Not easily impressed? Check out O Olive Oil and become a fan!

I first time I ever tried olive oil ice cream, it was on a warm, humid day in July.  In short, it turned out “ehh.” In retrospect, it turned out “ehh” because of the mediocre olive oil I used. It came from Costco.

The second time I tried olive oil ice cream, it was at il Laboratorio del Gelato in the Lower East Side in NYC. I had a bite-sized sample. It punched me in the face with its intensity. In short, I felt like someone squirted a bottle of olive oil into my mouth. It was flavorful and it was intense. It was too intense. How could anyone survive one full scoop?

The third time I tried olive oil ice cream was tonight. In short, it was AWESOME. I finally realized why I didn’t enjoy the past two experiences- it wasn’t the ice cream. It was the olive oil. I just didn’t enjoy the flavors of the two olive oils in the previous experiences. The first was too mild and heavy and the second was just too intense without much complexity.

A few weeks back, eRecipecards held a contest sponsored by O Olive Oil. These days, it seem as if figuring out a way to incorporate a non-traditional ingredient into ice cream will produce a hit despite how badly it may taste. I mean, some things are just not meant to be made into ice cream flavors (ie ketchup). So that was my submission- incorporating olive oil into ice cream. Imagine my surprise when I actually got chosen.

I was a bit skeptical at first, even a bit scared. I was afraid that the olive oil ice cream would once again turn out to be mediocre. But this experience taught me something. In his olive oil recipe, David Lebovitz recommends a good quality, fruity olive oil. Now I truly understand why. Despite having custard base that is nearly identical to the one you’d make for a vanilla ice cream, the flavors from this olive oil ice cream shine from the olive oil itself. The company sent me their O Clementine Olive Oil. You can fully appreciate the craftsmanship from the pressed olives and citrus. The result is a very light and aromatic flavor that screams of orange. And while most homemade ice creams don’t freeze well due to the lack of air control in home ice cream makers, this one freezes delightfully well. There are no ice crystals nor is it difficult to scoop. Instead, the metal hits this soft and creamy texture, guaranteeing a perfect visual scoop.

While the ice cream is perfect by itself, it’s also delicious topped with summer fruits such as strawberry and pears. Marinate the pears in a balsamic dressing and you won’t regret it.

Note: There are few things in life that I’m sure of, and one of them is that I always manage to lose something while on vacation. While marveling the Swiss Alps, I seemed to have parted ways with my Canon Rebel XT but even more heart-breakingly, my new and shiny a 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. I was even more devastated when I lost nearly 500 photos or four days worth within that 8gb memory card. Alas, at least I didn’t lose my passport. And even when I came back home, my strawberries and pears seem to have mysteriously disappeared, or else they would too have appeared in these Instagrams along with O’s awesome White Balsamic Vinegar.

Here’s one of the last breathtaking pictures my Canon took in Zurich. I’m going to miss it.

O clementine olive oil ice cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup O Clementine Olive Oil

Method:

In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of the heavy cream along with 1 cup milk. Add in the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. When the milk, cream, and sugar are just nearly at the boiling point, take the pot off the heat. Begin to temper the egg yolks by ladling large spoonfuls of the mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk quickly to prevent the egg yolks from cooking into scrambled eggs. You want to do this until the egg yolk mixture becomes hot. Then, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat.

Gradually whisk the mixture for a few more minutes on low heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn off the fire and let the mixture cool.

After the mixture returns to room temperature, add in the olive oil, gently stir, and freeze in your ice cream maker. It’s best served when it’s slightly soft, directly from the churning. However, it also freezes quite well given the smoothness from the oils.

You should also check out:

• O Olive Oil and Vinegar
• ICE CREAM!!! (and cupcakes!)
• Strawberry sorbet
• French-pressed coffee ice cream
• Orange creamsicle ice cream

AHOY!

It’s July! And that means two things. More ice cream and tofu’s birthday!

If you haven’t realized by now, tofu is my best friend, Sabrina. She and I met four years ago as random summer roommates. That summer involved massive amounts of eating out, attending hot dog eating contests, and secretly hiding under tables and grabbing unsuspecting feet. It’s her birthday on July 9. She’s gonna be old. The big TWO-FOUR. Oh vey. I am smelling petroleum in the air.

But onto some exciting news. Scoops and Sprinkles, the ice cream and cupcake blog, has officially launched! Why ice cream? Because it’s all that I ever want to make. Why cupcakes? Because I love how they look and I recently won a convection oven so I can bake! However, do expect more ice cream posts than cupcake posts as in my book ice cream triumphs over cupcakes.

So yeah, you should totally check it out! A blueberry ice cream recipe is up!

You should also check out:

• O clementine olive oil ice cream
• Strawberry sorbet
• French-pressed coffee ice cream
• Orange creamsicle ice cream
• Honey lavender ice cream

I have a strawberry related joke!

Why did the strawberry cry?

Because it was stuck in a jam!

[womp womp womp...]

Okay. Strawberry sorbet! You know the weather must be getting really nice for me to be making sorbet. In the past few weeks, I’ve had three go’s at a variety of strawberry related sorbets. They included…

• Sugar free strawberry sorbet: What a DUMB idea. Let me tell you- pureed strawberries mixed with orange juice and churned in an ice cream maker is not enough to satisfy even the most sugar-adverse person to walk this earth (aka my co-worker Roy). That thing was just tart! I’d liken it to a Warhead, but that would be exaggeration. However, to my credit, we were trying to make it Daniel Fast friendly (no sweeteners allowed). In retrospect, adding something like honey or even maple syrup would have made it taste better! It’s okay,  Mark ate it all anyway, and then got a terrible stomach ache because of how sour it was.
• Strawberry Margarita sorbet: What a MISS! First off, the Tequila somehow all settled to the bottom of the canister. But I admit it. The rest of it was my fault. First, I was trying to be sugar conscious and halved the amount of sugar. NOT a good idea considering the majority of the mix was made from lime and lemon. Second, I had roughly half the amount of strawberries the recipe called for and thought, hey, what the heck! The result? Even more tart sorbet. Will make a note to self to use a sufficient amount of strawberries to balance out the sourness next time. Sorry, LG people!
• REGULAR PLAIN OLE BORING STRAWBERRY SORBET: Success! So I present to you, another mundane recipe for strawberry sorbet. I recently got a membership to Costco and since then, nearly every week, I buy in bulk their $7.89 strawberries. The problem is, there’s way too many. That’s why I’ve been making all of these strawberry stuff..

Anyway, this recipe is like most others. You take a pound of strawberries, add some sugar, water, and lemon. Puree all that and BABOOM! You have the makings of a very tasty treat. Well, you do need an ice cream maker though. There’s not much else to say about strawberry sorbet that hasn’t already yet been said by the millions out there who have made it at home.

I made this for Angela and Gerri, when they stayed over for the Long Branch Half Marathon. I think it’s safe to say it was a hit. I made it the morning of, so the sorbet was smooth and silky, even after sitting in the freezer for a couple of hours. However, these pictures were takena week later, after the sorbet sat in my frozen canister. That perhaps was not the greatest idea. It was just laziness on my part.

So the lesson? This sorbet is best eaten a few hours after churning. If need be, transfer it into another container and freeze. I feel like that’s common sense, but clearly I lack it.  I figure I can’t possibly be the only person out there who lacks this, which is why I’m telling you not to do that, in case if you’re like me. You could also add some alcohol to prevent the sorbet from forming ice crystals.

Strawberry Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of strawberries (rinsed and hulled)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (most recipes ask for 3/4, but I think that 1/2 is more than enough!)
• A squeeze of a lemon
• Salt
• 2 teaspoons of vodka

Recipe:

This can’t possibly get any easier. Throw everything (YES, EVERYTHING) into a large bowl. Puree it. Dump it into the ice cream maker. Churn.

If you want to make your life more difficult you can strain the mixture to get rid of the seeds before you churn i.

And lastly, some of you may be wondering whether I’ve signed up for AAA yet. Well, the vodka is there to prevent the sorbet from forming ice crystals. Note that because I DID NOT add in the vodka in the sorbet photographed above, you can see ice crystals. But I promise you that I have done it many times in the past and you can’t taste the alcohol at all. Yes, it DOES prevent ice crystals. You also substitute the vodka for kirsh (fruit brandy), gin, and eau-de-vie (brandy).

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Chocolate truffle tart
• Almond & walnut danish
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream

One day, Austin walked by my cube and told me that I had some pretty cool food related gadgets. All I had were a salad oil dispenser, a cool looking jar of tea leaves, and a french press. You’d be amazed at the number of people who have never heard of nor seen a french press (you Aussies and Kiwis know them as ‘coffee plungers’). It’s just a dandy apparatus that lets you make coffee on the fly. So, to all you office folk out there- instead of spending ~$1.50 on a cup of coffee each day, spend $20-40 and invest in a quality french press. I promise it’ll make crappy coffee taste good too.

This is what a french press looks like…

What is a french press? Why use one?

A french press is a pitcher-like apparatus that has this plunger with mesh on the bottom. It basically allows you to brew coffee with a pot of boiling water and ground coffee. Because the coffee grounds remain in direct contact with the water, the resulting coffee captures more of the coffee flavor and essential oils. You can also adjust the strength of the coffee by adjust the amount of coffee grinds that you use.

What type of ground coffee do I need?

A french press requires a coarser grind of coffee than your traditional drip brew coffee filter. It’s typically the first setting on a grinder. A course grind will help prevent the “sludge” that builds up upon brewing.

How long should I brew?

For coarse grinds, typically 5-6 minutes and for more fine grinds, 2-3 minutes. Just remember, the finer the grind, the faster the brewing time. You don’t want to over brew or else the coffee will become “spoiled.” In this case, you’ll over extract the coffee and it’ll turn bitter. However, some people actually like this. The coffee is best within 10 minutes of brewing.

What are the advantages of a french press?

A french press just makes a better quality cup of coffee. It’s also cheap considering all you need is boiling water and you don’t have to worry about buying filters. If you work in an office that has those Poland Spring water dispensers with both the red and the blue nozzles, you can make coffee within minutes. Just be sure to use the red nozzle for the hot water.

What are the drawbacks to a french press?

Most brews leave this trail of sediment in the last few sips. It’s sorta like the way sand sticks to the bottom of a bucket even after you empty out the water. When it builds up, it turns sludgy. Yuck.

Still, quality of french pressed coffee > experience of sludge.

You must be wondering, “Why is she telling me all this?” Because this is how you should make your coffee ice cream. With a french press! Let me tell you, it’s the most intense coffee ice cream ever.

For those of you who don’t have a press, another option is to boil the grinds in a saucepan and then strain out the ground beans. That’s a bit of a hassle though.

How did this recipe come about? I wanted to experiment around because most recipes out there are way too sweet and not intense enough for me flavor wise. Many also require you to brew the coffee and milk mixture for at least an hour. I wanted something that’d shock me with a flavor adrenaline, sort of like Starbuck’s Colombian Coffee Ice Cream, while taking the same amount of time to make the custard base as other ice creams. Since many recipes call for shots of espresso or instant coffee, I figured- If I rely on a french press to make a good cup of joe in the morning, why shouldn’t I rely on it for a good quart of coffee ice cream?

So, I took out my favorite ice cream book- The Perfect Scoop- and started adapted the recipe. I tossed out a yolk, cut down on the sugar, and added some things here and there. Pretty soon, it didn’t even really look like the original recipe.

The ice cream turned out perfectly. Its flavor was really concentrated in coffee and not sweet at all. I think what really contributes to the intensity is none other than… COCOA POWDER! Chocolate and coffee just complement each other so well.  The greatest part about this recipe is how it totally cuts down the brewing time to just a few minutes.

It also made for some great scooping as it’s creamy and soft, even after letting it sit in the freezer for a couple of days.

So at 8:00am, I did the photoshoot (for the photos that you see in this post) and by 8:20am, I was sitting at the dining room table, making an affogado for myself (ice cream in hot coffee). I mean, someone’s gotta eat the ice cream in the photographs, right??

French Pressed Coffee Ice Cream
Inspired by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 scoop of finely ground coffee (2 tablespoons)
• Pinch of salt
• 1½ cups heavy cream, divided in half
• 4 large egg yolks
• ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

Recipe:

(Makes 1 quart)

In a saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, salt, and half of the heavy cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Leave it to simmer. On the side, prepare your french press by scooping in 2 tablespoons of coarsely ground coffee beans. Once the mixture on the stove begins to simmer, pour it into the french press. Let it brew for a good 5-6 minutes.

For those of you that don’t have a french press, you can do this all in the saucepan. So place the ground coffee in with the milk-cream mixture and let it steep until the mixture is warm and just begins to bubble. Then, strain the mixture through a mesh strainer into another bowl. Strain again into the same saucepan. Discard the grinds.

After the steepage, return the freshly brewed coffee-milk-cream mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a separate large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Once the coffee mixture becomes hot, temper the yolks by slowly pouring the mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Return the egg-coffee mixture to the saucepan over medium high heat.

Cook the mixture, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. At this time, add in the vanilla extract and the cocoa powder. Make sure the cocoa powder is fine or else it will clump up. You can also add the cocoa powder before you strain it into the cold cream to make sure it dissolves.

Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator and then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Chocolate truffle tart
• Almond & walnut danish
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream

Continuing onto my stream of bad luck, the other week, I woke up to the creaking sound of pine trees, being burdened by the icy coat that suddenly appeared over night. The trees were on the brink of snapping and I wondered how the bigger trees fared. So when I walked into my parents’ bedroom to look outside the window, I squinted. What the HECK is that thing sticking out in my driveway?

A freaking tree! Well part of a freaking tree. Broke out the handsaw that day.

But despite this seemingly endless string of bad luck, a glimpse into the skies above an hour later took my breath away. Here’s what I saw.

Countless bokeh, caused by the reflecting of the sunrise against the glossy surface of the ice. A spectacular sight.

After finding out that I failed my exam, I was, what you’d probably call, devastated.  The next day, my boss asked how I was feeling and I told him that it wasn’t something that ramen couldn’t cure. “Ramen?!” he exclaimed, “Your comfort food is ramen? Why not steak, lobster, etc…?” He was pretty much in disbelief.

What I didn’t mention is that after the ramen, I had some ice cream. I think it’s become my after-comfort food. A scoop of good homemade ice cream just melts away every troubling thought on your mind. The flavor I had in the freezer was Orange Creamsicle.

I had made this ice cream awhile back in an attempt to use up a few of the oranges in that giant box I had sitting in the garage as well and to make an ice cream that was limited in sugar for my dad. This turned out to be a bit different from what I had imagined. I pictured this velvety, smooth texture. Instead, I got this slightly creamy but more sorbet-like consistency. After a day in the freezer, I had another taste. It reminded me of those orange creamsicle ice cream pops that I had as a kid. First you have that deep orange flavor. Then the cream kicks in. It’s  a really soothing combination.

So my final conclusion? Stash a small pint in your rainy day ice cream fund.

Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vodka

Recipe:

This is one of those few ice cream recipes where you don’t need to temper eggs! Nevertheless, you’ll still need a heavy saucepan to dissolve the sugar into the milk. Do so on low-medium heat until all of the sugar is dissolved. In a separate big bowl, add the heavy cream. Then, add in the mixture from the saucepan, then the orange juice, lemon juice, and vodka. Mix until well incorporated. Let it chill for 8-12 hours.

Churn in an ice cream maker for 20-30 minutes. You won’t get a thick, hard ice cream consistency. Instead, the citrus from the juice will keep the consistency sorbet-like while the heavy cream and milk will give it the creamy texture. Let it sit in the freezer overnight and then serve.  Orange goes well with dark chocolate, so if you have some, do break out the vegetable peeler for some chocolate shavings.

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Chocolate truffle tart
• Almond & walnut danish
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream