Finally! Ice Cream!

About two years ago my mom and husband colluded to buy me this ice cream maker as well as an extra freezing bowl. Mr. Maricucu also added a few ice cream recipe books to get me started and this one was included. Yes, the Ben and Jerry's. Before that gift I had made ice cream and the recipes fell into two camps. Either a cooked egg custard ice cream (called French style) or a milk/cream/sugar eggless base called Philadelphia style. I preferred the French style ice cream bases but still never really approximated a real creamy ice cream taste. Until I read this book. Ben and Jerry have various ice cream base recipes but their core recipe is an egg base that wasn't cooked before hand. Eureka! I know what you're thinking, not cooked? Well I used some egg beaters to be on the safe side but the difference in texture between the B&J base and the French style base was like night and day. No cooked eggy taste, no waiting overnight to chill a base. Real creamy ice cream taste with an almost instant method.




That first summer I owned my machine I cranked out batches every two or three days. First vanilla, then strawberry, oreo, chocolate, cake and even a prune ice cream for my dad that was a flavor he used to have in Dominican Republic. After much pleading I even made a batch of mint chocolate chip for my oldest. Let's just say that was the ultimate expression in motherly love as mint anything just tastes like toothpaste to me and here I was having to taste the ice cream to make it for him. He loved it.

But this summer I really hadn't taken out the ice cream maker much keeping busy with the garden. However one day I was making a batch of dulce de leche and thought, "mmm this would be good in ice cream. Kind of like Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra but better." Well since that day I've been tossing the idea around until one day I thought, "cake ice cream AND dulce de leche!" Oh man buttery best ever poundcake, soaked in premium vanilla ice cream with honking swirls of dulce de leche. Good grief knock me out right now.




Marielle's Pound Cake Ice Cream (and dulce de leche variation)
adapted from Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book

2 large eggs - because I'm lazy and haven't found pasteurized eggs I tend to use egg beaters.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk - I used light cream, you know, for the health benefits.
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract - Again, I plead you to try and make some homemade vanilla. Best thing ever.
1 healthy pinch of kosher salt

1 can hacked dulce de leche
1 cup best ever poundcake, cubed or crumbled

I know it may seem like a lot of trouble, what with boiling the condensed milk cans and then making the poundcake. It's not. I had made a cake a few weeks before and I reserved about half in the freezer. The dulce de leche can be kept indefinitely in a sealed can in your pantry. So theoretically this is a pantry dessert. Grab the frozen cake and your can of condensed milk and you're good to go. Could you make this with storebought poundcake and already made dulce de leche like La Lechera? Definitely! I'd hate to think people won't ever enjoy this amazing ice cream for fear of too much work. But if you put in a little work for the homemade components you might just never go back.

Grab the recipe and yes you too need a lego block bookmarker. I will never admit that it was the closest thing so I grabbed it. It's a style statement and won't you be surprised when it shows up in Martha Stewart's magazine next fall. I might even have to put together a tutorial.




Introducing the three tenors! Or the leading players in this ice cream. The original recipe uses heavy cream and milk but I prefer light cream for the milk.




Mix the sugar into the eggs making sure to dissolve the sugar well before moving onto the next step.




Add the heavy cream and then the light cream.




Mix in your vanilla and try not to slurp up the ice cream base through a straw.




I love watching the homemade vanilla swirl into dairy products. It's kind of like spin art for foodies.




Then my final touch. Every sweet item benefits from a little salt so I threw in a pinch of kosher salt. That's it. The ice cream is done and since your ingredients were for the most part refridgerated, ready to churn.




Here's the frozen bowl that my ice cream makers uses to churn. I call it the brick and keep two of them in my garage deep freeze. I've found that the colder the better and having two means I'm prepared for ice cream emergencies. Yes, ice ceam emergencies.




Stick the brick in the ice cream maker, then the paddle.




Finally, place the lid on the whole shebang. Now, a little bit of advice from a rookie mistake Mr. Maricucu and I made the first time we ever made ice cream years ago. This bowl is frozen. Hard as a rock. So you want to get the machine on BEFORE you pour in the ice cream base. Why? Well let's just say because if you pour in your mix, then turn on the machine you'll start wondering why the motor is making an awful whirring noise and the bowl doesn't seem to turn. Then you'll decide to read the intsruction manual that says to turn on the machine BEFORE adding the mix. Then you and the other adult in the room will look at each other with shame and amusement at the same time tempted to smack each other on the forehead while saying, "doh!"




Turn on the machine, then pour in the ice cream base. I love super premium ice creams like Ben and Jerry's, Haagen Daaz, etc. So I like to churn my ice cream to soft serve consistency then finish ripening (firming) in the freezer. That way the ice cream is extra creamy and not filled with air like a lot of homemade ice creams after they've gone in the freezer. For my specific machine the time is usually 20 minutes give or take 5 minutes.




During the last five minutes of churning, after the first twenty minutes I add the cubed cake. Usually I crumble the cake like bread crumbs but this time I wanted to see how it tasted with larger chunks. I prefer crumbled as you get a better distribution of cake. How you do yours is up to you and your preference.






Once the ice cream is churned to soft serve consistency, scoop it into a freezer safe container and put a layer of plastic wrap right on top of the surface. It's something I heard Alton Brown mention on his ice cream episode and it definitely works to keep the ice cream from developing that leathery surface and free of ice crystals. Then place your lid and pop it into your freezer for three to four hours or until firm. Turn around and your family will be licking the paddle.




Your ice cream is ready to scoop. This Zyliss ice cream scoop is hands down my favorite scoop and if Mr. Maricucu would admit it, his favorite tool in the kitchen.




See the ice cream and the bits of cake? Mmmm, heaven. My kids love this and I do too since it tastes just like that last little bit of melty ice cream and cake crumbs at the bottom of a bowl when you're almost done.







Can we improve upon this? Oh yes we can my friends. My dulce de leche, in a zip top bag, ready to squeeze.




For this batch I crumbled the cake into the bottom of the storage container. Then I dumped in my churned vanilla ice cream and mixed with the spatula. Or you can just add it to the ice cream maker. Either way works.




Now squeeze on a swirl of dulce de leche. Since my baseline for this inspiration is Karamel Sutra I went for a super thick swirl, like 1" in thickness. Which means that when I swirled it with my knife it didn't swirl so much as break up into little sausage links. Exactly what I wanted, pockets of dulce de leche.




See what I mean? Pockets of dulce de leche that stays creamy and slightly soft even in the freezer.




How did it taste? Oh my goodnes it was a labor of love two years in the making. Between the cake and ice cream with the swirls of dulce de leche I exclaimed to Mr. Maricucu that it tasted like Tres Leches ice cream which just happens to be one of my favorite desserts. I consider this attempt, a success.




Thank you for the well wishes for being ill. I'm definitely feeling better now.