How to: Ice Cream Tasting Party

I’m pretty stoked that the holidays are over and I’m getting back into my groove. Before I say buh bye to the year’s most indulgent season, I wanted to share my recipes for the New Year’s Eve tasting party I threw this year!

First off, let me suggest before you attempt to try this at home that *I do not recommend making 5 flavors of ice cream in one day for a party that starts at 8pm.* Who knew ice cream could be so stressful?  See more details and recipes below!

I had 5 dear friends come over to ring in 2016 with me. I promised them homemade ice cream and champagne. I served the ice cream one at a time– every 30 minutes or so I brought out a new flavor and put it on ice for people to dig into. I mostly did this because some of the flavors were still hardening in the freezer until about 11:45pm. Again, see above…do not attempt to make everything in one day! I had put the freezer bowl part of my Cuisinart ice cream maker in the freezer the night before…but when I took it out the next morning around 10am, I still heard liquid sloshing around–it wasn’t entirely frozen! So give yourself a good 24-36 hours to freeze that sucker. I ended up having to mix most of the recipes in the morning, and then waited to freeze them in the ice cream maker later in the day when the bowl was finally frozen solid.

Recipes!

I stuck with rather straight-forward recipes and really went for it with the mix-ins. I like a lot of texture in my ice cream. Don’t hold back with the mix-ins…more is more! Once your base is mixed, follow your machine’s instructions, as they are all different. Mine churned for about 25-30 minutes, and then I transferred to a container and let harden in the freezer for several more hours.

Mint Chocolate Cookie

INGREDIENTS
2 cups heavy whipping cream
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 package of crushed Thin Mints (I found these at Whole http://quotecorner.com/accutane.html Foods, they taste exactly like Girl Scout Thin Mints!)
1 tsp mint extract
green food coloring (optional)

Throw everything except the crushed cookies in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Transfer to your ice cream maker and at the very end when it looks like soft serve, fold in the crushed cookies.

Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS
2 cups heavy whipping cream
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
crushed gingersnaps cookies (I found these at Whole Foods, or you could make your own if you are feeling really ambitious)
8oz package of cream cheese
half a can of pumpkin

Again, throw everything except the crushed cookies in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Transfer to your ice cream maker and at the very end when it looks like soft serve, fold in the crushed cookies.

Cherry Dark Chocolate Chunk

INGREDIENTS
2 cups heavy whipping cream
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 bag of frozen cherries, thawed (Or fresh, if in season! But you’ll have to pit them, grrrrr.)
chopped dark chocolate chunks (as much as you want!)
2 tsp vanilla extract

One more time… throw everything except the cherries and dark chocolate chunks in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Transfer to your ice cream maker and at the very end when it looks like soft serve, fold in the cherries and the chocolate.

Peanut butter Brownie

INGREDIENTS
2 cups heavy whipping cream
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2″ to 1″ cubes of brownies (I made boxed brownies the night before–make sure they are cooled before mixing in.)
2/3 cup of smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the butter and the peanut butter together. Then throw everything except the brownies in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Transfer to your ice cream maker and at the very end when it looks like soft serve, fold in the brownies!

Blueberry Cheesecake

I’ve made this before in a previous post. It was so incredibly delicious that I had to include it in the tasting. It’s a little more work because there is a homemade blueberry swirl sauce…but SO WORTH IT. Recipe here!

Let me know how your ice cream turns out!