It's a virtue

People seem to think that I have a lot of patience.  When they learn how long I've worked in customer service, they think I must be a patient person.  When they see something that I've created, be it a fancy cake or a piece of needlework, they say how making those things must take a lot of patience.  Honestly, though, I think most of the time it's more stubbornness than patience--because I don't feel very patient a lot of the time, especially when I'm dealing with my children.  And when I get an idea in my head, I don't want to wait.  I want to make it happen now!

You've all seen that in action with all my recent posts about frozen treats.  Sure, it's summer, and a great time for ice cream.  But I want to make all the different flavors right now.  I actually didn't make any new ones last weekend because I knew there wouldn't be room until we finished eating some of the ones I'd already made.  I can hardly wait to make some more, though.  It's not just flavors that I've been experimenting with, either.  After buying some cones and waffle bowls at the grocery store that weren't very tasty (and arrived broken as well), I decided that I needed to make my own.  Jeni's book has a recipe, but I was lacking one important thing--a waffle cone iron.  

It wasn't always the case, but these days Austin has quite a few different places to shop for housewares. The place I end up at most often is Sur la Table.  When SLT came to town a few years ago, the local Williams-Sonoma store expanded quite a bit as well.  But despite the fact that they have a lot more to offer these days, I still don't shop there all that often.  For some of the basics, I like to go to Ace Mart, a local restaurant supply store.  And for some items, like cake boxes and decorating tools, I shop at All in One Bake Shop.   I may not like shopping for clothes or shoes, but I can shop for kitchen gear all day long. =)  Where do you all like to shop for bakeware and related stuff?  I can always use some new places to check out.  =)

How Brianna deals with the fact that I need more practice making cones without holes at the bottom...

When I started looking for a waffle cone maker, I started with Sur la Table and Williams-Sonoma.  SLT didn't even have one on its website.  W-S had one, but it was listed as online only.  Sometimes that information isn't accurate so I still checked the store, but no luck.  I even tried Bed, Bath & Beyond, but same thing--online only.  If I wanted to buy one online, I could just order one from another favorite of mine, King Arthur Flour.  I was about to give up and resign myself to having to wait a week or so, when I thought of something else.  I'm not sure why I don't usually think of them, but we also have a Crate & Barrel store in Austin.  I checked their website first.  Success!  They have this one.  And it was on sale!  Even better, I was able to check store availability from the website, and it looked like my local store had some in stock.  I was doing this on a day off, so I headed right down to look.  They had one!  As it turned out, a lot of other ice cream related stuff was on sale, which is how I ended up with the cute dishes pictured here, as well as a couple of these glasses.  

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to eat ice cream...

The verdict?  Well, I think you can see that the cones were a big hit with Brianna and Gillian.  My only problem is that now they want ice cream for dessert every night.  Unfortunately, I just don't have the patience for it--I swear they can take an amazingly long time to finish eating an ice cream cone. =)  They had plain dark chocolate ice cream in their cones, but the others pictured are filled with a flavor that I made just for me.  (Though I just discovered that J did sample some.)  I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry, so I made a batch of the Milkiest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World, and layered it with some fabulous raspberry sauce and some of the Chocolate Bombe Shell.  

As for the cones, I've made them a couple times.  I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, though a couple of this last batch still had holes in the bottoms.  I've learned that the cones taste better if you let them get more browned, too.  We've made some waffle bowls, too, by sandwiching the hot waffles between a couple of small ramekins with rounded bottoms.  

If you'd like to try these and lots of other great ice cream recipes, I definitely encourage you to get a copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  (No, this is not a sponsored post; I just really love this book.)  You can find the recipes for the chocolate ice creams and the raspberry sauce in the book.  Here's my version of her waffle cone recipe.  

Waffle Cone Batter

(adapted from Jeni's Splendid Homemade Ice Creams)

2 egg whites (60 grams)

60 grams (1/4 cup) heavy cream

100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

70 grams (5 tablespoons) melted unsalted butter

85 grams (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour

Whisk the egg whites and cream together in a medium bowl.  Whisk in the sugar, salt and vanilla.  Whisk in the melted butter, making sure that everything is thoroughly blended.  Finally, gently whisk in the flour, just until the batter is smooth.  

I let my batter rest (at room temperature) while my waffle iron was heating.  For my waffle iron, my #40 disher is just the right size to scoop the batter.  It took some trial and error to figure out exactly how long to cook the waffles.  And be prepared to burn your fingers a few times while you learn to roll them into cones.