Ice Cream 101

So my youngest grandchild was here last week. He likes ice cream as much as his grandmother does. I told him I'd make him his favorite ice creams and he could do some tasting while it was being frozen. That brought a big smile. 
I'd do just about anything for a smile, wouldn't you?

We began with basic strawberry. I've never seen a child eat as many fresh strawberries as this one does. Now, there's no point dressing up a recipe with this kid, so forget liqueurs, nuts, spices and all those other things we food bloggers love to add for fun. These are basic, plain ice cream recipes. And are they ever good. My 5 year old grandson says so.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Gourmet  | June 2001

Ingredients:
1  3/4 cups heavy cream
3 (3- by 1-inch) strips fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 lb strawberries (3 cups), trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:
Combine cream, zest, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and discard zest. 
Whisk eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking. Pour back into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F (do not let boil). 
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl, then cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Chill, overed, at least until cold, about 2 hours, and up to 1 day. 
While custard is chilling, purée strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through fine sieve (to remove seeds) into chilled custard. Stir purée into custard. 
Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

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And his absolute, hands down favorite: Chocolate. (Not his grandmother's favorite however. LOL) Now I wanted to make it darker and use bittersweet chocolate, but dared not. So I used some semi-sweet morsels I had left over.

Chocolate Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

(If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)And it was....almost like pudding as I left it in the fridge over night. I whisked it and it froze perfectly.

Does he love ice cream or what?
(He got a little sunburn on his shoulder...ouch! Wore a diving skin from then on.)