Up here in the northeast it’s cold, dark, and time for ICE CREAM! I know it sounds a bit strange to want ice cream when it’s so cold outside, but when ice cream calls, I must answer.

I was left with loads of egg yolks after several tests of macarons. What to do with all the yolks? That’s easy, ICE CREAM! Once again, The Perfect Scoop came to rescue. While I’m not usually a big cookbook person, there’s always something nice about having a good recipe that just works. This time I didn’t use just one recipe, I used THREE!

I chose three full-fat, full sugar ice creams: Chocolate, Oatmeal Cookie, and Fleur de Lait. There was no rhyme nor reason, I just chose three that sparked my interest. Chocolate because it’s my favorite, Oatmeal Cookie because I really dig the cookies, and Fleur de Lait because I just wanted to see how it would come out.

As usual, all the recipes were spot-on, easy to prepare, and worked. If you can make cream anglaise, you’re most of the way there to making ice cream. Many of the recipes in David’s book are based on this sauce so if you were able to make one of the French-style ice creams, you can pretty much make them all. The only difference in many of the recipes is the addition of certain ingredients or mix-ins.

I did choose an unusual egg yolk-free ice cream, Fleur de Lait. I was a bit intrigued by an ice cream that was thickened with corn starch and not flavored with anything other than sugar and milk. Since there is corn starch in the ice cream, it still has to be cooked so the cornstarch can work its magic thickening the mixture. When fully mixed and frozen, it comes out of the machine very white. The taste is very smooth, like frozen milk, but not icy at all. The best part about this flavor is you can mix anything into it or onto it and the flavor is not at all lost. It’s a lot like vanilla, minus the vanilla.

The only problem with making all this ice cream is now I have to eat it!

Laura over at eatdrinklive is hosting up HHDD#13 and this time it’s Sorbet. I really have no idea who this Donna person is, but I’m always ready for another challenge. The goal was to come up with a sorbet and we’ll all be judged and prizes will be awarded. Anyways, here’s my entry: Pineapple sorbet.

I have a real soft spot for tropical fruits and pineapple is no exception. I could easily peel a pineapple and eat the whole thing in one sitting, yes I love pineapple. On a recent trip to Hawaii I was lucky enough to find local pineapples, on sale, for ONE DOLLAR! Needless to say I had about a dozen pineapples during the week and probably should have smuggled a few in my luggage, just in case. Even after all of that pineapple, it is still one of my favorites.

This recipe is everything you’d want in an easy summer sorbet: minimal ingredients, easy prep, and PINEAPPLE! I decided to add rum at the last minute to keep the sorbet a bit soft, since pure fruit sorbets tend to get rock solid in the freezer. Feel free to adjust the sugar accordingly; all pineapples aren’t created equally so you will have to decide if the mixture is adequately sweetened before you let the ice cream machine perform its magic.

Pineapple Sorbet

1 pineapple
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ cup dark rum

Combine sugar and water. Heat until sugar has dissolved. I used the microwave but you can use the stovetop if you wish.

Peel and core the pineapple. Coarsely chop and puree in blender. Slowly add syrup while blending.

Refrigerate mixture until thoroughly chilled.

Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturers directions.

I’ve been having a hard time consistently writing posts these days so I thought I’d change things up and report on what’s happening at the food geek household this weekend.

I’ve been bitten by the macaron bug again. After seeing Brilynn post on her macarons and the problems she encountered and the renewed interest in a previous macaron post of mine, I have decided to make several batches this week and try out a new method or two. I’m hoping to get a recipe to work consistently but I’m not expecting any miracles.

The ice cream machine will be back in action this weekend! I bought some new, pint sized, containers and they need to be filled up. Frozen yogurt will be my main focus this week; I’m hoping to come up with a decent chocolate frozen yogurt recipe.

In other news, I am now the second male member of the Daring Bakers. I didn’t get accepted in time to participate in the May challenge but June is quickly approaching and I will finally be able to compete share with the group. If I have some extra time this weekend, I will try to come up with a male version of this graphic. I got some help on the side, but here’s the new graphic:

To spark my interest, I bought a few goodies. Last week I got a huge box in the mail. In the box was my new Cuisinart ICE-50BC ice cream maker. This is a pretty big upgrade over my last machine, the ICE-20. The ICE-50BC doesn’t require prefreezing of the work bowl and can crank out batch after batch of ice cream. I’ve tested out the machine with a few flavors: matcha, hazelnut praline, and David Leibovitz’s roasted banana.

That brings me to yet another purchase, The Perfect Scoop. I figured I should support a fellow foodblogger since I would hope people would support me, too. The book is far better than I hoped and has all sorts of new recipes I’m eager to try out.

Switching gears, I purchased a large supply of chocolate from Chocosphere, 22lbs to be exact. I was tired of running over to Whole Foods and picking up their overprices block pieces, so I pulled the trigger on a chocolate stash of my own. In the almost as huge box as the ICE-50BC was a 10lb block of E.Guittard 35% milk chocolate, a 10lb block of E.Guittard High Sierra white chocolate, a 2lb block of Dagoba 35% organic milk chocolate, and a 2lb bag of Dagoba organic cocoa butter. This should hold me over for the better part of the year unless I go on a serious chocolate bender.

I bought one last thing to go along with all that chocolate, Andrew Shotts’ Making Artisan Chocolates. I’ve been looking for a quality candy book and I think this one fits the bill. Truffles, hand-dipped chocolates, and molded chocolates are the majority of the book. Shotts doesn’t go overboard on techniques and doesn’t stray too far from the topics at hand. The recipes are all rated by difficulty, which is a big help when you’re trying out something unfamiliar. I’ve already tackled a few recipes and hope to share a few of them with you soon.

Finally, I’d like to apologize to the UPS man. Thanks for hauling all that loot to my second story condo. If I have any goodies the next time you arrive, I’ll be sure to offer you some.