Slushed! Part 1

Slushed!

More Than 150 Frozen, Boozy Treats for the Coolest Happy Hour Ever.

JESSIE CROSS.

For my wolf pack.

Acknowledgments.

First and foremost, huge thanks to Edward Cross, who is not only my husband, but also my editor, business manager, resident bartender, photo stylist extraordinaire, and all-around partner in crime. I couldn't have done this without you.

Thanks to the good folks from SeeMyDrink.com for the equipment loan and expert photography advice. May your business be wildly successful!

Thanks to Andrea Hakanson, my editor at Adams, for all the input, support, and quick responses to my rapid-fire e-mails.

Thanks to my friends and tasting crew here in Salem, who gave me some wild flavor ideas and valiantly sampled their way through the good, the bad, and the ugly as I developed recipes. For my two favorite Vikings, I owe you a couple of quarts of mead ice cream. Thanks especially to a mischievous pair of little black kittens, who dragged me to the ocean, took me to the tavern for drinks, and indulged in late-night omelet dinners and cartoons when I needed to take a break.

Thanks to Ca.s.sie Bagshaw, Kristyn Ferretti, Kristin Green, Nicole k.n.o.bloch, Lori Levin, Teresa Niedzwiecki, Jennifer Novak, Christina Poteet, Kate Va.s.sos-and all of The Hungry Mouse's readers and Facebook fans-for the c.o.c.ktail inspiration. You guys may just have a second career in bartending. (Well, except for Terri. You're already the best bartender in Boston.) Thanks to David Zubkoff, John Colbert, and Julie de Chantal for just generally being awesome.

Last but not least, extra special thanks to Lori Bruno, who saw this coming and who helped me find the will inside to get it done. Your support and encouragement mean the world to me.

I love you guys. May your homes always be filled with happiness. May your cups always be full.

Jessie Cross.

Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Introduction.

The best present I ever received from my husband was a cherry-red ice cream maker for Valentine's Day seven years ago. I'm a sucker for a good piece of kitchen equipment, and it was definitely love at first sight.

Since then, I've been an ice creammaking machine! Add to that my love of c.o.c.ktails and fine spirits, and I have a serious addiction to blending booze with dessert. The best part is creating new recipes, trying new flavors, and seeing what works well together.

Two scoops of Boozy Brazilian Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream drizzled with homemade hot fudge sauce? A dish of Chocolate Frangelico Gelato dotted with toasted hazelnuts? An extra-thick vanilla shake fragrant with maple and bourbon? Miniature Mola.s.ses and Ginger Brandy Ice Cream Sandwiches? Yes, please!

Adding alcohol to ice cream and her chilly cousins is one of those great acts of culinary alchemy. The result is one part dessert, one part c.o.c.ktail. The trick is getting the proportions just right. Too much alcohol and your ice cream won't freeze. Too little, and your flavor can fall flat.

This book is your guide to making frozen desserts spiked with your favorite liquors. We'll cover all the basics-with a boozy twist.

Is chocolate ice cream your favorite? Let's deepen the flavor with a little chocolate liqueur and a shot of espresso vodka. How about that blackberry smoothie you get at the gym? Blend in some Limoncello and serve it in champagne flutes at your next movie night, topped with a splash of Prosecco.

We'll make liqueur-infused sorbets, granitas, and frozen ice pops-not to mention milkshakes and frozen c.o.c.ktails. You'll also find a handful of treats and toppings at the end to round out the dessert extravaganza. (h.e.l.lo, Frozen Kahlua Cheesecake!) Never made ice cream before? It's really no sweat. There's (practically) nothing to it. You'll be a pro in no time. You just need to learn a few basic techniques, like how to make a custard without curdling it, what ingredients are better suited for sorbets than ice cream, and what to use if you don't have a spiffy, cherry-red ice cream machine. The most important thing to remember is this: Cook with all your senses. Including common sense. In my kitchen, recipes are a guideline. How firm or loose is up to you.

Squeeze your produce. (Is it ripe?) Taste absolutely everything, from those peaches (are they bursting with flavor?) to that mint extract (how strong is it, anyway?). Trust your taste buds, and don't be afraid to subst.i.tute or improvise if you hit a few b.u.mps. Nibble on that licorice. (Is it a little on the hard side? Cut it into extra-small pieces.) Look at your finished product. (Is the color appealing? Would it be happier with a sauce or a handful of nuts mixed in for texture?) If you like it, chances are your guests will, too. And if a recipe sounds great, but includes one ingredient you can't stand, don't be afraid to find a subst.i.tution and alter a recipe to suit your tastes. (Love spicy, spiked coffee but hate the idea of tequila in the Mexican Coffee Sorbet? Try subst.i.tuting Kahlua or coffee brandy.) So, what's better? A big bowl of creamy, luscious ice cream or a tall, frozen c.o.c.ktail? Put them together in an epic act of culinary alchemy and a third super treat emerges: The Booze-Infused Frozen Dessert.

Welcome to Slushed!.

Chapter 1.

Getting Down to Basics: Technique, Equipment, and Ingredients.

You might think that making ice cream is a long, tedious process that just seems like too much work. Why make it at home when you can grab a cone at your local ice cream shop or a pint of Ben & Jerry's at the store? But making ice cream isn't nearly as scary or difficult as you might think. Nothing beats the taste of homemade ice cream, and you can create any flavor you want. The best part? Your ice cream maker will do most of the hard work for you. There are just a couple of things you need to know before you get started.

Technique.

Ice cream falls into two basic categories: Custard-based and Philadelphia-style. They're made a little differently but both are absolutely delicious.

Custard-Based Ice Cream.

Custard-based ice cream starts out with a cooked egg custard. It's rich and delicious. This is the stuff that most Americans think of when they think of ice cream. It involves babysitting a mixture of egg yolks, milk, and cream on the stove to be sure that it gets nice and thick-but doesn't separate into a curdle-y mess.

Sound difficult? It doesn't have to be. You just need to know a little bit about the science behind custard cookery. A lot of ice cream recipes will tell you to cook the custard until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. That's well and fine for veteran ice creamieres, but that's a pretty general statement if you've never done it before.

The trick to making foolproof ice cream is to use a candy thermometer when you cook the custard. The magic number for ice cream and gelato is 170F. That's hot enough to ensure that the eggs are properly cooked-but not so high that you wind up with an icky pot of scrambled eggs (which starts to happen around 180F). Other key things to know: always use a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, never high. And don't ever, ever let the custard boil (which happens around 212F, which you'll never reach because you're using a candy thermometer).

Don't Sweat the Custard Seriously. Making ice cream isn't rocket science-and it's not the end of the world if you accidentally curdle your custard. If you try something and it doesn't work out, just toss it, take a deep breath, and start again. If you're new to making ice cream, start with simple, inexpensive ingredients, just in case. The first time I tried to make ice cream, I think I made six batches before I got it right.

Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream.

The other main kind of ice cream is known as Philadelphia-style ice cream, which skips the custard altogether. Philly-style is made from a simpler, uncooked mixture of cream, sugar, and flavorings. There are no eggs at all. Basically, you mix all your ingredients together in a bowl, chill it, then process it in your ice cream maker. Pretty simple, eh?

Don't Be Afraid to Scale Recipes Up or Down.

"But, I live alone! What am I going to do with a whole quart of ice cream?" Most recipes that make about a quart can be cut in half to make a pint with no problems.

When scaling an ice cream or gelato recipe down, use a smaller pot to make the custard if you have one. If you don't, keep a close eye on it and lower the heat a little, as less liquid in a medium-sized pot will cook faster.

If you're making ice cream for a crowd, you can double-or even triple-a recipe and process it in batches in your ice cream maker. This can be a pain, because you have to refreeze the bowl in between batches, so instead you might want to freeze it by hand in a large pan (like a lasagna pan) using the no-machine method described later in this chapter. Large quant.i.ties of ice cream can get unwieldy to deal with, but they are definitely doable.

Equipment When making ice cream, you'll need fairly standard kitchen equipment for the most part. Think 3- to 4-quart saucepans, frying pans, mixing bowls, baking dishes, sheet pans, measuring cups and spoons, knives, a strainer, a whisk, a zester, a veggie peeler, wooden spoons, spatulas, and so forth. A little electric scale is nice to have for measuring out chocolate, fruit, and other ingredients.

Specialized kitchen gadgets like the ones discussed next aren't always necessary, but they'll make your life easier when you're making ice cream. That said, once you get the technique down, it's easy to be creative and improvise if you don't have a certain gadget at hand.

Ice Cream Maker Obviously, this is the big one. There are a range of ice cream makers on the market, from low-tech insulated b.a.l.l.s that you roll around by hand, to luxury, self-contained units with built-in compressors that produce finished ice cream in half an hour. What you buy depends on your budget, the amount of available storage s.p.a.ce, and how long you want to wait before the ice cream is frozen.

You can snag a good-quality, electric ice cream maker for under $80 almost anywhere these days. I personally use both a 1-quart and a 2-quart Cuisinart model and absolutely love them. With most mid-range electric ice cream makers like this, you'll need to freeze the ice cream bowl ahead of time. If you have the room, store the bowl in the freezer. That way, it's ready whenever the ice creammaking mood strikes you.

Oh, and definitely take the time to read the instructions that come with your particular machine. They all work a little differently.

How to Make Ice Cream Without a Machine.

No ice cream maker? No problem! Whether you don't want to spend the money, don't have the s.p.a.ce to store one, or just don't think you'll use it enough, you can still make delicious ice cream at home without a machine. It just takes a little more work. Also, the texture may be a bit coa.r.s.er, since it won't be stirred continuously in a machine. Prepare the ice cream mixture according to your recipe, up to the point where you freeze it in the ice cream maker. Pour the ice cream mixture into a large, freezer-safe bowl, and pop it into the freezer.

Whisk it briskly every half hour or so until firm. If you have an immersion (a.k.a. stick) blender, even better. That's it. (No, really-that's it!) It should take about three hours.

Blender or Food Processor.

Blenders and food processors play a huge role in ice cream making. You don't necessarily need an expensive model; you just need one that works well. In many of the following recipes, you'll be cooking ingredients for an ice cream flavor base and then pureeing them. A blender or food processor can also help you puree fresh berries, chop nuts, whip cream, and so forth.

Mixer You'll want some kind of mixer-be it a professional-grade stand mixer or your grandmother's rotary egg beater. For recipes that require a lot of heavy-duty beating, like the frozen cheesecakes or simple whipped cream, your arms will thank you if you have an electric model.

Candy Thermometer Using a candy thermometer is one of the dirty little secrets of producing flawless custard for your ice cream. It clips to the inside of your pot, and it can help you keep from overcooking-and curdling-your custard. Just be sure it doesn't touch the bottom, or you can get a faulty reading. They're inexpensive-grab one at any home goods store.

Pop Molds These days, you can find all sorts of pop molds. You can use standard frozen ice pop molds, or you can get creative with silicone cake/cookie/candy molds. If you're improvising, be sure to consider the final product. (Is the shape practical for eating on a stick?) If you want to go old school, paper cups still work just as well as they did when you were a kid.

Storage You can't go wrong storing ice cream in thick, plastic, Tupperware-style containers. If you don't want to buy special containers, a standard, 1-pound bread loaf pan holds about a quart of ice cream. You'll just have to wrap it really well with plastic wrap to avoid freezer burn.

Springform Pan If you want to make frozen cheesecakes, a springform pan is a must. This two-part cheesecake pan has a removable outer ring, which makes serving a breeze.

Cherry Pitter A cherry pitter is a nifty little contraption that knocks the pit right out of a cherry. It's nice to have, but not necessary. You can improvise one by punching a plastic drinking straw through ripe cherries. If you love cherries, you might want to spend a couple of bucks on a bulk cherry pitter, which can process several pounds an hour. Again, consider your needs and invest in what makes sense for you. Cherries can be a pain to pit if you have a lot to do.

Ingredients The great thing about making your own frozen treats is that you control absolutely everything that goes into them. This is especially good for people concerned with food allergies, special diets, or organic eating. Most commercial ice creams rely on a ton of binders and stabilizers to keep their product smooth and scoopable. Always buy the highest-quality ingredients you can. Most of the recipes in this book don't have a ton of stuff in them, so every flavor will s.h.i.+ne.

Prepared ingredients vs. 100-percent homemade ingredients is always a hot topic for debate.

The ingredients for these recipes are as simple and accessible as possible to keep the treats easy and practical to make. Don't feel like you have to make every little thing from scratch-unless you want to.

For example, some of fruit-based recipes call for jam-or bottled fruit nectar or juice-instead of cooked fresh fruit. This approach is suggested partially out of convenience for you, and partially because some fruits, like figs, are hard to find out of season, or can be time-consuming to deal with. However, if you're inclined to, by all means juice the fruit yourself, or cook the jam by hand. The finished product will be that much better for your effort. If you're itching to do that, you probably already have a pretty good idea of what you're doing.

Alcohol Because alcohol basically doesn't freeze, it helps keep your frozen treats soft and scoopable straight out of the container. (A blessing and a curse, right? Talk about irresistible midnight snacks that don't keep you waiting.) Just remember that, with most frozen treats, more isn't necessarily better. You can only add so much booze before your ice cream won't freeze properly.

In general, you can add cup of 80-proof liquor to about a quart of ice cream.

For lower-proof liqueurs and cordials, you can add a little more, between and cup per quart, depending on the booze and how strong it is.

For low-proof beer and wine, you can add about 1 cups per quart.

As a rule, always use good-quality booze that you'd be willing to drink. If you don't like the flavor in a gla.s.s, chances are you aren't going to like it in an ice cream.

Nerd Alert For all you nerds out there, yes, technically, pure alcohol (a.k.a. ethanol) does freeze-at something like -173F. That said, unless you have a NASA-level freezer available to you, your booze is probably never going to freeze solid in your home freezer. Of course, liqueurs with lower percentages of alcohol and other ingredients will freeze at (slightly) higher temperatures. Did you know that:

25-proof booze freezes around 20F?

60-proof booze freezes around -10F?

80-proof booze freezes around -30F?

Coconut Milk Coconut milk is basically juice extracted from the coconut. It adds heavenly coconut flavor to ice cream. Don't confuse it with coconut cream, which has a ton of additional sugar. Find canned coconut milk (light or regular) in the Asian section of most major grocery stores.

Coffee For all the recipes in this book that call for coffee, use a strong roast, like French or Italian. Even if you wouldn't drink something that strong in the morning, remember that it's serving as a flavoring agent. If you're worried about caffeine, use decaf. If you don't normally make coffee at home, there's nothing wrong with running down to your local cafe and grabbing a cup or two to go.

Cream Cream is categorized by how much b.u.t.terfat it contains. The recipes in this book that call for heavy cream contain about 36 percent b.u.t.terfat. Whipping cream is pretty much the same thing for our purposes here, so feel free to subst.i.tute if you like. For amazing flavor, try to buy your dairy products for these recipes from a local dairy.

Fat Equals Flavor In the culinary world, fat equals flavor, plain and simple. With ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt, you can skimp on fat-just know that you're probably compromising flavor and/or texture.