Currently cooking out of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer

The last few weeks testing this book’s recipes kind of got away on me. I got wrapped up in sourdough and then the holiday season hit. I’m overdue for my wrap-up post, but here it is.

If ice cream making is your thing, you really need to check this book out. I love this book, and I will probably never make ice creams any other way. Although many of the recipes didn’t appeal to me, the fact that Bauer includes a master recipe (for both ice cream and frozen yogurt) means that I have a formula that I can follow to create my own flavors. Cream cheese in ice cream. Who knew?

My favorite ice creams were:

Salty Caramel Ice Cream — This was the first recipe I tried, and the first spoonful was a revelation. After that first bite, I knew Bauer was onto something.

The Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World — Deep, dark chocolate. Not too sweet, smooth and rich. This is the chocolate ice cream of all chocolate ice creams.

Lemon & Blueberry Frozen Yogurt — Tart and refreshing. There’s no dullness to the lemon flavor here, and if you don’t like blueberries, just about any fruit will work.

Ice creams that weren’t my favorite:

Nectarine Ice Cream — This was my attempt at adapting Bauer’s master recipe to my own flavor. I was hoping for the essence of nectarines in frozen form. I got watery, washed out ice cream that had little resemblance to the fruit. Probably more my fault than Bauer’s.

Brown Butter Almond Brittle Ice Cream — Except for the almond brittle, this ice cream was blah. Life is too short to waste it eating blah ice cream, dontcha think?