They all had sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella and parmesan. 

As the instructions say, I cut the dough into six pieces, so I made two sets to feed the five of us. We had some leftover but people ate those too! 

For the sauce, I combined one can of tomato sauce with a little basil, oregano, parsley, garlic powder and olive oil. 

For the calzones, I did in fact roll out one can of pizza dough, and cut it into 6th. I added a small spoonful of sauce, topped that with a little shredded mozzarella, diced pepperoni, shredded parmesan, and then if requested- sliced black olives or diced green pepper. 
I folded them in half (had to pull/stretch most of them), then crimped the edges with a fork. Then I brushed melted butter over all of them an sprinkled them with Italian seasoning, which I mixed myself with oregano, basil and garlic powder. 

Finally I baked them at 400* for about 15 minutes. 

We served it with more of the pizza sauce for dipping, and carrot sticks and raspberries on the side! 

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

A really long time ago, my friend walked me thru how to make mashed potatoes in the instant pot. It is still the only thing I know how to make in the instant pot, but don't worry, my husband uses it frequently. 

So for the most basic but clear instructions, here we go! 

Peel and slice or cube potatoes
    (I do one per person, plus an extra or two depending on size)
Put the cubes in the pot.
Cover them in water.
Can add 1/2 tsp salt -sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, sometimes my husband uses bullion in place of salt.

Cook on manual for 8 minutes 
In my case, I push "pressure cook" and then the up/down button til it says "high" and "00:08" and then it starts. This is my machine: 

Eventually it comes to pressure, then it counts down from 8.

Then, I pour off most of the water, but save some in a glass measuring cup. 
I add butter, sour cream or plain greek yogurt, and salt if necessary, and the potato water, and I use the beaters/hand mixer to "mash" them. 

voila! 
Mashed potatoes!