Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pretty in Pink



This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe of Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.  The first thing you may have noticed about my version of this dessert is that it's definitely not blue.  Or even purple.  Those who have been reading my blog for a while are probably aware that I don't like blueberries, but that I do love raspberries!

Yes, I did make a few modifications to this week's recipe.  When I first looked at the recipe, I noticed that it makes a fairly small batch.  In fact, I don't think I've put such a small amount of ice cream base in my ice cream maker before.  I should have thought more about that before I started.  Besides substituting raspberries for the blueberries, I also tried using some homemade creme fraiche in place of the sour cream.  Other than that, I stuck pretty closely to the recipe.

One thing I should mention is that the last time I made ice cream (about a week ago), I killed the motor on my ice cream maker.  The ice cream maker had a freezer canister with a plastic lid where the motor fit into the top.  I didn't actually burn out the motor--the plastic cover for the motor attachment broke off, and then some of the bits of the motor fell out.  But when I stopped and thought about it, I realized that it was 15 years old.  So it had a good life.  But I wasn't sure I wanted to spend money on a new ice cream maker right now.  The canister was still perfectly fine, and I remembered that I also had a hand-crank for it.  So I thought I'd try to convince Brianna that it would be fun to help me make the ice cream by hand.  =)



It might have turned out okay.  But the quantity of ice cream was just too small.  It wanted to freeze to the sides of the canister before we really had a chance to churn it.  It quickly became impossible to turn the crank.  So I gave up and scraped shards of ice cream into a container to put in the freezer.  I did try to eat some of it, but it wasn't very good at all.  Poor texture, and not very good flavor either.  Edited to add: Simply substituting the creme fraiche for the sour cream resulted in too much fat, I think.  The ice cream had a really greasy mouthfeel to it.  If I try the creme fraiche again, I'll add some milk as well.

I decided to try again.  First, let me introduce you to my newest kitchen appliance:



Thanks to Pamela for the great information that Williams-Sonoma has this ice cream maker for a good price that included a second freezer canister.  Woohoo!  Multiple ice cream flavors on the same day!  =)

I decided to think positive and came up with proportions for a larger batch.  Here's what I decided on:

1 12-ounce bag of frozen raspberries, thawed
1 cup granulated sugar
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces reduced-fat sour cream (since the creme fraiche didn't work out the way I'd hoped)

I cooked everything but the cream and sour cream together as indicated in the original recipe. I increased the simmer time to 5 minutes due to the larger quantity.  Since I didn't want raspberry seeds in my ice cream, after a spin in the blender I pushed the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.  I stirred in the cream and sour cream and chilled the mixture for several hours before trying out my new toy.



The verdict?  This stuff is fantastic!  Tart and refreshing as well as very creamy.  Just the thing to beat the August heat (and summer-long heat wave we've been having).  I will definitely be making this one again.  As with most homemade ice cream, it definitely gets a little hard after a day or two in the freezer.  My solution for that is to stick the whole container in the microwave for about a minute on 10% power, just enough to soften it a bit.

Want to try the blueberry version?  Head over to Dolores's blog for the recipe, or check out a copy of Baking From My Home to Yours.

32 comments:

  1. Great new appliance! I always stick my ice cream in the microwave. It is much better a little softer. Looks great.

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  2. I love your raspberry version. It looks awesome and is beautiful. Great Job :)

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  3. I'm jealous of your new maker! Looks great. I can't wait to buy one myself. I love the color of your ice cream - raspberries was a great idea.

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  4. So saddened to hear about the homemade creme fraiche going into the first batch, oh well. Good to hear that the second came out well!

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  5. Great new toy, I have the same one. Your raspberry ice cream looks wonderful.

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  6. I'm glad you got the deal on the ice cream maker, too! Love the extra bowl. Your version looks so good! And I have been nuking mine for a short time too, just to soften things up a bit. Great job!!

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  7. OH Di, your ice cream looks picture perfect and delicious!!!! I love the colour and I can bet it was fantastic. I just adore raspberries! Oh, and that ice cream maker! Lucky you!

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  8. Wow, what persistence - cranking by hand(!) and then starting over! the finished product is gorgeous.

    Nancy
    The Dogs Eat the Crumbs

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  9. That looks seriously so good! I bet the raspberry flavor was fantastic

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  10. This is gorgeous...and I'm so trying the recipe with raspberries and creme fraiche now!

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  11. Mmmm raspberries! Yum. I bet the creme fraiche was great too. I agree that the amount was really small for my 2 quart ice cream maker but since it was my first time I didn't realize it until after I poured it into the maker! Next time I'll double it! Nothing wrong with more ice cream right? LOL. Great job!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

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  12. Yum, raspberry sounds amazing! I love that little ice cream maker, too.

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  13. okay so your newest kitchen appliance is the ice cream maker i never found. fess up, did you find it in my garage? hehe. well good to know it WORKS...i couldn't find it so i did it by hand and got more of a sorbet cream. yours looks amazingly creamy!

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  14. That raspberry ice cream looks absolutely GORGEOUS! Way to try it again, I'm glad it was better the second time around!

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  15. Looks fabulous.

    2 freezer canisters....score!

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  16. Raspberry sounds delicious, it looks really pretty too!

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  17. Gotta love new appliances! Raspberry sounds delicious and next time I am going to use creme fraiche!

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  18. I have the same ice cream maker! I would kill for the second freezer bowl, though. We've been making raspberry ice cream too. YUMMY!

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  19. mine froze too quickly too - it hadn't occurred to me that it was due to the small amount of ice cream in the canister! any reason to get a new toy for the kitchen, i always say.

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  20. Love the raspberry idea...I might try strawberry or a banana flavor next time

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  21. Love that you gave it a second try--especially because it turned out so amazingly the second time around! I'm going to add your raspberry variation to my ever-growing list of fun things to do with this recipe in the coming months!

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  22. Ya know, you ask if we want to try the blueberry version there at the end, but here's my answer - tried the blueberry, now I *must* try the raspberry. Awesome.

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  23. Sounds delicious! Congrats on the new ice cream maker! :)

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  24. Oh, you're really killing me. Raspberry and the chocolate ganache. I wish I could stop by for dessert.

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  25. yum! sounds and looks fabulous! i don't dare get an ice cream maker because i would make ice cream everyday. which is fine for the boys, but not for my waistline! i love your blog!

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  26. I had texture problems, too -- and shards. It tasted great, though.

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  27. Your (second shot at) raspberry sour cream ice cream looks GREAT. Glad I could inspire you to stimulate the economy a bit. :)

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  28. I can only imagine how tasty this recipe is with raspberries! Good on you for buying a new ice cream maker, my mom got the same one for Xmas. Now that I have an ice cream maker, I don't ever want to be without it. I love ice cream and I especially love the ice cream I make. I've got 3 different kinds in the freezer right now!!

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  29. the second freezer cannister is a great idea! I'm well jealous. pity about the texture - you can't tell by looking at it though. Just looks amazing. and so pink. how cool is that?

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  30. You've been making ice cream like a mad woman! Looks yummy too!

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