DREAMY, DREAMY ICE CREAM. THANKS LEE BAILEY!

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Lee Bailey's Country Desserts is one of my very favorite dessert cookbooks of all time. It's not just that the recipes are great, which they are, it was the way he wrote, the stories and advice he shared in all his books. Friendly, approachable and real. So you're pie crust isn't picture perfect, eh, it happens, it's still going to be delicious. Besides, it seems to me that often times when something looks just so beautiful and perfect, the taste ends up being disappointing. Am I alone here? Maybe it's just me. 

I've had this book for years and have looked repeatedly at the enticing photos of scoops of ice cream, ices and sherbets in pretty bowls and glasses but for some insane reason I had never made any of them. Now I've made two and I will continue making these two over and over again because they're THAT good and THAT easy. I have big plans to make some of the other ice cream recipes as well. I'm sharing these two because, well, it's nice to share and also because the book is, like all of Lee Bailey's cookbooks (I think, sadly), out of print. You can track them down used online, or if you're lucky, in a used bookstore. I found his Soup Meals cookbook by chance like that. Now, without further ramblings ...

Chocolate Nougat Ice Cream. If you love chocolate, make this now, if you don't love chocolate, make it anyway, might change your mind. The ice cream base smells and tastes so good I could actually eat it like soup. It's true, but it's even better as ice cream, so do that.

I used Valrhona Chocolate, 85% cacao, because I had the perfect amount on hand. I will be experimenting with other percentages of cacao because that's the perfect excuse to keep making this, research, all in the name of research. Little Tip: I chilled the base overnight in the fridge for both these ice cream recipes. It's so much easier than waiting, just go to bed, in the morning it'll be ready to churn.

Churned and ready for the freezer. Goes in light in color but darkens as it goes from a soft serve consistency to scoopable ice cream. 

Espresso Ice Cream. This is so smooth and creamy, a real coffee lovers dream. Plus, the base is even faster to whip up than the chocolate.  

There you have it. Two perfect, easy ice cream recipes to get you through the rest of summer and beyond ... because ice cream should be made and eaten often. Words to live by.

We all scream for strawberry basil ice cream

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I bought a lot of strawberries at the farmers market with no real plan in mind. Ate a bunch just by themselves, mixed some with basil then figured I'd use the rest for ice cream. Instead of regular old strawberry ice cream, not that there's anything at all wrong with that, why not strawberry basil ice cream? Exactly, why not! So I pulled out my copy of Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream and used that recipe for Strawberry Ice Cream with the addition of basil. Let me show you how I did it.

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First off, I used a potato masher to crush the strawberries in a bowl, it just seems easier to me and I've done it before, works every time. I don't always have whole milk on hand so I used 1 cup 2% milk along with the 2 cups of heavy cream. I cooked the cream, milk, remaining tablespoon of sugar and pinch of kosher salt over medium heat as the recipe states, whisking and removing from the heat just before it comes to a boil. At this point I stirred in about a ¼ cup of sliced basil leaves and let the whole mixture just steep on the counter until it was cool enough to transfer to the refrigerator. I let the basil infuse over night and that gave the base a really nice subtle basil flavor. 

The next day when I was ready to make the ice cream both the cream base and crushed strawberries were well chilled after a night in the fridge. Perfect conditions for making ice cream. Before adding the cream base to the strawberries you need to strain out the basil. Once the base is strained add it to the strawberries, stirring to combine and you're ready to get churning.

For churning, follow the directions for whatever ice cream maker you have. Don't be tempted to over churn, I've made butter ice cream a few times, not good. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container and cover tightly. It'll take, like the recipe says, at least 4 hours to firm up. Maybe my freezer is set to arctic blast, I should probably check that, but the ice cream gets rock hard so you're going to want to set it out for a while and let it soften a bit before you try scooping it. So get out there, get some strawberries, some basil, make some ice cream. It's really easy and you won't be sorry when you're sitting there with a bowl of creamy, refreshing strawberry basil ice cream.