Ok, I’ll start with the mildy-horse related apple recipes. I can’t find my green apple ICE CREAM recipe, but I DO have a good green apple GELATO recipe. All these recipes can be modified to taste … and extra ingredients can be added/substituted. I have a Cuisinart 1 QT ice cream machine. These will work with any ice cream machine, but depending on the size of the bowl, you might have to make more than one batch.
Apple Sorbet:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup clear unsweetened apple juice
4 green apples (ones that are quite tart work best)
Juice of 2 limes
Combine the sugar & apple juice in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves & the syrup is clear. Remove from the heat & cool to room temperature (I usually stick it in the fridge for a bit)
Peel & core the apples. Roughly chop the fruit & place in a blencder with cool syrup and lime juice. Blend until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Freeze in 1 or 2 batches (depending on the size of your machine) according to the manufacturer’s directions. It comes out soft, but ready to eat. I prefer slightly firmer sorbet, so I transfer the finished product to plastic containers & stick it in the freezer until it firms up.
*chardonnay can be substituted for the apple juice.
Cinnamon Ice Cream:
I’ve tried a bunch of different recipes for cinnamon ice cream, and this is by far my favorite. Great on pies & stuff, it’s REALLY good plain. If you’re health conscious, you can replace the heavy cream with whole milk, but I make no guarentees about the finished product
1 cup milk
3 heaping tablespoons of cinnamon (more to taste, I usually use about 5. I like my cinnamon ice cream VERY cinnamon-y)
3/4 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, cover, and set aside to steep for 15 minutes.
Beat the sugar into the egg yolks until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the flour and salt. Set aside.
At this point, you can strain the milk if you want to. I usually don’t, just make sure the cinnamon hasn’t clumped up - if it has, just mix it around until it seperates. Add the half-and-half and return to a simmer over low heat. Slowly beat the hot milk and half-and-half into the egg yolks and sugar. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. DO NOT let the mixture boil as the eggs will scramble! Remove from the heat & pour cinnamon custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream. Cover & refrigerate until cold. *I usually do an ice bath, where you fill a larger bowl with water and ice & plunk the other bowl (with the mixture) into it. Throw it in the fridge & it should cool off pretty quickly.
Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches according to the manufacturer’s directions. I usually sprinkle in a bit of cinnamon when it starts to firm up in the machine. This ice cream is VERY thick and creamy. It is soft but ready to eat when it’s done, but (once again) I usually transfer it to the freezer & let it firm up a bit.
Earl Grey ice cream:
The recipe is the same as the Cinnamon ice cream recipe, but with tea instead of cinnamon. I would recommend using 3 heaping teaspoons of loose tea or 5 or 6 tea bags. Straining is, of course, mandatory if you’re using loose tea. If you decide to use a ‘sweeter’ type of tea (like Darjeeling), I would halve the amount of tea you steep in the milk. I tried Darjeeling using the above recipe & the stuff came out WAY too sweet.
I need to find my Apple Gelato recipe, but I will post it soon!
‘O lente, lente currite noctis equi’ - Ovid