ice cream endeavor, parts 6 & 7: ricanelas & mint chip with homemade magic shell

oops—it's been awhile. but just because i haven't been documenting it doesn't mean i haven't been making ice cream. here's my catch-up post. i've made three ice creams (well, technically four but the peach was so weird i'm not counting it) since the honey lavender. here are the first two:

stole this flavor from bi-rite—it's cinnamon ice cream with snickerdoodle pieces.

ricanelas ice cream (adapted from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up

2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

one batch of snickerdoodles (but you'll only use a few cookies for the ice cream, so eat the rest)

warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. once warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour.

meanwhile, make the snickerdoodles, and the ice cream will be better if the cookies are on the softer side. chop or crumble a reasonable amount of the cookies (about 5—you don't want the ice cream to be too full of stuff) into chunks.

rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. add cookie chunks right before churning is done or mix into the churned ice cream.

for mint chip ice cream and homemade magic shell topping...

okay first of all i apologize that this may not look the most appetizing, due to two reasons: 1. i was quite impatient and had to have some before it was fully frozen and 2. this was the only scoop i got to eat because MY DAD ATE IT ALL.

according to him, this flavor was "the bomb"—i'm starting to think i should start reviewing my ice creams based on my dad's comments (e.g. "the bomb," "damn good," "ooohhhhhhhhh")

anyway, this tastes almost nothing like other mint chip ice cream, because it's infused with real mint flavor and thus, i think, much better.

also i found a recipe for homemade magic shell topping! the secret ingredient is coconut oil, which becomes solid at only 76 degrees. (so don't be alarmed when you buy it and the "oil" is in fact solid.)

mint chip ice cream (adapted from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

1–2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

5 large egg yolks

5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (or 1 cup chocolate chips)

warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. cover, remove from the feat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour. meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small chunks.

strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

reward the mint-infused mixture. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, folding in chocolate.

chocolate magic shell topping (from handle the heat)

(makes 3/4 cups)

7 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (i found this at whole foods)

melt the chocolate in a small metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. stir in the coconut oil and heat until dissolved, about one minute. keep the liquid lukewarm until ready to pour over the ice cream. chocolate will harden into a shell within a few seconds when spooned over ice cream.