Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Dark Chocolate Orange Ice Cream for Ice Cream Tuesday: Scoop Adventures Edition

Well, we had our last double digit day for the foreseeable future a few weeks ago, so if you need me, I will be stuffing myself into the kiddie pool I bought for HRH and Zooey to share and washing down an iced tea that may or may not be of the "adult" persuasion.
Oh, and pants are pretty much optional until October.


So naturally I jumped at the chance to make MOAR ICE CREAM when Jenni, our fearless leader and ice cream wrangler over at Pastry Chef Online, asked if anyone wanted to join the reindeer games for a special Ice Cream Tuesday to celebrate the publication of Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States: Make the Real Recipes from the Greatest Ice Cream Parlors in the Country, by Lyndsay Clendaniel. Lyndsay also writes the blog Scoop Adventures, and she's a certified ice cream devotee. Her new book highlights fifty amazing - and local - ice cream shops from around the country. 


IceCreamTuesday

Fellow fans of ice cream can now get this book; you can order directly from Amazon by clicking the picture of it above. If you so choose, you can also locate a local bookstore here and order it that way.
BUT!!!!! You can also enter to win a copy of the book! The details are below, so keep reading! Excitement and exclamation points abound!
In choosing what ice cream to make, I needed to make sure that someone else in the family would eat it; once pants are back in fashion in the Philistine house in the fall, I do need to be able to fit into them, after all. Since HRH wasn't a fan of the horchata ice cream, I looked for a recipe with chocolate so that she, too, could enjoy the fruits of my labor (since she didn't actually want to participate in the "labor" portion of the exercise). Thankfully, I found this fabulous chocolate and orange dream of a recipe, and I knew I had to make it. While oranges are no longer in season, citrus is just A Part of Life in Arizona, so we usually have zest and juice of some sort in the freezer, although I did nab a fresh orange at the store to make the ice cream (right now all we have is lemon and grapefruit juices).


This ice cream is deliciously chocolatey, but the orange juice makes it refreshing at the same time. It's perfect for the kids as well as any adult ice cream love in the house. Even Husband, who eschews ice cream in favor of sorbet, said the flavor was great; he still only had one spoonful, though, so HRH and I had to power through it ourselves. It was rough.

Dark Chocolate Orange Ice Cream
gently adapted from this recipe at Scoop Adventures

For the syrup:
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
  • 1/2 cup freshly brewed coffee
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp freshly grated orange zest
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 1/2 ounces bittersweet (70%) chocolate, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/8 tsp salt (I use Real Salt)
For the ice cream base:
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbsp honey (orange blossom is a great addition here)
Combine cocoa powder, coffee, sugar, zest, and juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; add chocolate. Let the mixture stand five minutes, then whisk to combine fully. Whisk in the cream cheese and salt until smooth; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp of the milk with the cornstarch until it makes a slurry.
In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and honey and cook over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Return to the heat and boil until the mixture coats the back of a spoon; this should only take a minute or so.
Pour the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture, whisking to combine.
Chill completely before churning; I recommend using two quart jars to save room in the refrigerator.
Strain through a fine sieve and pour into your ice cream maker. Churn according to your ice cream maker's directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out Lyndsay's post on making ice cream without an ice cream maker.
Once the ice cream has reached soft serve consistency, pour mixture into freezer safe container. Press plastic wrap onto top of mixture (don't worry; it won't freeze to it), and fasten lid before moving to the freezer. Freeze for at least four hours before enjoying.


Now for the exciting part - the giveaway!!!! I don't normally do giveaways, since my blog is small, I had started to be more of a running blogger than a food-ing blogger, but I felt it was my duty as an ice cream lover to share this opportunity.
Here is what you have to do:
  1. Follow Scoop Adventures on Twitter (@scoopmuse); leave a comment, with your Twitter handle, telling me that you have done so.
  2. For an extra entry, leave a separate comment telling me what your favorite summer frozen treat is. Are you an ice cream sandwich person, or do you go for frozen fruit bars? Did you chase down the ice cream truck as a kid, or did you always have Otter Pops in the freezer?
The fine print: Entrants must be residents of the US or Canada who are at least 18 years of age. Twitter profiles must be public; I must be able to verify that entrants are following Scoop Adventures. This giveaway is open through 11:59 PM, Pacific Daylight Time, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. The winner will be selected by random drawing and notified by email; once the email is sent, the winner will have 48 hours to respond. If, at that time, no response has been received, a new winner will be drawn and be subject to the same parameters.

Make sure that you check out some more of Lyndsay's recipes, as made (and adapted) by these fellow frozen treat fanatics. You'll also increase your changes to win the book by entering their giveaways, too. Then go make some ice cream yourself. Feel free to wear pants if you'd prefer.
Full disclosure: As compensation for being a part of this special Ice Cream Tuesday, I received a copy of Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States: Make the Real Recipes from the Greatest Ice Cream Parlors in the Country. While I did not use a recipe from the book for this posting, I did modify one from Lyndsay's blog. I will not receive any compensation if you choose to purchase this book through the links given above. All opinions are my own.

18 comments:

  1. I love the combination of chocolate and orange; it's sort of rich and refreshing at the same time...nice choice!

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    1. That's exactly how it was - the orange added a fresh dimension that really brightened the richness of the chocolate! It was so good!

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  2. Pass me a cone and we can eat together! THIS looks wonderful!

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    1. HRH insisted that she eat all of her servings in cones. There is just something about a good sugar cone that can't be beat.

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  3. Ha! I'm laughing about the when pants are back in fashion! Until then, I will be enjoying this ice cream. =) Glad HRH enjoyed it too, and I am very sorry you had to eat so much of it yourself. :eye roll: =)

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    1. Pants really are optional; I've been living the maxi skirt life this year. The stretchy waist bands are ideal for ice cream consumption.

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  4. I had to go with chocolate, too, to appease the family! I love the addition of orange to this beautiful ice cream!

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  5. You poor thing! I don't know how you and HRH managed to power through. I guess that goes with the sacrifices (a/k/a REWARDS) of being a blogger!!! I love your picture, btw!

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    1. It was so hard to finish off the ice cream….and make room for more flavors. Oh, woe is my life. ;)
      Thanks - I was excited at how the pics came out. I have to work fast here in AZ, or I'll get ice cream soup!

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  6. Orange and chocolate isn't seen as much in the US but in the UK, it's a classic! Especially with dark chocolate. Your ice cream sounds and looks absolutely creamy and chocolatey and more-ish, Allison!

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  7. chocolate orange is my favorite combination, I also like chocolate coffee and lastly chocolate mint

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  8. I am following Scoop Adventures on Twitter!
    @HeatherLynn626
    heatherp626@msn.com

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  9. I make homemade vanilla ice cream all the time! As a kid, I used to love those orange push-ups. My Grandma always had a freezer full of them!
    heatherp626@msn.com

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  10. An ice cream truck came and parked in the parking lot where I work last week, and it was funny to see so many adults lined up to get ice cream. I ended up getting an ice cream sandwich, they're my favorite summer indulgence!

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  11. That ice cream looks sooooooo good! Love it!

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  12. Crisp orange and rich chocolate are such a delicious pairing, although I never would have thought to put the combo together in the first place! Your ice cream looks beautiful!!

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  13. hello!! Very interesting discussion glad that I came across such informative post. Keep up the good work friend. Glad to be part of your net community. بديل كريمة الطبخ

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