Nuts and Berries Ice Cream

While I definitely enjoy a glass of wine with fair frequency, I tend not to be much of a drinker. However, “Nuts and Berries” with Chambord, Frangelico and Cream is the stuff of which my dreams are made. Not only is it exquisitely tasty, it is also the most fabulously beautiful shade of purple. So, when Matt and I started making ice cream, I quickly added it to our list.

One of our big concerns involved the addition of alcohol and how it would affect the freezing of the ice cream. Previously, we added Limoncello to our Meyer Lemon Sorbet and the sorbet became spoonably firm rather than rock hard like many sorbets. So we looked to the experts in the many ice cream books that have, over the last year, filled the cookbook shelves. We finally selected Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book (by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of course) because we found a recipe that called for 1/2 cup of alcohol to be added. Thus, we took their sweet cream base and added our chosen liqueurs to total the 1/2 cup.

This was the first time we used uncooked eggs, as most of the Ben & Jerry’s recipes call for.

Ingredients:
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Chambord
1/4 Frangelico

Directions:

In a spouted bowl, whisk eggs till light and fluffy. Add sugar and whisk until incorporated. Add milk and cream and whisk to blend. Add the liqueurs and refrigerate overnight. (Easy!)

Ice cream machine used: KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment

Verdict:

Holly: YUM^4. I thought that this ice cream was fantastic…it was a little alcohol-y, but it tasted just like a frozen nuts and berries drink (yummmmmm). The consistency was delightfully creamy and smooth and could be eaten immediately after taking it out of the freezer, no doubt the result of the alcohol. My one disappointment was the lack of purpleness in color … the liqueurs were just too diluted by the amount of dairy. Regardless, in my book, the ice cream was a success.

However, it was not necessarily a hit with one and all.

Matt liked the quality of the flavor, but being a non-drinker, did not actually love it. When he ate it several days later, the alcohol taste seemed to have diminished a tiny bit.

Matt’s parents felt that it was too alcohol-y.

Courtney liked it very much and said that it tasted like a holiday ice cream, reminding her of something between eggnog and fruitcake. I think we can assume that the alcohol flavor was the most prevalent, probably indicating that it is too strong.

Possible changes for next time:

-try heating the liqueurs to burn off some of the alcohol–question is if the flavor will remain pure
-add a raspberry and hazelnut swirl
-skip the alcohol entirely and make a raspberry ice cream with hazelnut butter swirl or make a hazelnut butter ice cream with a raspberry swirl (or both bases with both swirls! whoopee!)
-we also got some fabulous toasted and lightly sweetened hazelnut bits that we think would be delicious in the ice cream regardless of the choice of above changes.