Vol au Vent Filled with Cherry Ice Cream

I love the combination of dark Morello cherries and balsamic vinegar. Since I have balsamic cherry vinegar from Bellindora on hand, I thought I would use the pairing in a dish. I made cherry vol au vent drizzled with Bellindora balsamic cherry chocolate sauce. If you've had balsamic syrup with fruits in the past, you will certainly love this uncommon flavoring as the balsamic cherry vinegar brings out the flavor of the sweet cherries. 

The vol au vent consists of a puff pastry cup that is formed using two different sizes of cookie cutters. I filled it with homemade dark Morel ice cream. As you can see from the photo, I should have been more patient and waited for the ice cream to harden a bit in the freezer and not transfer the churned cherry ice cream directly from the ice cream machine to the cooled puff pastry. Live and learn...

Frozen Dessert Ideas

According to Wikipedia, Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984. He also appointed the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States (90% of the nation's population consumes ice cream).

Mother Nature is finally smiling on us in Northern California, let's hope she'll continue to supply us with a good excuse to consume our favorite frozen treat.

Goat Milk Ice Cream with Molasses Syrup Swirl

You've probably noticed, I'm addicted to anything and everything goat. Whether it's goat ricotta cheese, goat cheese Gouda or simple chèvre, I cannot get enough of goat’s milk unique flavor profile. I often use goat dairy products in savory dishes, but I thought it would be fun to experiment with goat milk in desserts. After some thought, it occurred to me that there is no better showcase for goat milk than making ice cream.

I made a simple custard using goat milk and chilled it overnight. I churned the ice cream and finished it with swirls of molasses and raisin syrup. The result was silky, delicious and not too rich. I've heard that goat milk is more easily digestible than regular cow's milk, which is good for the lactose-intolerant members of my family. The only downside: there wasn't enough to feed everyone! 

Coconut Milk Ice Cream Recipe with Chestnut Swirl

This recipe proves that vegan doesn't always mean healthy. Coconut cream, coconut milk, sugar, pure vanilla extract, chestnut purée and stabilizers combine to make a vegan ice cream recipe that tips the scales at about 3000 calories per quart (that's 375 calories per serving). But there aren’t any eggs or dairy products!

I recently received a request for a vegan ice cream recipe from Leslie. It was the first time I tried making a vegan dessert. I made use of the same combination of stabilizers I use in other egg-free recipes, namely soy lecithin and xanthan gum. I increased the quantity to improve mouth-feel though. Xanthan gum in particular inhibits the formation of ice crystals, which create a more pleasing texture.

After tasting the final product, everyone in the house agreed that the ice cream strongly resembled chè, a very popular Vietnamese dessert. I hadn't anticipated that at all. Since I swirled the ice cream with chestnut purée, I thought it would have a more French flavor to it, but that was not the case. That's one of the things I love about cooking. I really enjoy experimenting, and the results of these culinary adventures can add completely new recipes to my repertoire.

My husband Lulu has decided to leave the ice cream maker on the kitchen counter until the end of summer to encourage us to make ice cream more often this year. I’ll post our concoctions on here all summer, so at least some good can come out of my impending weight gain. Stay tuned!

Meyer Lemon Sorbet Recipe

Sorbet is a very easy sweet treat to make. All you need is the right equipment to create the frozen dessert. I gathered the last crop of Meyer lemons from the garden and thought it would be nice to make a gourmet sorbet, adding ginger. Because it doesn't contain any fat or custard, sorbet takes a lot longer to churn and it tends to melt very easily. Often alcohol is added to the mix because it lowers the freezing point and keeps the product softer. I wanted to make the dessert kid-friendly, so after experimenting with stabilizers in my new eggless ranch dressing recipe, I decided to use the same combination of xanthan gum and lecithin in the sorbet. The result is an incredibly velvety texture that coats your tongue in a way that ice by itself just can't.

To add a contrast of color and texture to the sorbet, I paired it with blueberries sweetened with agave nectar. This is a tasty, yet healthy way to end any meal. Enjoy!