Midnight Mocha gelato

Ice Cream Jubilee Tasting Party with Feastly - July 15

Next Sunday, July 15, I'll be teaming up with Feastly to host a second ice cream tasting party!

See why the Washington Post is talking about this DC start-up. Thanks to The New Classics blog for hosting!

There will be three ice cream tasting seatings -- at 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm.

Ice Cream Tasting Flight
Gin & Tonic sorbet
Cardamom Black Pepper
Chai ice cream
Banana Bourbon
Peanut Butter & Jam
Chocolate Five Spice

Sign up at http://signup.eatfeastly.com. Send questions to www.facebook.com/icecreamjubilee.
See you on Sunday!

Candied Kumquats & White Chocolate

Kumquats are eaten whole - rind and all - because the rind is sweet and the juicy centre is sour. Candied kumquats, coated in caramelized sugar, could be considered the original precursor to sour patch kids.

This flavor combined the sweet-sour citrus flavor of the kumquats with a rich depth of flavor, provided by the white chocolate.

White Chocolate is a derivative of chocolate, but is not chocolate. High quality white chocolate is made of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, and a little salt. Lower grade varieties will be made of hydrogenated yucky stuff.

Kumquats are great in cocktails. Garnish an elderflower champagne cocktail with some raw or candied kumquats and voila! simple mixology at home.

Published!

I couldn't have been more thrilled to create a flavor for the the food 'zine, Runcible Spoon! This issue, "MAD SCIENCE," my recipe for Smoke and Fire ice cream is featured alongside Washington City Paper contributor Sam Hiersteiner's recipe for homecured bacon, an interview with Sam Bompas of UK food installation duo Bompas & Parr, and a memoir of cooking with booze by NPR producer Elisa Barclay.

Playing on the notion of hot and cold, salty and sweet, I created Smoke and Fire ice cream: Chipotle smoked salt in silky chocolate five spice. I drew this picture to accompany my creation.

Some say it's my best flavor combination ever! Sounds like the work of a mad scientist...

You can purchase a copy of Runcible Spoon here.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch

The taste of hazelnuts was one of my childhood revelations. My mother and grandfather were allergic to them, so we never had hazelnuts or nutella around the house. But the moment I tried my first chocolate-hazelnut flavor combination, I was hooked.



I admit I may have gotten carried away making this batch. I poured a whole Dean & Deluca bag of hazelnuts into the mixture, half of them were finely chopped, half of them in big chunks. I figure the nuts provide protein, and therefore this is a healthy flavor!

Chocolate Covered Cherries

I spent many of my childhood summers in Vancouver, BC, where my grandparents lived and had two cherry trees in their back yard. My sister and I would spend hours climbing and sitting in the cherry trees, reading, telling stories, and eating all the fresh cherries that our 8 year old arms could reach.


After combining finely chopped cherries and large chunks of chocolate covered cherries into the vanilla base, I drizzled ghirardelli chocolate into the ice cream. The chocolate froze into hard pieces almost immediately, like high quality Magic Shell.



Commercially made chocolate-covered cherries are made with maraschino cherries. I prefer fresh cherries.

Chocolate Five Spice

This is a twist on Mexican Chocolate, which combines chocolate with cinnamon and spicy pepper.



I added ginger, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne to a Ghirardelli dark chocolate base. It was a big hit at this weekend's barbecue. What I found interesting is that different people's taste palettes picked up on different flavors. Some people tasted mostly cinnamon, others tasted the nutmeg. But everyone experienced the chili heat at the end of each bite.

Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Swirl

This is a great celebration flavor!


Chocolate covered pretzels and a peanut butter swirl in vanilla ice cream. Perhaps too indulgent?



The peanut butter and pretzels provide the right balance of salty with the sweetness of the chocolate and vanilla ice cream. This is a truly addictive flavor.

Chocolate Pretzels

I made four new flavors this weekend. Here's a preview of Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Swirl.



I love how the melted chocolate shines.

ghirardelli mocha

It's easy to make good ice cream with good ingredients. It's also easy to make anything tasty when you combine chocolate and coffee.

nutella chocolate

Could there be a more perfect pairing than nutella and chocolate?


Next time I'll add ground hazelnuts to enhance the nutty flavor.

chocolate and more

If you can brace yourself for a kick, I really love my newest creation: Cayenne Chocolate:



Some other tasters struggled with the spiciness, but what kept them coming back for more scoops was the balance of cinnamon and anise. Also it didn't hurt that the rich chocolate base had both cocoa and ghirardelli dark chocolate.