Chocolate Ice Cream Philadelphia Style

Off lately I haven’t been too blog social.

Besides writing the occasional blog post, I haven’t been spending too much time online, (except for prying on other people’s lives on Facebook, but that doesn’t count, does it?)

Anyway, I haven’t been able to visit the lovely blogs on blogosphere and telling the oh-so-many talented bloggers out there how much I love their recipes and posts. I am sorry. I truly am. I also have been very lazy with replying to the lovely people who have been leaving comments on my blog. I know its the rudest thing possible, but please know each and every comment you leave makes my day.

I am just bad at all this.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why I don’t have a facebook fan page (besides the obvious- the fear of not having anyone to like my fan page!). I know fan pages require constant updates and interactions. And even though I would like to be interactive, I am very lazy with such things.

That’s also why I have no twitter account. Keeping up with my own personal facebook page can be a task, I don’t think I would be able to manage twitter as well.

Maybe I should have a ghost writer too! Maybe that way NY times would talk about me too!

My lack of internet interaction skills extend to me not checking my blog’s email addresses as well. I checked my blog mail after a long time, and was surprised by some of the news that I had in it, and apologetic of others that I had not responded to.

Before coming to that, there’s something else that happened last week. Jasline of Food is My life passed on the Kreativ blog award to me. A very big thank you, Jasline and thank you so much for the lovely words you had to say about my blog. If you haven’t already, do check out her blog. You are bound to come across some pretty yummy food of your liking.

As part of the Kreativ blog award, you have to mention 7 interesting things about yourself. I have already done that here, and even though there are many more such “interesting” facts about me, I will not bore you with them, today.

The other thing is to pass the award along to seven others. Although there are many blogs that deserve this award, the following are the ones who, as far as I know, have not been given the award by me, (even though someone else might have), but nonetheless they deserve it:

1. Kokken 69 : If someone gave me three gastronomical wishes, one of them would be to try Shirley’s pound cakes. They all look so beautiful, with the perfect texture. If you have not been to her blog, you are missing out on some pretty amazing treats!
2. Frugal Feeding: is a blog intended for those of you who want to eat good food on a relatively small budget. But don’t be fooled by the frugality, you have a lot of quality stuff that is being dished out from this kitchen.
3. Hobby and More: Richa’s blog is a recent find for me, but has a ton of recipes I would love to try. Her newer recipes are all vegan, and even though I am not a vegan, I wouldn’t mind being one if she was cooking the dishes for me!
4. Chasing Delicous: Russell’s blog is a true inspiration for the eye and the palate. All his posts are beautifully written. Be sure to check out his Kitchen 101 posts, while you check out his blog.
5. Pencil Kitchen: At 21, Jesica can sure bake, and bake well. I love the variety of the recipes in her repertoire. At 21, I could have only wished I was half a baker as she is.
6. Collaborative Curry: I am sure they have already been awarded this, but I would like to do the honours as well. In love with the recipes on this site.
7. Journey Kitchen: I love Kulsum’s blog- her photographs, her recipes, her writing, everything. I truly, madly, deeply love her blog. Period.

Just to be clear, those are V's not so manicured nails!

Now that, the passing along of awards is done, there are two more things I would like to share today. Everyone feels great to be appreciated, and so do I, and even though I would like to be humble about it, I just can’t and have this uncontrollable need to shout it out. Since I won’t go about ranting it in public, I find my blog is the best way to do it. So here goes.

Food on the Table — a meal and grocery planning business located in Austin, Texas,  started a new program where they honor the most exceptional food bloggers. They apparently noticed my blog (*beaming*) and found the content exceptional (*beaming even harder*).

The third news I want to share is that the Spinach and Mushroom Omelet Baked in a Bread Boule got featured on Yummly!

Yummly is the world’s largest and most powerful recipe search site with millions of visitors and subscribers. Thank you, Yummly! 🙂

Here is the post featuring the recipe: http://www.yummly.com/blog/2012/03/omelet-you-finish-but-these-are-the-best-eggs-of-all-time/.

Now that I have an Ice Cream Maker, an ice cream post had to follow. Yesterday, I got the opportunity to finally use it. I needed something to do to make my mind off The Hunger Games movie. I have been waiting patiently over the weekend for my friends to return from their weekend out, since we decided we all will watch the movie together. And making ice cream helped.Doesn’t it always?

Since this was my first try, I thought I would try one of the easier recipes. A plain but loved chocolate ice cream.

Instead of using a custard base, I thought I would go with the Philadelphia style of making ice cream- the eggless way of making ice cream. Although custard based (with egg yolks) ice cream is silkier and smoother, and Philadelphia style ice creams with no egg yolks tend to be firmer, freeze harder and have a somewhat chewier, the latter does come together more quickly (and there are no whites to take care of), plus it is lighter tasting.

I also made some ice cream cones in the panini maker.

With this ice cream chugged down, I am now ready to watch The Hunger Games with my friends tomorrow!

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM PHILADELPHIA STYLE

Adapted from David Lebovitz’ The Perfect Scoop

Makes 1 quart

Since I had no unsweetened chocolate, I substituted every ounce of chocolate called for with 3 tbsp cocoa and 1 tbsp butter. This recipe yields a very very chocolatey ice cream and I loved it!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cup heavy cream ( I used only 2 cups because that’s all that I had)
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate ( see note above)
• 6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Whisk the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large saucepan and put on medium-high heat, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Since I did not use unsweetened chocolate, I added the extra cocoa and butter in this step itself. If using unsweetened chocolate proceed to step 2, else if like me you have non on hand, skip step 2.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in the unsweetened chocolate, until the chocolate has completely melted.
3. Add in the milk and vanilla. And mix well. Let the mixture cool completely in the refrigerator.
4. Once the mixture is cold enough, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

FOR THE WAFFLE CONES

Makes 4 waffle cones

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fat free half and half
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp cake flour ( or use 1/2 cup All purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp corn starch)
• pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground nutmeg

Directions

Follow directions here.