I made homemade ice cream for the first time a few weeks ago, with good results
(I have a Krups). I made it again, this time with an eye towards inventing a
recipe for Indian Pudding ice cream. I don't know what happened, but it froze
with a texture more like ice milk than ice cream - it isn't creamy and smooth,
but has a more crystallized texture. (You can hear the spoon cutting through
it!)

I'm not sure if it's because of the ratio of ingredients (posted below) or the
fact that the ice cream mixture didn't really freeze properly in the ice cream
maker. That in itself could be due to the content, I suppose, but I am inclined
to say that it's because the mixture didn't chill before I put it in. After
about an hour, it was thickened, but not frozen, and so I just transferred it
into the freezer to set.

What happens to proper ice cream preps if they don't freeze IN the ice cream
maker? And how much can I dilute the cream before it gets icy? The recipe it's
derived from says to mix with 14% (butterfat?) ice cream mix, but I didn't know
what that was. Any advice on how to make this creamier would be appreciated.
Once it's perfect, I'll post it officially.
Thanks in advance,
-Jen

INDIAN PUDDING ICE CREAM
Jennifer Love

Yield: ~5 cups (a little less than 1.5 quarts)


Pudding Stock:

G round Ginger Powder 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Cinnamon Powder 1/3 tsp
white sugar 3 Tbsp
corn meal (coarse) 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp

water 6.6 Tbsp (or 7.5 Tbsp if omitting caramel color)
caramel color 0.9 Tbsp (1 Tbsp)
Molasses 3.75 Tbsp
corn syrup 1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp
-------------
17.6 tbsp (1.1 cups)



Mix all together. Bring just to a boil. Refrigerate overnight. Add entire
contents to 4 cups of low sugar vanilla ice cream base (see below). Freeze
using an ice cream maker.

Low sugar vanilla ice cream base:

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half and half
4 beaten egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Heat cream, half and half and sugar until hot but not boiling. Add 1 cup to
beaten egg yolks, mix until smooth, and pour back into remaining cream. Heat
over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches "custard stage"
(About 5 minutes - When it coats the back of the spoon and a line drawn through
with a finger remains.) Cool.

Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright

Well your recipe looks okay. I think you just didn't let it freeze properly.
If the ice-cream mix isn't cold when you put in your ice-cream maker then it's
going to take a long time for it to start freezing. This will cause large ice
crystals to form in the ice-cream. The faster the ice-cream freezes the
smaller the ice crystals will be and the smoother the final product will be.
It also sounds like not enough air was stir into the mix while it was freezing.
I've never used ice-cream mix but I've seen it at the grocery store in the
baking aisle. It comes in a box about the size of an instant pudding mix box.

OSPAM (JLove98905) wrote in message >...
> I made homemade ice cream for the first time a few weeks ago, with good results
> (I have a Krups). I made it again, this time with an eye towards inventing a
> recipe for Indian Pudding ice cream. I don't know what happened, but it froze
> with a texture more like ice milk than ice cream - it isn't creamy and smooth,
> but has a more crystallized texture. (You can hear the spoon cutting through
> it!)



Ugh- just like that awful Breyer's vanilla.

Makes me gag just thinking about that.

How do they get away with calling that stuff "ice cream" anyway?

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 23:44:33 +0000, JLove98905 wrote:

> I'm not sure if it's because of the ratio of ingredients (posted below)
> or the fact that the ice cream mixture didn't really freeze properly in
> the ice cream maker. That in itself could be due to the content, I
> suppose, but I am inclined to say that it's because the mixture didn't
> chill before I put it in. After about an hour, it was thickened, but not
> frozen, and so I just transferred it into the freezer to set.

A few things of note in this:

- The Krups isn't supposed to run for more than 45 minutes. The container
starts thawing the minute you take it out of the fridge, so it's a battle
against time before it'll lose its usefulness. Running it for an hour will
mean that the ice cream mix will start increasing in temperature after the
can has been out past that 45 minutes.

- Chilling the mix is helpful, though should only shave off a few minutes
of freezing time. You chill the mix prior to freezing to let it age and
gain some depth.

- Looking at your recipe, I note that it makes five cups. That's probably
your biggest mistake, since the Krups has a maximum capacity of six cups,
though anything above a quart is pushing it.

- One other thing to note about your recipe... the milk portion butterfat
content was probably in the mid 20% range. That's a bit high and would
have led to fat coating the back of your spoon. It's a rather unpleasant
experience, so it might make more sense to get the fat percentage closer
to 15%.


> What happens to proper ice cream preps if they don't freeze IN the ice
> cream maker?

The icy texture, as you described. You'll also notice that the
sugar/flavor will sink to the bottom and the top will be fatty and icy.

> And how much can I dilute the cream before it gets icy?

It's more of a factor of the interaction of the butterfat, water, and
sugar. You shouldn't have less than 10% butterfat in a regular recipe.
Gelato can be much lower, but makes up for it with many more egg yolks.

> The recipe it's derived from says to mix with 14% (butterfat?) ice cream
> mix, but I didn't know what that was.

That's a powder consisting of powdered cream, powdered egg yolks, and
sugar. Practically all of the ice cream you buy in ice cream shops started
this way. The 14% mix implies that the butterfat content of the powdered
cream was in the 14% range.

>Any advice on how to make this creamier would be appreciated.

I'm not very good with imperial, but here's my suggestion:

1c Brown Sugar
3/4c Heavy Cream (36%)
1.5c Whole Milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 Vanilla Bean
1t Ground ginger
1/3t Cinnamon Powder
4t corn meal
..5c Water
1t Salt

- In a pan, heat the milk, half the brown sugar, vanilla, ginger,
cinnamon, salt, and corn meal. Heat until just below the boiling point.
Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and the other half of the sugar.
Beat until a pale yellow.
- Add water to milk, then reheat back close to boiling, then add gradually
(drizzle pour) to the eggs, stirring constantly. Once combined, mix
thoroughly.
- Using a heat transfer pad or some other method to control heat, heat the
mix until it coats the back of a spoon. This will happen when you stir
it vigorously and the mixing comes to an abrupt end when you stop.
- Remove from heat and plunge pan in ice water. Stir until the mix stops
steaming. Place in an airtight container and chill overnight.

- Once the freezer is ready, combine the mix with the the cream and stir
until combined. Add to the ice cream freezer per instructions and chill.
Once the ice cream looks appropriately frozen, remove from the ice cream
maker and place in freezer boxes and freeze them in the freezer.

> Once it's perfect, I'll post it officially. Thanks in advance,

If the recipe alludes you, let me know and I'll try making it here. That
might help me tweak it to make it right. I'm not 100% sure on the water,
and the corn meal kind of worries me. It might help me to know what the
original pudding is supposed to taste like first.

Good luck!

> -Jen

--
-Brian James Macke
"In order to get that which you wish for, you must first get that which
builds it." -- Unknown

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the tips/advice.

I can tell you about Indian Pudding- it's got a very strong molasses flavor, so
the molasses really can't be omitted. The cornmeal in the pudding is what gives
it its bulk - in the ice cream it's really just for texture. It gets soft
enough for the ice cream from the cooking and sitting overnight in the fridge.
It's usually eaten with vanilla ice cream, which is why this flavor is so
brilliant (I didn't invent it). I like the flavor ratio - so what I'd really
like to do is just nail down the proper ratio of ice cream mix to pudding base.


If you like molasses, I'd say give it a go, the flavor I created was great, if
not the texture.
-Jen
Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright