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Makes About 1 quart 1x
Time About 30 minutes, plus time to chill and churn
— Recipe from How To Bake Everything
THE THREE STAGES OF ICE CREAM FLAVORING
Since ice cream is just a liquid that you chill and churn, it’s easy to add flavors and textures. (Go to an ice cream shop and it can seem like there are more flavors than days in the year.) There are three different ways to add flavor, depending on what you’re adding:
Helpful because it doesn’t change the body of the ice cream; best with a spice (think vanilla!), herb, tea, or other highly aromatic ingredient. Heat the cream to simmering; add the flavoring ingredient loose, in a tea ball, or wrapped in cheesecloth; let it sit off the heat for 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the ingredient and how strong you want the flavor to be; then strain.
Do this with liquids like melted chocolate, fruit purées, and booze or other ingredients that add flavor but don’t need to be strained, like ground spices. Stir into the finished base before you chill it.
Use with ingredients that you want to remain somewhat distinct rather than completely incorporated. When the ice cream is the consistency you want, slowly add these ingredients with the machine running; churn for just a couple of seconds, stopping before they’re fully incorporated. This is great when you want each bite to be slightly different, with a patch of chocolate chips or a ribbon of caramel or fruit, or if you want the ingredient to stay somewhat crunchy, like nuts or crumbled cookies.
The base ratio always remains the same: 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 3 cups total liquid; only the type of liquid, the flavorings (substituted for the vanilla), and the sweetener change.
Flavorings: 5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
How To Add: Add to the ice cream base with the half-and-half and cream.
Flavorings: 1 cup berry purée, strained
How To Add: Stir into the ice cream base before chilling.
Flavorings: 2 to 3 shots freshly brewed espresso or 1/2 cup ground coffee
How To Add: Swap liquid coffee for 1/2 cup of the half-and-half or steep ground coffee in the hot base
Flavorings: 1 cup coconut milk; 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted in a dry skillet until lightly browned if you like
How To Add: Replace the cream with the coconut milk and fold the coconut into the ice cream base before chilling.
Flavorings: 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, black pepper, and coriander, plus 2 vanilla beans; or use 1 tablespoon single spice, like cinnamon or cardamom
How To Add: Split open the vanilla beans and steep in the hot ice cream base; stir ground spices directly into the base before chilling.
Flavorings: 1 cup canned pumpkin purée; 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon and ginger
How To Add: Whisk 1 cup of the hot ice cream base with the pumpkin to thin it, then add it to the base with the spices before chilling.
Flavorings: 1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins; 1/4 cup dark rum; 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
How To Add: Soak the raisins in the rum at room temperature for an hour or so, or bring to a boil and set aside to cool. Use the brown sugar in place of granulated. Add the rum- raisin mixture to the ice cream base for the last minute or 2 of cooking, before chilling.
Flavorings: 3/4 cup maple syrup; 1 cup chopped lightly toasted nuts, like pecans or walnuts
How To Add: Swap the sugar for the maple syrup and add the nuts to the base before chilling.
Flavorings: 1 cup buttermilk
How To Add: Use the buttermilk instead of cream.
Flavorings: 1 cup mascarpone cheese
How To Add: Use mascarpone instead of cream.
Flavorings: 2 ripe bananas
How To Add: Peel and steep the bananas in the hot ice cream base, then strain them out before chilling the base.
Flavorings: 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger; 1/2 cup minced candied ginger
How To Add: Steep the fresh ginger in the hot ice cream base, then strain it out and stir in the candied ginger before chilling.
Flavorings: 1 tablespoon matcha green tea or 2 tablespoons leaf green tea
How To Add: Stir the matcha into the base before chilling or infuse the hot ice cream base with leaf green tea.
Flavorings: 1/2 cup maple syrup; 2 ears corn, plus more if you like
How To Add: Use the maple syrup in place of sugar. Cut the kernels from the corn, purée, and strain, then add the liquid with the cobs to the ice cream base with the half-and-half and cream. Strain and discard the cobs from the finished ice cream base; if you like, stir in more whole corn kernels before chilling.
Flavorings: 1 large avocado puréed with the juice of a lime
How To Add: Whisk the avocado with a bit of the hot ice cream base until smooth, then stir it into the bowl before chilling.
Flavorings: 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar;
2 peaches (or nectarines), peeled and puréed to make about 1 cup, whisked with 1 tablespoon white miso
How To Add: Use brown sugar instead of white. Add the peach mixture to the ice cream base before chilling.
Flavorings: 3/4 cup maple syrup; 2 tablespoons bourbon; 4 strips chopped cooked bacon, the rendered bacon fat, and 3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
How To Add: Use the maple syrup instead of sugar. Whisk the bourbon into the ice cream base in the last minute or 2 of cooking, then fold in the bacon, fat, and pecans before chilling.
Flavorings: 1/3 cup olive oil
How To Add: Whisk the olive oil into the base before chilling.