Cardamom Ice Cream

My life is going to change soon. In just a few months, I won't be living in Berkeley anymore, I won't be living in CALIFORNIA anymore. I know it sounds crazy, but I need a change. And as we all know, change can be scary.

After 4 years in Berkeley I have finally made a dent here, especially in the food scene. I have compiled a restaurant list for the Bay Area (soon to become a blog post!). I am friends/friendly with and have previously worked with many chefs/restaurant owners/managers at most of my favorite restaurants here. A large part of me is ready to experience the east coast, ready to dive into something new and spontaneous. Yet, a hefty chunk of me has this nervous feeling, this unsettling anxiety about the fact that I have little if any restaurant connections on the other side of the country. There really is nothing else like the freshness of California Cuisine, the laid-back atmosphere of a neighborhood restaurant.

I remember coming into college, I had just finished reading Alice Waters' and Chez Panisse. I had a goal and that goal was to work in her restaurant. I was determined to slip into the Bay Area food scene, and that I did.

Looking back on some food memories of my Berkeley beginnings, I will never forget one of my favorite vendors at the Berkeley farmer's markets, the Three Twins Ice Cream ice cream stand. All I had to do was sample one of their most famous (and my absolute favorite) flavors, "Dad's Cardamom," and I was completely hooked (a comforting note, Three Twins is sold at some grocery stores on the east coast...).

Below you will find my recipe for Cardamom Ice Cream. I used a basic vanilla bean ice cream recipe and just added cardamom to it. Many moons ago a friend gave me a big bag of cardamom pods from Israel. Making this ice cream was the perfect excuse to use the pods.


Kudos to nostalgia, love, good food, and scary/exciting change.

Cardamom Ice Cream

adapted from David Lebovitz's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe in Ready for Dessert

makes about 1 quart

1 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6-10 green cardamom pods, split open and seeds crushed in a mortar and pestle (or about 2-3 teaspoons ground cardamom)
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks


In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, salt, and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the saucepan, then drop in the pod. Add the cardamom. Cover, remove from heat, and let steep for 30 minutes (sometimes I just get lazy/impatient and don't steep for a long time...eh, my ice cream still comes out amazing).

Pour the cream into a medium bowl and set a mesh strainer across the top.

Reheat the milk mixture until it's warm. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm milk mixture, whisking constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan (this is called "tempering"). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heatproof spatula.

Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the heavy cream. You can rinse your vanilla pod and save it to use again in another recipe.

Set the bowl containing the custard over a larger bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool. Freeze the chilled custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

***WANT MORE CARDAMOM RECIPES? Pistachio Cardamom Cake with Slivered Almonds

Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

Oh yes, this dripping cone of chocolate heaven is SORBET. No cream, no milk, no egg yolks...but no skimping on the rich chocolate flavor. Oh no, no skimping. This is as pure as a frozen chocolate treat can get. Joanne Chang, the owner of a popular Boston bakery called Flour is responsible for this bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe. She describes the taste perfectly: "It tastes like a frozen deep, dark chocolate bar." Oh, lordy I couldn't describe it better myself!

I was just in New York and discovered that there are some REALLY GOOD hot chocolates to drink out there. Like REALLY REALLY GOOD, especially when you dip a pretzel croissant into your hot chocolate. This sorbet tastes like the dark hot chocolates that I was drinking just a few weeks ago, but frozen.

I had some organic vegan ice cream cones on-hand that I used to make red velvet cupcake cones a short while ago, and these cones were a great way to enjoy this bittersweet chocolate sorbet (and the cones only have 25 calories, 0 fat, and 0 sugar!!!).

I do very much enjoy the process of making ice cream. I like the whole heat the milk, temper in the egg yolks, and pour into cold cream thing. But with this sorbet, I get to do the make a nice caramel, add some cocoa powder, and pour everything over chopped chocolate thing. I like this, too.

Chang provides a nice food-science explanation for using caramelized sugar instead of pure sugar in her bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe:

"...caramelize the sugar before combining it with the sorbet base. Because there is no cream or milk in this recipe, it is a challenge to create a smooth, creamy texture. Caramelizing the sugar means you can use more sugar than you would normally (since straight sugar is pure sweet and the sweetness of the caramelized sugar is offset by its characteristic bitterness). The extra sugar-disguised-as-caramel helps to lower the freezing point of the sorbet base, which means it won't freeze solid. The result is a creamier, softer, not-icy treat."

Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

from Joanne Chang's book, Flour

makes about 1 quart

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

3 1/2 cups (840 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

4 ounces (114 grams) bittersweet chocolate (60-70 % cacao), finely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Put the sugar in the bottom of a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup (120 grams) of the water and gently swirl the pan to moisten the sugar. Place the pan over high heat and leave it undisturbed until the contents come to a rolling boil. Then continue to boil rapidly without moving the pan until the sugar syrup starts to caramelize. This will take 3 to 4 minutes: the sugar syrup will boil furiously, then as it thickens it will boil more languidly, and then you will see some of the syrup start to color and darken around the edge of the pan.

When you see color in the pan, gently swirl it in a circular motion so the sugar caramelizes evenly, and then keep swirling gently until the caramel is a medium golden brown. Turn down the heat to low and slowly and carefully add the remaining 3 cups (720 grams) water. Be careful, because it will sputter and spatter when it hits the caramel. The caramel will harden at the bottom of the pan; turn up the heat to high, bring the mixture back to a boil, and whisk for a few minutes until the caramel fully dissolves. Then whisk in the cocoa powder until fully dissolved.

Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the hot caramelized liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk gently until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a container, and whisk in the vanilla and salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until cold.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Sorbet can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 week.

Red Velvet Cupcake Cones...Cuteness Overload

Note to self: Do NOT eat coffee ice cream right before bed. Do NOT eat coffee ice cream right before bed when you have to wake up in the 6 o'clock hour the next morning.

Ok now that we have that taken care of, let's talk ice cream. No, wait, let's talk cupcakes. No, let's talk cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. What? Gah. Help.

Cuties in a cone. Yep. Really cute cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. The perfect birthday gift.

**There is no actual ice cream in these cupcakes


They look like hearts don't they?


The cupcake cone idea came from the KitchyKitchen (she has a really great tutorial video). The frosting recipe was from Annie'sEats and the cake part came from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.


Red Velvet Cupcakes


recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook

makes about 9 ice cream sugar cones-full

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons red food coloring (I used much less because I ran out; only about 1-1.5 Tbsp.)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Turn mixer to high and add the egg. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste (mine did not get to that thick paste consistency because I added much less food coloring...it still worked fine even if it wasn't a paste). Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar. Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.

Spoon batter into flat-bottomed sugar cones set in a muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

***NOTE: These are best eaten the day of otherwise the cones will get soggy. Sticking the cupcake cones in the refrigerator helps slow the sogginess slightly...

Cream Cheese Frosting

From Annie's Eats

8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. (Like Annie, I used a large, unlabeled star tip to frost these cupcakes.)

Messy, Sticky, Finger-Lickin' Good: Honey Sea Salt Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce

It's official. I'm addicted. I'm addicted to ice cream. I'm addicted to this honey sea salt peanut butter ice cream. I love peanut butter, I love honey, I love salt, especially flaky sea salt. I'm addicted to making and eating caramel sauce. Burnt sugar? Yep. Addicted. Leftover puff pastry diamonds that I made at work? Yep. Addicted.

It's official. I am out of flour, I am out of vanilla, I am nearly out of sugar. A baker's job well done, I'd say.

Caramel sauce may seem a bit scary, but it really is as easy as 1. 2. 3. Heat the sugar. It will start to bubble, brown, and smoke:

Resist the urge to stir until the last possible moment...annnnnnnd...now go! Stir! Add a bit o' butter...stir (I actually prefer to nudge rather than stir)! Add some heavy cream...nudge! Breathe.

Awww yeahhhh

Heaven in a sauce

My base. Puff pastry diamond with some honey sea salt pb ice cream. This photo was taken before my ice cream scooper broke. It was also taken before I made caramel sauce.

Much better. Oh how good it feels to spoil myself...

Honey Sea Salt Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce

Followed exactly from theKitchyKitchen (she rocks!)

Ingredients:

2-3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup honey roasted peanut butter (if you only have regular, add 2 tablespoons of honey)

2 tablespoons honey

Pinch of sea salt, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Caramel Sauce:

1 cup white sugar

4 oz unsalted butter

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat one cup of the heavy cream in a sauce pan until simmering. Add the sugar to melt. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add a little of the hot cream and whisk to combine. Add a little more, then pour the contents of the bowl into the pan and stir until thickened (or 165 F). Off the heat, add the peanut butter, sea salt, honey, and vanilla, stirring to combine. Taste and add more sea salt or honey to taste. Chill in your fridge, whisk in the additional cream and milk (tasting to adjust the salt and honey), then stir in your ice cream machine as recommended.

For the caramel sauce, heat the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until the sugar turns golden. Stir until all of the sugar is dissolved and just starting to turn a lovely dark amber color. Remove from heat and add the butter, and stir to combine. Careful, it'll foam up. Then add the heavy cream and vanilla extract, stirring to combine. Pour the caramel into a glass jar and store in the fridge for up to two weeks. Pour over everything and anything!


***FOR MORE CARAMEL, CHECK OUT MY CARAMEL ICE CREAM!!!!

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I have been meaning to post this recipe for a while now. Vanilla bean ice cream. Homemade. Rich and creamy and dotted with little bean flecks. The absolute perfect thing to go with a homemade galette or a homemade pie.


Did I mention this is rich and creamy and utter heaven? A double dose of vanilla, from the pod and the extract, allows for the ultimate vanilla flavor.

Oooooo and the consistency is spot on with this recipe. It does not get all hard and icy in the freezer. It stays nice and soft, but not too soft. Mmm gimme gimme gimme!!!!!!!!


Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert

makes about 1 quart

1 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, salt, and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the saucepan, then drop in the pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let steep for 30 minutes (sometimes I just get lazy/impatient and don't steep for a long time...eh, my ice cream still comes out amazing).

Pour the cream into a medium bowl and set a mesh strainer across the top.

Reheat the milk mixture until it's warm. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm milk mixture, whisking constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan (this is called "tempering"). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heatproof spatula.

Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the heavy cream. You can rinse your vanilla pod and save it to use again in another recipe.

Stir in the vanilla extract. Set the bowl containing the custard over a larger bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Freeze the chilled custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Espresso Ice Cream

I can confidently say that coffee is my favorite ice cream flavor. Any and almost every time I go to the ice cream shop or see it on the dessert menu at a restaurant, my eye immediately notices the coffee flavor.

The restaurant that I work at serves Blue Bottle Coffee, a local Oakland/San Francisco brand of coffee. Man oh man is this stuff good! Last week at work, one of the baristas wanted to practice her coffee-making skills, so I had her make me a decaf double shot of espresso with the intention of using it to make espresso ice cream.

This stuff is literally good to the last drop (I licked the plate after taking this photo!).

I drizzled some coffee grounds around my plate of ice cream, and placed a nice hunk of dark dark chocolate next to my frozen coffee delight. After a long day of class/work, this is the perfect pick-me-up.

Espresso Ice Cream

makes about 1- 1 1/2 quarts

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
3/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
pinch salt
5-6 egg yolks (or enough to make about 1/2 cup yolks)
3/8 cup sugar
2 cups cream
1/8 cup espresso

Combine milk, cream, sugar, powdered milk, and salt in a pot or saucepan. Heat until just scalding. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks and second amount of sugar. Whisk together until just mixed.

When the milk mixture is scalding, pour about half of it into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Pour that all back into the rest of the milk mixture and continue to heat, stirring constantly until you see a slight film on the bottom of the pot.

Take your custard and pour it through a fine mesh strainer into another bowl with your 2 cups of cream. Set the entire bowl with everything in it over an ice water bath.

Once your custard has chilled, add the espresso. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.


VARIATIONS:
Coffee-fudge ice cream: Whip up a batch of chocolate fudge sauce and pour it into the ice cream maker in the last minute of churning.

Coffee cookies-and-cream ice cream: Chop up some oreo cookies and mix them into the ice cream in the last minute of churning.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

I made some chocolate chip cookie dough flavor ice cream for you. A whole tub of it. It's like cookie dough, but it's ice cream. Insane. I used a combo of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate morsels just because. I used brown sugar and egg yolks in my custard, and when this yummy frozen treat was finished churning, I licked the ice cream maker clean.

And hey, if you still miss those "chunks" of cookie dough mixed into the ice cream, well by all means go ahead and make some dough to mix in. Or if you want to crumble some already baked chocolate chip cookies into the mix, go to town. (If you are looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.) I actually took some leftover homemade oreos from my work and mixed them in.

I happily ate my cookie dough flavor ice cream with chopped chocolate, oreos, and yes, I took a spoonful of peanut butter to go along with my bowl of decadence.

***NOTE: Apologies for the low quality photos...my camera is still broken and in the process of being fixed. So just hold your horses until then...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

from JoytheBaker

3 tablespoons butter
2 cups half and half
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2% is best; milk with less fat might make this particular ice cream get too icy when frozen)
3/4-1 cup chocolate, chopped (I used half semisweet, half bittersweet)

Pour your 1 1/2 cups milk into a medium-large bowl and set over an ice water bath. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it melts into a nice golden brown color (this is called browned butter). Add the half and half until scalding (not quite boiling). Add your pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add some of the warm half and half mixture to the egg-sugar mixture while stirring constantly. Then pour the rest back into the saucepan and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened slightly and can coat the back of a metal spoon. Strain through a sieve into the bowl of milk. Stir over the ice water bath until chilled, then stick in the fridge until completely chilled.

Pour into the ice cream maker. In the last few minutes of churning, stir in the chopped chocolate, cookie dough chunks, whatever tickles your fancy...

Caramel Ice Cream with Sliced Almonds and Heath Bar

Making caramel can seem very intimidating at first. You are playing with science. You are playing with fire. You are playing with sugar--hot bubbling sugar. There are different types of caramels that can be made: wet caramel is made by heating a combination of sugar and water in a pan and dry caramel is simply sugar heated without any liquid. Wet caramel is used mostly for sauces and drizzling. This particular caramel ice cream recipe uses the dry caramel technique.

The 2 main things to take note of when making caramel are recrystallization (lumpy clumpy sugar crystals) and burning the sugar. You can avoid recrystallization by making sure that your pan and your sugar have no impurities in them and that you are cooking your sugar in a fairly even layer. Limiting the amount that the sugar is stirred can also help prevent recrystallization (point: do not over-stir). To prevent burning the sugar, it is important to stand guard and hover around the pot. Right when the sugar turns an amber color and starts smoking and foaming a bit, you must remove the pan from heat immediately to stop the sugar from darkening further. Usually, a liquid is added (cream, coffee, orange juice/water...) at this point to help stop it from continuing to cook.

Look, if you mess up, just try again with a new batch of sugar. Sugar is pretty inexpensive and you can think of the process as an educational lesson in cooking and science.

Caramel ice cream is a real treat. This recipe is just a basic dry caramel mixed with a milky creamy custard, but there are all sorts of fun ways to play with caramel ice cream mix: burnt caramel ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, salted butter caramel ice cream (I had this flavor at a shop in Paris, caramel burree sale, mmmmm!)...

I also chose to mix in heath bar candy and chopped toasted almonds. I actually wish that I hadn't done the heath bar thing because it took away from the actual caramel taste, but it was still absolutely delicious regardless. Next time I think I will pair the ice cream with a flourless chocolate cake or maybe some chewy gingersnap cookies and make ginger caramel ice cream sandwiches. Uh. Yea.

Caramel Ice Cream

from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert

makes about 1 quart (1 liter)

1 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spread the sugar in an even layer in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until the sugar begins to melt around the edges. Using a heatproof utensil, slowly drag the liquified sugar to the center and stir gently until all the sugar is melted. Continue to cook, stirring infrequently, until the caramel turns dark amber in color and starts to foam a bit. Remove from heat and immediately add the milk (SLOWLY!). The caramel will bubble up vigorously (WATCH OUT, STAND BACK/WEAR OVEN MITS), then the bubbling will subside.

Set the saucepan over low heat, add 1/4 teaspoon salt, and stir until almost all of the hardened caramel has dissolved into the milk. A few bits may remain, but don't worry; they'll melt later on.

Pour the cream into a medium bowl and set a mesh strainer across the top.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm caramel mixture, whisking constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heatproof spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the heavy cream. Stir in the vanilla, then taste, and add up to 1/4 teaspoon more salt, if desired.

Set the bowl containing the custard over a larger bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

**Optional: Stir in 1 to 2 cups of mix-ins just after churning--chopped chocolate or candy bars (I did chopped toasted almonds with heath bar), bits of broken caramel, crumbled brownies, praline...

or

Make cookies and make caramel ice cream sandwiches!

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream + Summer Fruit Crisp

Amidst my camera breaking, my new apartment still coming together, no Internet at the new apartment, and my weekend getaway trips gallivanting around northern California, my blog posts have been/will be a bit delayed.

My new kitchen is filled with fun gadgets: my KitchenAid candy-apple-red mixer, my mortar and pestle, tons of baking pans, and my ICE CREAM MAKER. And what a better way to break-in the kitchen than to make some refreshing ice cream?! Honey vanilla ice cream!!!

Lately I have been eating tons of melon: cantaloupe, watermelon, orange honeydew melon, canary melon, muskat melon........mmmmmm. This honey vanilla ice cream is the perfect accoutrement to any melon. For some more melon fun, check out this post by the KitchyKitchen.


The way that I pick a good melon is to give it a sniff at right at the end where that circular nub is (see above photo). It should smell like fragrant flowers. If there is no smell, you can still buy the melon but let it sit for a few days on the counter. You can also try to shake or knock the melon. If the seeds are loose, the melon is ripe.

The honey vanilla ice cream can be served with melon, served on its own, served with some peanut butter and sliced sauteed bananas (deconstructed Elvis Presley-style?), served with a summer fruit crisp, or any other way you can imagine.

A summer fruit crisp is an easy, comforting dessert that can be thrown together in a pinch. Use whatever fruit you like, sprinkle the crisp topping on, and bake. Gosh, you get your fruit and your oat-y crumbly crunch. And it is just divine with the ice cream.


To make the crisp: I sliced dapple dandy pluots, a nectarine, and sprinkled a few blueberries into an 8 in by 8 in square baking pan (feel free to make minis in little ramekins, too). I added a tablespoon and a half of all-purpose flour (you can also add a sprinkle of sugar and/or lemon depending on the sweetness of the fruit). Then I topped the fruit with some crisp topping (recipe below) and baked it all in a 375 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. Serve warm with the ice cream on top...YUM!

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream
adapted from Chez Panisse Fruit

makes 1 quart

** BEWARE: This ice cream is really heavy on the honey flavor. If you just want a slight honey flavor, add only 1/2 a cup or less of honey. But if you are a major honey lover, add the whole 3/4 cup (that's what I did)

6 egg yolks
1 cup half and half (I just used milk because that was all I had...it still came out great)
1 pinch salt
1 vanilla bean
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/2-3/4 cup honey, depending on how much of a honey lover you are


Set the heavy cream into a large bowl or bucket and set a fine mesh strainer or sieve over the top. Set the bowl into another larger bowl of ice water.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks just enough to break them up. Gently heat the milk and salt in a medium-size saucepan or pot. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds with a paring knife, and put them into the milk mixture along with the bean pod. Stir slowly over low heat until the milk is steaming.

Drizzle the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly as you pour (this is called tempering the egg yolks).

Return the milk and egg yolk mixture to the saucepan or pot. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring slowly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or heat-resistant rubber spatula until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spoon (this happens at a temperature of about 170 degrees F).

Immediately remove from the heat and strain through the fine-mesh strainer/sieve into the cold cream. Whisk in the 3/4 cup of honey.

Whisk together to cool the mixture over the ice bath. Once chilled, cover the ice cream base and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (at least a half hour or over-night).

Freeze the mixture according to your ice cream machine's instructions. Transfer the frozen ice cream to a clean dry container, cover, and store in the freezer for several hours before serving to firm up.

Variations:

To make honey lavender ice cream: Add 1 tablespoon of dried lavender when you are heating the milk.

To make vanilla ice cream, use milk instead of half and half and add 2/3 cup of sugar when you heat the milk. Omit the honey.

Fruit Crisp Topping

adapted from Deborah Madison

3/4 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats or finely chopped almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon, optional
6 Tbsp. butter, cut into small chunks

Using your fingers or the paddle attachment of a mixer, combine the topping ingredients and work in the butter until the texture is coarse and crumbly.

**The topping can be made ahead and refrigerated for a week or so or frozen for several weeks.

Lemon Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Crumbs

No, I did not buy this ice cream from the corner store. Yes, I made this ice cream from scratch with real lemons, some quality dairy products, a touch of sugar, and lots of love. And I added crumbled graham cracker crumbs (I used Trader Joe's whole wheat cinnamon graham crackers) to this ultimate lemon ice cream just because, well, what the heck, right?!

Lemon ice cream with graham cracker crumbs. Eaten out of some fancy china, eaten out of the container, or eaten straight from the ice cream maker...it's just that good...

Lemon Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Crumbs

adapted from Tartlette

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar or 2/3 cup agave nectar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream

cinnamon graham crackers or gingersnaps, broken into tiny bite-size pieces

In a non-reactive bowl, mix the lemon zest, juice, sugar, and salt. Refrigerate 1-2 hours to blend flavors.

Pour your 2 cups of cold cream into a bowl or bucket and set a fine mesh strainer over the top.

In a large bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks to break them up. Heat milk to a bare boil in a large heavy saucepan. Pour the milk over the eggs, stirring constantly, and return combined mixture to the saucepan and gently heat until the mixture slightly starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon.

Pour through the fine mesh strainer into the cold cream.

Set the milk and cream mixture over a larger bowl of ice water until cold. Refrigerate until completely chilled. Combine the milk/cream mixture with the lemon slush mixture. Spin in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions. In the last few minutes of churning, add your graham cracker crumbs.

A Crepe, An Eclair, Ice Cream, and LeChartier: More Food From My Adventures In Paris

Home-cooked meals and macaron tastings aside, I spent most of my days in Paris out and about meandering through the city streets, seeing the sights and eating many a delight! Below are just some of my many memorable food finds...

1. A damn good crepe. Square shaped (actually, it looks very much like a sting ray). Stuffed with champignons (mushrooms), tomatoes, and cheese. The actual crepe dough was bubbling deliciousness, so savory so perfect.


I ate my crepe at a restaurant called "Le Menhir," a little fondu place in Paris's Latin Quarter, a district known as the student area where young people flock to the many bistros, cafes, and funky shops.


2. An eclair. A coffee eclair. An eclair filled with coffee pastry cream and smeared on top with a coffee glaze. Uh, so good. Eclairs can be found at pretty much any patisserie or boulangerie anywhere in France, and let me tell you, I walked into every patisserie and boulangerie that I saw. Chocolate or coffee eclairs are the standard, but vanilla and pistachio can be found in some places as well.


3. Ice cream. Oh, ice cream. Glaces as they say in French. Ok, the best ice cream I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a LOT of ice cream in my life, was from Berthillon, a famous shop in Pont Marie area of Paris. The flavor: Caramel-Buerre-Sale. A tiny scoop on a cone. That was all I needed (and usually I don't say that, I usually want more and more and more until I burst). That one little scoop was pure bliss; I savored every lick. The ice cream really tastes like what it says. Its really is the perfect scoop, even David Lebovitz agrees. Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying my tasty treat to snap a photo. I just could not break away from that wonderful moment.

BUT...I did have more ice cream outside the Luxembourg Gardens. The Luxembourg Gardens are also in the Latin Quarter of Paris and on a nice sunny day, everyone basks in the sunshine with a book or a picnic blanket in these darling gardens.

I absolutely adore this little girl's hat!

This reminded me of San Francisco's Dolores Park on a sunny day!

So back to ice cream. A friend of mine recommended this little stand outside the entrance to the gardens on Rue Saint Michel. She specifically told me to go to the stand with the yellow awning (there are 2 stands right next to each other...competition!). She also told me that I should try the lavender flavor.

Yes, it was purple, well...lavender purple. And yes, it tasted like I was eating a lavender plant. Very good, something different. But man oh man there were so many other flavors to choose from. Oh the choices!

4. LeChartier. A famous restaurant in the Montmarte area that is now a historic monument. Opened in 1896, this place is well known and thus extremely crowded. My friend Margot (she lives in Paris now but is originally from Nancy, France) took me there. It was so crowded, the two of us shared a table with another couple and were squashed and surrounded on all sides by more tables. The food is simple and cheap. The menu follows brasserie-style traditions-- boiled veal's head, tripe, tongue, sweetbreads, lamb's brains, chitterling sausages -- as well as some old-time tempters like boeuf bourguignon (braised beef in red-wine sauce). Let's just say it was definitely an experience to eat at LeChartier.

Bonjour Margot!

This was our dessert from LeChartier. Profiteroles drowning in chocolate sauce. Intense.

And here is just a lovely little painting to send you off...

Le Petit Pâtissier by Chaïm Soutine (from Paris's l'Orangerie museum)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:
Frolicking in the rose gardens of Berkeley and smelling pretty flowers like Fragrant Rhododendrons. They smell like fresh melon! Mmm.



The Bad:
My camera broke. I have been borrowing cameras from friends. This stinks.

The Ugly:
My car got broken into. Parked in the EMPLOYEE parking lot of a successful Berkeley restaurant. Radio stolen. Air conditioning control system stolen. At least they had the decency to leave my bright pink sunglasses. Hmph!


The Good:
This cornbread. Yes, this is really the best ever cornbread! The secret? Browned butter—my new favorite ingredient in baked goods! I will post the recipe shortly.


The Bad:
Overeating- you know that feeling when you eat and then you just keep eating and then 30 minutes later you are so full that your stomach wants so badly to expand but is stuffed to the brim? Yah. Awful feeling. This is happening a lot lately. Come on, stomach. Toughen up, will ya?

The Ugly:
I have to move tomorrow. Just the thought of carrying heavy bags and living out of a suitcase makes me cringe.

The Good:
Fourth of July barbecues and special dinners with friends. There’s nothing like a good, hearty meal and some cheap alcohol!


More Good:
Weekend trips #1—SF mission district. Bi-rite ice creamery. Delfina pizzeria. Tartine bakery. Dolores park. Noe valley homes. Hipster shops. Dog-eared books.

Bite-Rite. Go there. Go there and wait in line. Do it. Drool over the menu. Sample the flavors—coffee toffee (really strong coffee flavor!), brown sugar with ginger caramel swirl, strawberry balsamic, burnt caramel, crème fraiche…It really is good to the last lick.


The cones are not as good as the ‘homemade with chocolate on the bottom’ cones from Ici ice cream in Berkeley. But hey, its summer and summer means ice cream shall be eaten. Go to Bi-rite. Eat your ice cream in Dolores Park. Read a story out load to friends. Flare your nostrils and smell the fresh “herb.” Lay on the grass and bask in the glory of San Francisco!


Tartine Bakery. Go for breakfast and order a cappuccino and a pastry--I recommend the morning bun or the famous bread pudding. Go for lunch and order the Croque Monsieur, an open faced sandwich consisting of thick country bread, layers of cheeses and herbs, topped off with seasonal veggies!

Weekend trips #2—Kayaking along the Russian river. Sunshine. Trees. River. Calm waters. Jumping off of large rocks into the water! Road tripping! Good friends. Right in the heart of Sonoma county…the Russian River is nestled in a quaint little town, surrounded by green trees, vineyards, and cute “mom and pop” shops! Rent a kayak and take the day to drift along the 5 mile river path.