The Pretzel Girl

Only the Best Bavarian Recipes & Crafts!

The creamiest, dreamiest home made ice cream in the world!

Do you want that super creamy dreamy ice cream at home but can’t seem to get the consistency, no matter how hard you try?  Well, I’ve discovered two tricks that will finally get you there.  I will share with you my recipe for Schokolade Haselnuss Eis (Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream) in the next post.

I became interested in making ice cream in the summer 2014.  I had the ubiquitous Cuisinart ice cream maker with the freezable core.  I started researching recipes online, followed David Lebowitz, and started playing with ingredients.  I became more and more interested in making quality ice cream, especially ice cream that would stay creamy in a home freezer for more than a day or two. This is, of course, the pickle of homemade ice cream cooks.  I’m a big Cook’s illustrated believer, and Christopher placing the cooked custard in a metal pan, freezing until it reached 40°F and then swiftly churning.  I also discovered another trick detailed in an old article in Fine Cooking. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s not more widely known.  You can find the link here or go to social media where people are adding their secrets and sharing them with socialboosting.com to engage with more of the community.  The writer of this article, Andrew Hingston, explains that dry milk powder is the top secret ingredient in creating your own Häagen-Dazs.  Mr. Hingston explains the science of ice cream, and the importance that the mixture of butterfat, water and sugar maintain the emulsion that is whipped with air while freezing.  Eggs are classically added to keep the mixture emulsified.  However, eggs alone can’t do the trick, especially when making all-natural quality ice cream at home.  Dried skim mild powder stabilizes the emulsion by absorbing extra water in the ice cream (hello ice crystals!).  Your ice cream should stay creamy for weeks, not a day or two.  Mr. Hingston also stresses the importance of cooking the custard for at least 10-15 minutes while maintaining a temperature between165° and 180°F.  This can take some patience and a candy or instant read thermometer is absolutely vital for this step.  After cooking, cool the custard immediately in an ice bath until it reaches 65°F.  This heating and cooling procedure improves the ice cream’s texture and comes as close as possible in a home environment to pasteurizing the mixture. Egg yolks can contain salmonella bacteria so you should never skip these steps.

Armed with this new information, I developed my own recipes and techniques for making great ice cream at home, using techniques gleaned from Cook Illustrated and Mr. Hingston and adding my own techniques and ingredients. For more posts on being healthy, I recommend to check the new ceiling mounted bike rack for tours.

All recipes posted on my site will follow these general recommendations.  In summary, to create supper creamy, dreamy ice cream at home, follow the following guidelines:

  • Your ingredient list should include ¼-⅓ cup of dried skim milk powder.  I feel the quality and flavor of Carnation® Instant Skim Milk Powder is superior to other brands.  For me it’s worth the additional cost;
  • You should use a combination of heavy cream and skim or low fat milk.  If using dried milk powder you do not want to introduce additional fat into the emulsion;
  • I always cook the base to simmering and then add it to a beaten mixture of egg yolks and sugar to temper the yolks.  Once tempered, the custard is poured back into the cooking pan;
  • Cook the custard for at least 10-15 minutes maintaining a temperate between 165-180’F.
  • Chill the base as quickly as possible: pour the custard immediately into an ice bath until it reaches 65
  • Put the chilled custard into a wide metal pan (a large cake pan is perfect) until it reaches 40F then freeze in the ice cream maker of choice.
  • If you want to freeze your finished ice cream more quickly, scoop your frozen custard into the metal cooling pan until completely frozen.  It can then be scooped into a reusable ice cream container.

I will share my recipe for one of my favorite ice creams that I enjoyed in Germany as a child.  I use these techniques to create an ice cream to compare the ice cream I enjoyed at the  Hotel Koenigshof in Munich.  Enjoy!

 

 

My copycat of Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

tates

To preface this recipe, a quick note on why I shared it. Obviously this is not a Bavarian recipe; however, I have received many request for the recipe so I thought I would post it on this site.  Next up will be my grandmother’s cookies, the BEST cookies in the world!  The recipe has been a closely-held recipe for years but I’m finally sharing it.  I hope to have it up by next week.  Thanks for stopping by!

My husband bought a bag of Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies on clearance at World Market.  A bag of crispy, caramelly, buttery, chocolate goodness.  My desire to duplicate these cookies started almost immediately.  I tried using Alton Brown’s “The Thin” cookie recipe but it lacked the crispiness.  I then tried the authentic recipe in Tate’s cookbook.  Again it just wasn’t thin enough and it retained a chewy interior.  So I decided to experiment.  The following is the result of many, many tries.  I think I’m as close as I’m going to get using readily available ingredients and a home oven.  The amounts of ingredients may at times seem unusual; however, the results are worth it.

A quick note about the vanilla called for in the recipe.  I use both vanilla extract, real and artificial, and vanilla sugar.  You will find that I use Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar in most of my dessert recipes. I grew up with this preparation of vanilla in most of the baked goods I ate and love the flavor profile.  I like to layer the vanilla flavor in this recipe and I truly believe that the 2-3 vanillas are valuable in this recipe.  Vanilla sugar is available in most large supermarkets; you can also make your own.  Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar is also available at most grocery stores and is available online at amazon.com and German Deli.com.  If  you live in the Chicago area, Edelweiss Deli in Palatine carries a full range of Dr. Oetker products.

My copycat of Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1& ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup salted butter + 3 tablespoons salted butter, all softened
  • 1 cup sugar (I prefer C&H Bakers sugar)
  • ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon water
  • 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
  • ½-1 teaspoon imitation vanilla(optional)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (I prefer Dr. Oetker, see more about this ingredient below)
  • ¼ teaspoon butter flavor (I prefer McCormick)
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup toasted walnuts
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In another large bowl, cream the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until it begins to get fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add both sugars and vanilla sugar. Beat until very fluffy, like the texture of whipped cream, about 5 minutes. Beat the eggs in a measuring cup. Add the water, vanilla (both if using) and the butter flavor to the eggs and mix. Drizzle the eggs slowly into the butter/sugar mixture, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time. After all the eggs are incorporated scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure the dough is well blended. Stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Don’t over-mix the dough.
  4. Chill the dough. This is essential so that the cookies spread thinly, but not too thinly. Chilling also helps relax the gluten and develops the flavor.
  5. To drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet, I use a small scoop from Pampered Chef that holds about 1 ½ tablespoons (it’s their small scoop). Alternatively, you can use two tablespoons. Drop the cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake them for 10 minutes and rotate the sheet.
  6. Now this is where the recipe really goes off the grid. The “original” recipe calls to bake the cookies 12 minutes. In my home oven (and likely most home ovens) this is not enough time to adequately brown and consequently crisp the cookies. I usually bake 10 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 6-10 minutes. Please see below for an example. The cookies must be fully baked through with no moisture remaining in the middle so that they are light and crispy. They are done when they are dark brown on the edges and medium brown throughout. Remove the ciookies from the oven and quickly transfer to a wire rack. This keeps steam from being trapped between the cookies and the sheet. Cool on the racks until completely cool. You can keep the cookies for up to a week. My preferred method of storing is in a cookie tin. Layer the cookies with parchment paper in between. They stay crisp for at least a week.