Pear Ice Cream and a Goodbye to Ice Cream Month

Well, I have made a lot of ice cream this month. It has been so fun! I have learned a lot about making ice cream. I do regret that I never had time to make ice cream cones, but don’t worry, I will experiment soon! I thought I would close this month with few things I learned, my top 5 flavors, and one last amazing flavor.
A Few Things I Have Learned About Ice Cream Making:

• Prior to my renewed ice cream fetish I didn’t know much about the kind of ice cream maker that you put ice and rock salt around the canister. I had the chance to experiment with one at my in laws and this is what I learned: It freezes the ice cream better. And it does a really good job of getting the ice cream to a thick soft serve consistency even if you don’t chill the ingredients before churning. This is good if you are serving a large crowd and need edible ice cream straight from the canister. They usually hold more ice cream, too.  On the downside, the require a lot more effort and aren’t as convenient. They also take longer to churn. My maker, with the bowl that you freeze prior to churning the ice cream, is wonderfully convenient and easy to use. I just have to really chill the ingredients before churning in order to achieve soft serve consistency. I love both kinds, for different reasons!
• You can turn almost any fruit into an awesome ice cream/sherbet. Just chop it up, cook it with a touch of water for a few minutes, add sugar until dissolved, blend with cream, and churn. I often take a sorbet recipe and substitute out the water for cream to make it a sherbet.
• If you are going to make a lot of ice cream like me, make sure you have lots of friends and family around to help you eat it!

My Top 5 Flavors From Ice Cream Month:
1. Malted Milk Ice Cream

2. Grapefruit Sherbet

3. Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet

4. Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

5. Pear Ice Cream

You heard it. Pear Ice cream. Amazing. It is so easy and tastes just like pears, but it is creamy. It is very pleasant and sweet. Make sure you use ripe pears, though.
Ingredients:

• 4 ripe pears, peeled and cored
• 1/2 C. water
• 2/3 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Cut the pears (peeled and cored) into chunks and put them in a non reactive sauce pan with the water. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pears are cooked through and tender when poked with a paring knife.
2. Transfer the cooked pears to a blender and add the cream, sugar, and lemon juice. Puree until smooth.
3. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze churn in your ice cream maker. 

Well, I hope you had fun with all these flavors. I know I did. And guess what…there weren’t enough days in August to post all of my experiments, so keep watching this fall for some yummy seasonal ice cream flavors and recipes. Oh and a special thanks to David Lebovitz and his awesome book The Perfect Scoop.