chemistry and ice cream making.

Funny thing-- after several mildly successful journeys into cheese making, I seemed to have forgotten what vinegar does to milk.

Boutique ice creameries and gourmet markets have introduced enticing flavors such as strawberry balsamic, a seemingly perfect summer flavor, and when some super ripe berries went on sale for 99-cents a pound at our local grocery store, I decided to give it a try.

I thought I was doing so well-- last night, I chopped a pound and a half of berries and tossed them in a pot with a bit of sugar and vinegar and let them cook during a frustrating round of Scrabble. They cooled in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I made a simple custard, carefully tempering the eggs and then straining the mixture. I poured it into a cooled bowl and whisked the chilled berry mixture into it, covered it with some parchment, and shoved it back into the fridge.

A few hours later, I peeked under the parchment to find... a lightly curdled bowl of milky strawberry goo.

Not wanting to discard the yummy mix (it still tasted good despite the unfortunate texture) I called my dad for a chemistry consultation.

"I have a, um, chemistry question," I said, hesitantly, "involving ice cream."

I talked him through my process and he was full of helpful hints.

"Probably should have waited to mix the strawberries and vinegar into the custard until after it has been in the ice cream maker for a while. Then, the custard would have started to freeze, changing its make-up so the acidity of the strawberries and the vinegar won't break down the mixture."

Thanks, dad. That makes a lot of sense.

But what do I do with the goo I already have?

On to mom.

"Probably should have just put some vinegar on top of the strawberry ice cream after it was frozen."

Again, thanks.

"But I think if you put it through your ice cream maker, it will churn together enough to make a smooth ice cream."

So that's what I did.

And it wasn't half bad.

1 1/2 pounds fresh strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 quart milk*
2 egg yolks

Cook chopped strawberries, vinegar, sugar, and molasses until soft. Refrigerate at least three hours or overnight. Separate eggs while milk is simmering. Save egg whites and to make a veggie omelet for your husband (or toss on top of a salad, etc.). Whisk yolks and temper with 1/2 cup of milk. Slowly add mixture to heated milk, whisking constantly. Keep on whisking. Transfer into a chilled bowl and whisk in strawberry mixture. Watch the mixture curdle. Fun, eh? Refrigerate for three hours and then pour into ice cream maker, following ice cream maker's instructions from here on.

Or.

Don't mix the fruit and vinegar into the custard, but just pour chilled custard into ice cream maker until mixture is half-frozen or so. Then, add the fruit. And let me know if it curdles.

*I used two-percent. Probably would be much tastier and creamier with 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of cream. Use what you wish, but if you choose 2 percent, you'll feel less slightly guilty if you find yourself finishing the batch by yourself at midnight. Like I just did.

no baking required.

Or any prep whatsoever, besides keeping a keen eye for the freshest fruit and tossing them into your basket.

But what more could you want?


Super sweet mandarins
Crunchy, bitter chocolate
Smooth vanilla bean ice cream
And a waxy green leaf if proof of un-canned citrus is necessary.

I could eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner...
And all of the meals between.

the best kind of sandwich

This week, I threw away two boxes of sugar. Not two whole boxes, only the end of a box of white sugar and dark brown sugar because I couldn't seem to resist digging into them with a spoon. Just because I no longer eat run-of-the-mill baked goods doesn't mean I don't have a nagging sweet tooth. I usually can distract it with ridiculously "healthy" options like fresh fruit or a few glasses of wine, but when there's brown sugar on the shelf, my self control goes out the window. So, the leftover sugar went in the trash.

I baked half of a batch of snickerdoodles for an impromptu pregnant sister-in-law visit and planned on saving the second half for home group bake-off, but the sugar situation threw me for a curve. I couldn't bear to bake the rest without rolling them in cinnamon and sugar first! I scavenged enough packets of raw sugar to bake most of them for home group, but had a bit of extra dough. I tossed it in the freezer and baked it up tonight-- and the six cookies made for a lovely Friday night post-chili dinner dessert.

Accompanied by Haagan-Daz 5-ingredient brown sugar ice cream, it was quite the decadent treat.



At least, that's what I was told while eating my raspberries.

Here's the snickerdoodle recipe, if you're interested.

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup (I know, corn syrup. Just do it.)

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cream together butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Refrigerate until cool and firm. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until just brown at the edges. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
Let cool and sandwich with the best ice cream you can find. Eat while watching a wonderfully pretentious film like Helvetica.

(Modified from Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles at allrecipes.com)

"How does it compare to Diddy Riese?" I asked the man, who had a belly full of chili, cornbread, and beer.
"Better," he mumbled, then promptly fell asleep.
I'm so manipulative.