Pumpkin Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches

My school is a little weird in that it divides the year into 5 parts. My first "quint" is ending, which means teachers decide to pile on the work. All at one time. The last week of the quint is always a little insane; everyone's very stressed and a little grouchy. But there is reward to the difficult week. We get a couple days off to recuperate, which means I'll most likely have time for an extra post (woot woot). I've been doing a lot of college searching lately, and I'm completely falling in love with the courses I've been looking up. I'm not exactly sure what I want to, but graphic design has always been a love of mine. I get really excited whenever I start to research it. There's a lot of anxiety involved in picking out what you want to be for the rest of your life. But there's a lot of fun involved, too. Seeing the types of things I'll get to do in a couple of years, eases the pressure, as it looks like so much fun. I know I love my web designing, photography, and baking, so that's what I'll stick to for now!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 cup pumpkin purée
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

Combine pumpkin and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup brown sugar until thick.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream. Heat on low until sugar is dissolved and steam rises, continually mixing.

Add 1/2 cup of hot cream into egg mixture gradually, whisking thoroughly.
Pour egg mixture into saucepan and heat on medium-low until mixture is thickened, but does not boil.

Pour through a strainer and let cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes, then mix in pumpkin. Cover in an airtight container for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and use manufacturer's in structions.



Gingerbread Cake
adapted from martha stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a half sheetpan with cooking spray and line with parchment. Spray parchment and use a paper towel to spread. Flour well and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together spices, salt, sugar, and flour.

In another bowl, whisk together molasses, egs, canola oil, and buttermilk.

Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.

Gently fold in molasses and water mixtures into the dry ingredients until a batter is formed. Pour into prepared sheetpan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back with a light touch, depending on your oven.

Let cool for at least 20 minutes before attempting to remove. Once cooled, use a ruler or other straight edge to cut equal size squares. remove the squares and each cut in half, producing two rectangles.

Assembly

Once the ice cream is made, spread it in a sheetpan lined with parchment into one even layer. Let set up in freezer for at least 3 hours. Once hardened, use a ruler to cut ice cream squares the same size as the cake.

Just before serving, stack ice cream on top of one piece of cake, layering another on top of the ice cream. You can make a little powdered sugar+cream glaze to drizzle on top, and pecans go nicely with this.

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Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Bars

The Seattle weather is finally back. It's overcast and cold. My favorite. This last Friday was the last day of my 5 week art program. I'm said to say goodbye to some of the amazing people I met, and it was overall a great experience. My class' work will be up at the Seattle Art Museum starting in September or October, so you should take a look. There are some really talented young artists in the class. I will get a more specific date soon. Now that I have more time, I will try and make up for the dwindling number of posts that went up this last month. I figured a good place to start would ice cream sandwiches. I wanted to do something less like a sandwich, so I did a layer of brownie on the bottom, coffee ice cream layered on top of that, and covered in a dark chocolate shell. I've made something similar to this in the past, but I changed one big thing: the coffee flavor. So often in coffee ice cream, I feel like I'm only getting a little taste of coffee, with some cream. I wanted this ice cream to scream, "This is coffee ice cream!". I think I got a nice flavor in the end, and these are a great summer treat. The days are getting colder, so make them while you can.

Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter
5 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate; chopped
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a square cake pan with walls, flour the sides. Line with parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on the long side of the pan. Grease and flour the parchment. Spray sheet-pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment, spray parchment. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When melted, set aside and let cool to room temp. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Next, add the vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sift flour and fold gently into batter, mixing just till blended. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow brownies to cool in pan for 20 minutes before taking out of pan.


Coffee Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons coffee extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, do not allow the custard to boil.

Whisk the instant espresso powder into the cream until dissolved. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set into cream and stir in the vanilla and the coffee extract. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.



Chocolate Coating
6.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between until melted. Stir in vegetable oil thoroughly. Let cool

Assembly

Once the brownies are cool, use a knife to loosen the edges from the pan, and remove from cake pan. Place back inside cake pan. Once ice cream has gone through the ice cream maker, spread evenly on top of brownies in cake pan. Freeze overnight.

When the ice cream has hardened, make the chocolate coating. Take the cake pan out of the freezer and remove brownie/ice cream onto a cutting board. Cut into even squares, then return to freezer for 15 minutes. Prepare a pan lined with parchment and a cooling rack resting on top. Place ice cream bars on the cooling rack and ladle chocolate coating on top of bars. Top with crushed almonds if desired.
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Neapolitan Cakes

Phew! It is getting hot here. Hot for me anyways. Being a native Seattle-ite, I despise weather over 65 degrees and overcast is always a plus. But hot weather does create some good inspiration for ice cream treats. When I was really little, I would go to this outdoor pool with friends and I always wanted a neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Such a good combination: the chocolate cake/cookie(?) and the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams. I wanted to make this a little differently, as I now despise the milky chocolate ice cream. I also wanted to make a thin flourless chocolate cake. Since the chocolate cake was so chocolatey, I decide to forgo the dark chocolate ice cream, as it seemed like overkill. These started out as cakes, but since their size seemed a little scary on their own, I made some half sized ones as well.

The chocolate cake recipe is from a past daring bakers challenge that I didn't participate in, but the recipe looked so good, I had to try it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your sheetpan and line with parchment, then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed, making sure not to overwhip, as this dries out the cake.
Beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan's bottom, and bake at 375F/190C for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Once cool, remove the cake from the pan onto a clean work surface. Let cool for at least 1 hour. After an hour, use a circular cutter and cut as many shapes as possible from your sheet.



Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups hulled strawberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

Wash and hull 2 cups of strawberries. Place in a food processor until you get a smooth puree.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 8 to 10 minutes; do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl and stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla. Nestle the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water and cool the custard to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a sheetpan lined with parchment and spread in an even, thin layer. Freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.



Vanilla Ice Cream

Use the same instructions and ingredients above, but omit the strawberry puree. Split and scrape one vanilla bean. Put the seeds and pod into the milk when first heating. Make sure to remove the vanilla bean just before pouring into the ice cream machine. Use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Assembly

Using the same cutter as you did for the cake, cut circles from the sheets of ice cream. Place on top of each other in alternating order.
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Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

So basically, I've been sick for about 5 days, which is a record for me. I hardly ever get sick, but I'm not getting better. The good thing about being sick is...TIME TO BAKE! Some people are like, "Ew, you made this when you were sick." But actually, the way colds are transfered from person to person is through the eyes, so no worries. Making ice cream sandwiches is a multi-day project because you have to spread it on a sheet-pan and let it harden before you cut it out. But today is the day I put them all together. This was sort of an experiment because I've never baked brownies in a sheet-pan before. It turned out quite well, I just had to watch the baking time since I was starting from ground zero.



For the brownies:
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

2 sticks unsalted butter
5 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate; chopped
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray sheet-pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment, spray parchment. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When melted, set aside and let cool to room temp. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Next, add the vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sift flour and fold gently into batter, mixing just till blended. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow brownies to cool in pan for 15 minutes before taking out of pan. Wait at least an hour before attempting to use cutters to make ice cream sandwich bases.

For the coffee ice cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

2 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

Combine chilled cream and milk with whisk. Add sugar and instant espresso powder. Mix together for a few turns, then let sit for 30 seconds (this lets the espresso powder soften). Using whisk, mix together well and pour until ice cream maker. Use manufacturer's instructions.

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