Cooking the Books: Ice Cream
July 15, 2022 - Welcome to the first installment of Cooking the Books – a blog series dedicated to food in books! National Ice Cream Day is July 17 this year so of course I had to make the first Cooking the Books post about ice cream.
I’ve included an extensive list of books that feature ice cream below but my favorite is the Salt & Straw cookbook (click here to borrow or place on hold). The cookbook includes three base recipes (dairy-free, sorbet, and traditional), Salt & Straw’s classic ice cream flavor recipes, and the many variations and flavor combinations that make this ice cream shop so famous.
This recipe book, however, requires the use of an ice cream machine. If you don’t have one at home and aren’t up to scouting around for one at thrift stores, there are lots of recipes online that are machine-free and are as simple as freezing heavy whipping cream or a sweetened condensed milk mixture. The Spruce Eats has a mason jar ice cream recipe that includes tips on making swirled ice cream.
There is also the tried-and-true method of shaking your mixture in a plastic bag with ice and rock salt – a perfect activity to do with the kids!
Ice Cream in a Bag (adapted from the Food Network)
Check out the original recipe here for flavor variations.
Ingredients (4 servings)
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
10 cups ice
8 tablespoons rock salt
Instructions
1) Whisk milk, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl to combine; chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
2) Fill a re-sealable, 1-gallon plastic bag (or large food storage container with a lid) two thirds of the way with ice. Add the rock salt, close the bag, and shake to combine. Remove ice cream base from freezer and stir to incorporate any sugar at the bottom of the bowl. Pour into a sandwich-size re-sealable plastic bag and close. Place into the larger bag with the ice. Seal the larger bag and shake until ice cream is firm, about 10–12 minutes.
3) Remove bag of ice cream from the bag of ice. Scoop ice cream into a bowl, add your favorite toppings, and devour.
Maria Martin
Library Associate
