First attempt: white chocolate raspberry ice cream

I can say with no degree of uncertainty that I am not a stranger to ice cream. I vehemently argue whenever someone says that it's only a summer food, or even a dessert, since I have no qualms about having ice cream for breakfast in the dead of winter. But I will say that I am completely unaware of its preparation, since I usually lovingly grasp it from its frosty shelf after spending countless minutes deciding on which new Ben & Jerry's flavor sounds the most appetizing. I've decided recently, though, that every dessert is better homemade—from chocolate chip cookies to the icing on a cake, I refuse to make anything out of a box, so why should my frozen favorite be any different?

White chocolate raspberry ice cream

 For my first attempt, I educated myself by perusing various recipes online to see what basic ingredients and ratios most people use when making ice cream. I decided to find a recipe for a base, and then add my own twist of ingredients for flavor. Allrecipes.com provided a helpful starting place with the following recipe:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

(This was originally doubled, but for a first attempt, I thought it might be better to keep things small-scale).

Not exactly appetizing, yet.

1. Pour the heavy cream and half-and-half cream into a heavy saucepan, place over medium-low heat, and heat until barely simmering, stirring frequently. Turn the heat down to low.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.  
3. Slowly pour about 1/4 cup of hot cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat three times more, whisking thoroughly before adding each additional 1/4 cup of hot cream to the egg yolk mixture. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot cream, and whisk constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens and will coat the back of a spoon, 5 to 8 minutes. Do not let mixture boil.
4. Pour the ice cream base into a bowl and allow to cool for about 20 minutes; place in refrigerator and chill overnight. 
   Before chilling overnight, though, I added my own twist:

I had to restrain myself from just eating them frozen.

 

• 1-1/2 cups frozen raspberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Cook down the raspberries in a saucepan over medium heat until hot and liquefied. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain out the seeds over a bowl until just juice and pulp are left. Return the remaining raspberry juice to the saucepan, add the white chocolate, and cook, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted. 
2. Remove from heat and cool until lukewarm, then stir into the slightly chilled ice cream base. Return to the refrigerator and chill overnight.
3. The next day, freeze mixture according to instructions on ice cream maker. I used the freeze bowl attachment for a KitchenAid mixer.
   
   

 

Oops, made a mistake here. I apparently didn't read the directions, and poured the mixture into the bowl before making sure everything was working properly. The dasher got stuck in the prematurely freezing cream mixture and wouldn't mix, so I had to force it manually around the bowl a few times. Lesson learned!

And here's that final product picture again:

Not bad for my first attempt. I was afraid that the raspberry flavor wouldn't come through since I was working with mostly juice (from frozen raspberries, even), but the tartness floated on top of the creamy texture, offering just the right amount of tang balanced out by the mellow white chocolate. The texture was positively dreamy—thick, yet smooth. 

Look out, unseasonably warm temperatures...