Mint Ice Cream and a (brief) Book Review

I love dairy products, and ice cream is no exception. But with no car to get to and from the store, bringing ice cream home is a challenge.

Problem, meet solution.



To celebrate the arrival of our ice cream maker (thanks, Jim!!) and ice cream book, we made mint ice cream from Humphry Slocombe's ice cream book.

If you've never heard of Humphry Slocombe, it's an ice cream shop in San Francisco, known for its mind bending flavor combinations. They use a basic custard base for almost all of their ice creams, and then jazz it up with cool add-ins and flavorings.

The book was a fun read--humorous but to the point, with plenty of self-deprecation. It's got plenty of reminders that ice cream is supposed to be delicious, and you should flavor it as you see fit.

Since we had mint languishing in our fridge, I used their Pepper and Mint recipe. Essentially, you steep the mint in the custard base while it cools, then strain and freeze. Dan and I found the recipe to be overly salty, and the pepper flavor didn't really come though. (Dan didn't even notice I added pepper.)

The recipe also says it makes 1 quart, but it did a pretty good job of filling our 2 quart maker. Maybe the constant stirring makes a fluffier ice cream, but if you've got a smaller ice cream maker, decrease the size of your recipe!

Otherwise, the custard provided a nice creamy texture, and an incredibly minty flavor. We are finishing off this batch soon, and looking forward to trying new flavors ASAP! Coming soon: graham crackers + honey, almond brittle + vanilla (if the almond brittle lasts long enough that is)

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

Like what you read? Share it on Facebook, Twitter or GoogleBuzz using the buttons below!