Splendid Ice Cream, Indeed

It arrived! Our ice cream from Jeni's Ice Cream (in Ohio) arrived in the mail yesterday. And first, can I just say how ridiculously satisfying it is to receive ice cream...on your front doorstep? Amazing.


We opened the box and... there they are! Four pints of delicious-ness (but, we didn't know that yet)! We ordered Queen City Cayenne, Meyer Lemon Yogurt, Dark Chocolate, and Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Cherries. OH my goodness.

First, we tried the Dark Chocolate. It was like eating a creamy frozen brownie... bittersweet with a dry mouthfeel afterward. Hands down THE best chocolate ice cream I've ever eaten.

Then we tried the Queen City Cayenne. When you first put it in your mouth, it tastes like a ligh chocolate cinnamon ice cream with rich undertones... and then you feel it: the back of your mouth and your throat are on fire with sweet cayenne! Genius!

Then We tried the Meyer Lemon Yogurt. You know how really ripe Meyer lemons smell? Well, that's how this ice cream tastes. It is creamy, yet light, and has the perfect amount of sour lemon flavor. I want to eat some again just talking about it!

And how about that splendid flavor combination above? I could barely contain myself over this one. GOAT CHEESE... in ice cream? Holy guacamole, it was delicious! You could taste the goat cheese, but it wasn't overpowering. It was like cheesecake, but with goat milk. Then - there were huge, succulent roasted sour cherries... it was almost too much to take.

In summation, if you want to get someone an AMAZING gift (namely, me. just kidding. not really.), I would send some Jeni's Ice Cream her/his way. I still can't choose my favorite. Each one I taste at that moment is my favorite... in that moment. I can't wait for lunch...so I can eat dessert!

~ Mari

The Best Mother's Day Gift Ever

Photo courtesy realsimple.com

Too bad I already got my mom something for Mother's Day or I would be all over this... artisan ice cream from Jeni's Ice Cream in Columbus, OH. Not only do their flavors sound amazing (recommended on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network), they SHIP the homemade ice cream to your house! I can't even stand it!

Photo courtesy The Flirty Blog

So, though I didn't get any ice cream for mom for Mother's Day, I might have ordered some... just for the heck of it. :) Check out some of these flavors:

Salty Caramel

Queen City Cayenne

Thai Chili

Dark Chocolate

Goat Cheese with Roasted Cherries

Meyer Lemon Yogurt

Yummers, right? I know. So, if you're looking for the best Mother's Day gift ever, or just want some darn good ice cream (on your doorstep, no less), I would check out Jeni's Ice Cream. I can't WAIT to get ours in the mail! I will post pictures (if I remember to take them before I eat it all) and tell you about the amazingness as soon as they arrive!

~ Mari

It's Creamy, It's Tasty, and It Looks Good in Stripes

In honor of July 4th, we at the Rel Maples Culinary Institute of Culinary Arts decided to salute our nation in the form of... ice cream. We made quite a few different flavors (pecan praline, mint chocolate chip, hazelnut coffee chocolate chunk, vanilla bean, sweet cream, brandied cherry, blueberry swirl, and fresh lemon sorbet), but we had a patriotic idea... why not stripe the cherry, vanilla, and blueberry swirl for a red, white, and blue treat? And that is exactly what we did. Here's a little overview from start to stripes...

Pink soup? Nope. It's the base for the brandied cherry ice cream - the "red" portion of our patriotic dessert. Chef Hallman says that you always make the base the day before and let it chill overnight. That makes for the creamiest ice cream the next day. So, for the base, we used half heavy cream and half milk. Then we added sugar, salt, and glucose syrup. To achieve the brandied cherry flavor, we added crushed maraschino cherries and a splash of cherry-flavored brandy. Yum! This one will be for adults only... haha. Then we just let it simmer on the stove for a few minutes until it thickened.


The next thing we needed to do was make it red. This was not an easy task. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to make really red icing using food coloring, but it takes almost an entire bottle of the stuff. And, even after we did that, it was a bright fuschia.... NOT patriotic red. But, we hoped it would darken as it chilled...



Here is the blueberry swirl ice cream (the "blue" portion) after it chilled and turned in an ice cream maker for about 15 minutes. When it stops spinning... it's done! After this stage, then you swirl in the blueberry mixture by hand.

And... voila! You have a tri-color dessert of patriotic proportions! And there I am.... in the freezer... posing with our masterpiece. So what if the red is actually pink, the white is actually off-white, and the "stripes" are more like wavy lines? We did it! I think people will get the idea. And if they don't .... they are lame.