Summer Ice Cream Treats

Ice cream is great all year round, but summer seems to be the time of popularity. Most people wouldn't think of making ice cream in the winter, but in the summer, out comes the old ice cream freezer, the salt that has been saved from winter dustings on the driveway, the cream, the sugar and tasty flavorings.

Ice Cream has a lengthy history. It is thought that this tasty treat was invented in China around 200 BC. Marco Polo probably enjoyed a dish of milk and rice that was solidified by packing it in snow. In Rome, emperors were said to send slaves to the tops of mountains to collect snow which was flavored and served in the traditional food orgy.

Charles I of England was known to serve "frozen cream". He served it to impress his guests and swore his chef to secrecy. At his death, however, everyone knew how the delicacy was made since his chef did not keep his promise.

Unfortunately there is little proof that ice cream actually existed, besides these stories, until the 19th century. The first hand crank Ice cream freezer was invented by Nancy Johnson in 1846. In 1851, Jacob Fussell converted his milk processing plant into the first Ice Cream producing plant in the United States. In 1921, all incoming immigrants to the United States were welcomed with a taste of Ice Cream during their first meal.

The United States is the ice cream capital of the world, each citizen eating approximately 23 quarts per year. Believe it or not the most popular flavor is Vanilla with chocolate coming in second and Butter Pecan third.

Ice Cream can be flavored with lots of different things. Here are a few recipes you can try.

Vanilla Ice Cream

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c up sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2-1/2 tablespoons vanilla

1. Beat egg then beat in sugar.
2. Mix milk and cream in a sauce pan and bring almost to a boil.
3. Beat heated cream into eggs, gradually. Cool.
4. Add whipping cream and vanilla.
5. Follow directions for you ice cream machine.
6. (Add 2 c strawberries or peaches and remove milk from recipe to make fruit ice cream)

Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream

• 6 ounzes unsweetened chocolate (6 squares)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 2 cups half and half, divided
• 4 eggs
• 2\1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups whipping cream

1. In a large saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring often.
2. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and 2/3 cup of the half and half.
3. Stir over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
4. Simmer 4 minutes without stirring. Set aside.
5. In a small bowl, beat eggs and stir in 1/2 cup of the hot chocolate mixture.Stir egg mixture into remaining chocolate mixture. This process will prevent the eggs from cooking in the hot chocolate mixture and will not curdle.
6. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened (1 minute).
7. Cool to lukewarm.
8. Stir in vanilla, whipping cream and the rest of the half and half.
9. Freeze in Ice cream freezer as directed. A
10. dd some mini marshmallows or almonds if desired.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

This recipe does not use eggs and it uses powdered milk in addition to regular milk. It is fun to make as you will see at the end. Kids love to make this ice cream!

• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup instant powdered milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon peppermint extract
• 1-1/2 ounzes semisweet chocolate

1. In a bowl, stir together sugar and instant milk.
2. Add 1/2 cup of the regular milk and stir until smooth. A
3. dd rest of the milk, the cream and extract. Stir till combined.
4. Freeze in ice cream freezer as directed.
5. Now the fun part. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler after the ice cream is ready.
6. Scrape the melted chocolate into a zippered sandwich bag.
7. Snip the corner of bag and while the machine is still churning, squeeze the chocolate out in a stream. It will break into little "chips" when it hits the frozen ice cream.

The above flavors aren’t too terribly unusual. Try some other recipes for some uncommon flavors in Unusual Ice Cream Treats.

Making ice cream isn’t as difficult as it was in the past. The advent of affordable electric ice cream makers that eliminate the need for hand cranking has made the process very easy. Anyone can do it with one of these devices. Do yourself a favor if you really love ice cream and purchase one. You and your family will enjoy a wonderfully tasty treat that you can customize to your own taste.

chocolate ice cream

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds