Homemade Lemon Ice Cream

Sometime ago, during my college years, I used my mother’s ice cream machine to make a favorite frozen dessert, but my first experience with making ice cream was unsatisfactory.  With no more than three attempts of using the machine and not producing the ice cream I hoped to produce, I decided to call it quits.  With no one interested in making ice cream, Mom eventually retired the bulky small appliance somewhere in the depths of one of her kitchen cabinets.

Last week, I decided that I would make lemon custard for lunch with two fabulous female friends.  They both were coming from far distances (at least half an hour drive) and the least I could do was to make a luncheon as fab as they are.  We have Meyer lemons so I thought I’d make something lovely with them.  However, the lemon custard, that was supposed to be for dessert, never materialized on our Thursday lunch date (yesterday) because this past Monday, I aspired to make lemon ice cream instead… without an ice cream machine!

To make sure my attempt is successful, I read Harold McGee’s research on frozen desserts and ice cream in On Food and Cooking, and read various articles online on “how to make ice cream without an ice cream machine” and found David Lebovitz’ to be the best.  Using the method Lebovitz shared and a simple lemon custard recipe, I made a successful first attempt.  So thank you, MM. McGee et Lebovitz.

Lemon Ice Cream

1 c lemon sugar*
4 egg yolks
2 tbs lemon juice
2 c milk, heated
1-1/4 c heavy cream, heated

Combine sugar, yolks, and juice over low heat or using a double boiler.  Whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick.  Add the heated cream then milk.  When mixture is combined, chill over an ice bath.  Transfer the cooled custard mixture into a freezer-safe container.  Chill the mixture and check about 60 minutes after.  Take out the mixture and thoroughly whisk it, making sure to incorporate the frozen edges.  For every 45 minutes after, repeat the process 3-4 times.  As the mixture freezes, it’ll become harder to whisk so make sure to use a sturdy spatula.  In about 4 hours, the ice cream will be ready.  Patience is key here, so have lots of it.

For a creamier texture, decrease the amount of milk added by a cup and the amount of sugar by a 1/4 cup, and increase the yolks by two more. 

Smile and serve.

* If you don’t have lemon sugar, increase the lemon juice to 1 cup and use regular sugar.

Tags: homemade ice cream, homemade ice cream without an ice cream machine, how to make ice cream without using an ice cream machine, ice cream, lemon custard ice cream, lemon ice cream

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in the sense that it should be celebrated (i.e. flowers, chocolates, bling, blah, blah, blah), so by connection The Hubby doesn’t either.  Like so many other holidays, it’s overtly commercialized and the capitalistic opportunities are many.  Why, just a couple of days shy of the New Year, I noticed a few stores in Bellevue Square already marketing their Valentine’s Day wares… oh those merchants… they just couldn’t let their patrons bask in the newness of the New Year.  Not that this post has anything to do with the upcoming heartsy-fartsy day but… this past weekend, The Hubby made Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies after my persistent “Would you like to learn how to bake pb cookies that are really easy to make?”  Who wouldn’t, right.  (Notwithstanding folks with peanut allergies or dislike peanuts.)

Just as I’m not into V-day, I’m also not into baking cookies, with the exception of the holiday season; in which case, I humor traditions.  Because baking cookies doesn’t fall on the list of activities I-want-to-do, I had to recruit The Hubby into cookie making.  Lucky me, he learns quick!

When it comes to literature, I’m not stuck in a genre and in fact, I read a diversity of books – one category being recipe books.  I found the easy-to-make Crunchy PB Cookies recipe in an eight year old Food & Wine cookbook.  It’s one of the books that I took with me when I flew from my parents’ nest because it was the only cookbook I have that boasts a 0.5mm thickness, or thinness I should say.  All my other cookbooks are chunky and cumbersome.

The cookies came out to be nice, crunchy (as its name suggests it would be), and sweet.  Too sweet for me, unfortunately.  The Hubby is fine with the cookies, but he has a sweet tooth.  For those of you who love your sweets and love peanut butter, you’ll love this recipe.  Consider making a batch for that sweet tooth and even that sweetheart of yours!

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies*

1 c smooth peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbs finely chopped peanuts (optional)
1/4 c chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Mix peanut butter with sugar, baking soda, and eggs.  Add peanuts and chocolate chips, if using.  Roll the mixture into 24 balls.  Create a crosshatch pattern on each cookie using a fork.  Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned.

Smile and serve.

HAPPY V DAY!

*Reference:
Cowin, Dana and Sigal, Jane. (2004). Food and Wine: Fast. New York: American Express Publishing Corporation.

Tags: crunchy peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cookies recipe, recipe

Lunar New Year Cake

On Lunar New Year, I lamented on the lack of New Year’s goodies in our household.  After the Gregorian New Year celebration, the Lunar New Year just crept out from nowhere.  One would think that with this year, being the Year of the Dragon, there would be no creeping.  Dragons roar, don’t they?  (My Dovahkiin character knows this fully well.  Fortunately, she can roar too.)  Who else would come to my rescue with a New Year Cake but a family friend born under the Year of the Dragon.  How lucky is that.

The day after, Jessica (not to be confused by Jess from here, here, and here) came through for me with a beautiful Red Bean New Year Cake made by her mother.  Ping yi, as I call her, is generous and enjoys cooking.  The soups she makes are quite good, and the sweets as well.  So I look forward to the nian gao.

Have some, Kitchen God, and please keep your sticky rice cake hole shut.  Enjoy, eat your fill, and I will too.  You already had whoopie pies and sticky orange breads before this, which should keep you quite happy.  And  just so you know I’m serious about passing on a positive report to the Jade Emperor… Fus Ro Dah!

Tags: lunar new year cake, nian gao, sticky rice cake, Year of the Dragon 2012

Whoopie Pies

It’s the beginning of the Lunar New Year and there’s nary a sticky rice cake, whole fish, or noodle dish to be found in our household.  We do have citrus fruits (oranges and grapefruits) and we have packages of dried noodles, uncooked for now.  This year, National Pie Day coincides with the start of the Year of the Dragon so it’s double deliciousness day.

Yesterday, The Hubby made whoopie pies after two days of “I want cake. Caaaake!“ from me.  Sugar cravings can bring the crazies out of anyone.  Since it’s a day of coincidence and apparently luck, I have found an East-meets-West style of simultaneously celebrating the Lunar New Year and National Pie Day.  Somewhere out there, someone is saying, “Whoopie pie is not a pie,” but I don’t care.  I’m on a roll with being traditionally unconventional.

Our whoopie pie has an orange flavored filling so that takes care of the citrus part of the tradition, plus its circular shape is reminiscent of a full moon and pies.   I understand that was a stretch and also breaking conventions, but when one is short on goods, one has to be clever.

Feel like making whoopie pies tonight?  Try this recipe.  For the citrus filling, here it is.  Increase or decrease the recipe according to your needs.

Citrus filling

1 lb butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 -1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c  orange zest

Beat butter, heavy cream, and orange juice until creamy.  Carefully add the powdered sugar while beating.  Fold in the orange zest. 

Happy Lunar New Year!  And may the Year of the Dragon bring good health and happiness to us all!

Tags: citrus filling, citrus icing, Lunar New Year 2012, National Pie Day, whoopie pies, Year of the Dragon 2012

Kourambiedes

There’s nothing like celebrating a holiday, like ringing in the New Year, with a favorite baked good.  As a Greek food fanatic, meeting Elena (squished with five other girls in a London phone booth pictured below) during grad school in London was like meeting Lady Luck and being handed one of my favorite cookies… in a literal sense since Elena actually shared the kourambiedes (also spelled as kourambiethes) to all her friends at Ifor Evans, our residence hall.  After Hammad and I returned from Heathrow (he was an awesome friend who took the time to pick me up from the airport), Elena presented two pieces of what was left of a previously filled tray of cookies to each of us.  She was very thoughtful and saved what was left of the kourambiedes for us.

I first learned of kourambiedes from a cookbook I discovered when I was an undergrad.  I knew I’d love kourambiedes before I even made it from just reading the recipe and learning that the end product is a light cookie dusted with powdered sugar.  That was enough of a hook for me.  Though really, the cookie had me at brandy.  Somewhere in my disorganized room at my parents’ is the recipe; although possible to find, it’d be improbable to find it within hours.  Maybe even days.  Given that I have a Greek friend whose mother knows of the traditional recipe, I figure it’d be a great experience to learn it.  Elena graciously came through with a recipe that made me happier than a kid on Christmas morning.

We had a few back-and-forth Q&A email sessions regarding the ingredients.  Specifically, an alternative to lye and the type of vanilla used.  We concluded that baking soda can fill in for lye and that vanilla powder, if available, should be used instead of vanilla extract.  Elena mentioned that it isn’t a significant ingredient and that’s a good point since vanilla powder is expensive to come by.  The Hubby found the flavoring in Whole Foods but the price was steep as it was $11 for 1.1oz of it.  Needless to say that it was a frivolous buy.

Here’s an edited version of the recipe.  I converted the metric system units to US customary units and also included the ingredient changes Elena and I discussed.  Also, it’s good to keep in mind that if cognac isn’t readily available,  brandy makes a fine substitute.

Kourambiedes

2.2 lbs (roughly 8 1/2 sticks) butter
2 eggs
5 tsp granulated sugar
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cognac (or brandy)
Vanilla powder, 1 tbs (optional)
Almonds (as many that can fit in 1 1/2 cups)
4.4 lbs (9 1/3 cups) flour
2.2 lbs (4 2/3 cups) of powdered sugar

Preheat oven at 355˚F. Beat the butter and the granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl, until it’s evenly mixed and creamy. Add the eggs and continue beating. Combine well.  Add the cognac.  Carefully add the vanilla powder, almonds, flour, and baking soda. Beat the mixture after adding each ingredient.  Not all of the flour may be needed, only add enough flour so that the dough is moist and not dry, almost a putty-like texture.  Shape the dough into round or half-moon shaped kourambiedes and bake them for approximately 15 minutes.  Cover the the kourambiedes with powdered sugar while they’re still hot.  Smile and serve.

The Hubby and I had a good time making the kourambiedes together, and eating them separately.  I’m not much of a cookie monster unless the cookie is kourambiedes, so tonight The Hubby has competition.

Elena, dear friend, Ευχαριστούμε.  To everyone, a Happy New Year!  May everyone’s New Year be filled with all things good and yummy.

Tags: cookies, Greek cookies, Greek food, kourambiedes, kourambiethes, light cookie, New Year 2011, pastry, vanilla powder