Recommendations from The Perfect Scoop

[katecm]

I finally splurged and bought The Perfect Scoop. I was so excited, I had to try a recipe immediately. I was going to a barbeque with a Middle-Eastern theme, so I decided the apricot-pistachio ice cream would be the perfect thing. Well, I hated it. Hated it! I blame the apricots - it just tasted like baby food to me. The texture was stunning, I just couldn't stand the taste.

So, help me fall in love with this book after all. What are some of the best recipes? I have previously made the chocolate peanut butter ice cream, found from another source, and did adore it.

[Procrastibaker]

OK, first you need to know that I love LOVE cherry pie. Real sour cherry pie. With a no sugar homemade pie crust a la Julia Child. This is what I do with sour cherries. That is, until I made the sour cherry frozen yogurt in this book. Or, more precisely, until Balkaza made it for me from cherries she picked from her very own tree (I've since made my own batch with more of her cherries). It is amazing, especially with the Lean Chocolate Sauce.

[dollydoobie]

Did anybody have a problem with the texture of the chocolate sorbet? Mine came out gritty, and I don't know how to fix it.

[Daiya]

Recently, our biggest hits were the toasted coconut ice cream and raspberry frozen yogurt. Good quality ingredients are really key.

[katecm]

I did both the toasted coconut and the maple walnut this weekend, and they were fantastic. Big hits with my dinner guests.

[JeffW]

The malted milk ice cream was off the charts ummmazing. That being said, the next time that I make this recipe, the chopped Whoppers will not get folded into the ice cream. I will sprinkle them onto individual portions. When I made the ice cream and served it a day later, the Whopper chunks were deliciously crunchy. After a week in the freezer, subsequent portions of the ice cream were just as fabulous, but the Whopper chunks were very soft.

[seconds]

Favorites:
- Malted Milk Ice Cream
- Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia style
- Cranberry-Orange Sorbet
- Gianduja Gelato
- Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
- Strawberry Sorbet

Didn't really like:
- Roasted Banana Ice Cream (taste was good, but didn't like the texture. My husband loved it though)
- Goat Cheese Ice Cream (I thought it would make goat cheese taste good, but it didn't)
- Mocha Sherbet (icy)
- Chocolate Ice Cream (too rich and more like a frozen mousse)

[Gooseberry]

So far, I've made
toasted almond & cherry ice cream
milk chocolate ice cream (did this egg free)
malted milk ice cream
fresh ginger ice cream with chocolate straciatella & candied lemon slices
vanilla - both philly and french
cherry sorbet
toasted coconut ice cream
roasted banana ice cream
mango sorbet
chocolate chip cookie dough
candied cherries
butter pecans
peppermint patties

Everything great, except the toasted coconut (I just don't like dessicated coconut -it tastes soapy to me. I'd like to try a version with coconut cream instead) and the roasted banana (good flavour, terrible texture. needs cream!).

The malted milk (both with milo and horlicks. Horlicks is best, but lower the sugar signifcantly) and toasted almond are our favourites. The trick with the toasted almond is to overtoast them - they need to be brown all the way through.

The nice thing is that with time, I've gotten the confidence to experiment. I make pecan ice cream with the toasted almond recipe (only, no toasting, and longer infusion) which is magical, and a cherry ice cream which was very popular.

Other observations: for mild flavours, such as fresh ginger, don't be afraid to infuse for longer. Experiment with sugar and egg levels to get a texture and flavour that's perfect for you. I lower the sugar by an ounce, and use 4 yolks instead of 6, for example.

[megek]

Wow! I thought I was the only one that thought the roasted banana was just, ehh. Bad texture, flavor was alright I guess, but it need toasted walnuts and chocolate shavings to mask some of the ice cream flavor. Also froze rock hard, when another ice cream in the same freezer temp was delightful and soft/scoopable.

[Gooseberry]

No, you are not alone :)

I understand that the creaminess of the banana is supposed to make the use of cream unneccessary, but come on - banana vs cream???

I'm not against bananas in general. I'll never say no to a banana caramel cream pie. Especially with chocolate shavings...

[nofunlatte]

I have made (and adore!) the mocha sherbet-perfect finish that isn't too rich or heavy. I've made it with 2% milk, too, to cut down on some of the fat. It was still good.

I would also like to echo mineral's recommendation of the strawberry sorbet. The strawberry frozen yogurt was also very tasty!

[Karen_Schaffer]

I just made the strawberry frozen yogurt, and it's fantastic! I used the recipe on his website -- I assume that's the same one.

[Sally599]

I really disliked every ice cream I tried---now the frozen yogurts and sorbets were incredible. Personally I think this is due to low quality cream in my area---anyway the lemon or lime sorbets and the lemon-buttermilk sherbet are phenomenal.

[ms.mandylou]

The roasted banana ice cream is now one of my stand-bys. Absolutely love it. I also really like the Vietnamese Coffee ice cream.

[kmr]

We LOVED the green tea ice cream, and I've made the raspberry sherbet a number of times (had a bumper crop of homegrown berries!!!)....it's really wonderful and quick. The fig ice cream was a big hit with the adults...going to try some more recipes this weekend, orange popsicle sounds really good right now.

[leanneabe]

Definitely try the malted milk ice cream, if you like Whoppers. The cinnamon ice cream is delicious, too (but without the eggs).

[katecm]

Thanks, everyone. This is all really helpful. I think I was just so disappointed in that one recipe, I really needed to be reminded of how much great stuff in is the book. Thanks!

[FlyerFan]

I made his chocolate sorbet recently - loved it! The flavor was incredibly intense and the texture was great.

[dollydoobie]

Hi FlyerFan -
I just made this sorbet and while the flavor was outrageous, the texture was rather gritty. Did this happen to you? Or was yours smooth, as you would expect ice cream to be? Any suggestions on how to fix this? thank you!

[ziggylu]

We've been working out way slowly through this as well. I"m making the Peach frozen yogurt today actually...base is chlling in the fridge at the moment.

We like the Philadelphia Vanilla a lot. I make this frequently for friends along with some of the hot fudge and the candied cherries. Always a big hit.

The cheesecake ice cream was also a huge hit(topped with balsamic marinated strawberries).

The vanilla custard base is good. We prefer the PHiladelphia style straight as a straight vanilla but have used the custard as a base/jumping off point for other flavors. Peppermint was a particular flavor.

I made the fig ice cream last year and we liked that a lot too.

Haven't tried any of the chocolates yet.

[ziggylu]

We froze the yogurt mix and ate it right of the machine tonight. We both really liked it...the texture was great and flavor very nice, though next time I might try less sugar.

Husband reminded me that another favorite we've made out of the book was the roasted banana ice cream.

[caphill2320]

I also made the roasted banana ice cream and everyone loved it. I've steered clear of a lot of the egg yolk ones (I swear, this is the summer I overcome the fear of tempering!) but that one was so easy and my husband loved it.

[andrewm]

The regular banana sorbet recipe is also one of the simplest and is delicious.

[leanneabe]

A lot of his recipes that call for egg yolks can be made without them and they turn out fine. Less rich and "chewy", but delicious nonetheless!

[Katie Nell]

Check out this thread from last summer: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/416279 Lots of options there! I still want to try the cherries.

[megek]

The Salted Caramel ice cream is to die for. Absolutely an ice cream version of caramel. Be warned though, its quite rich!

Link: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives...

I don't think you need the toffee crunch in it, but it is kind of nice to practice caramelizing a smaller amount of sugar, to get a feel for it (before you do the whole 2 cups that goes into the ice cream). Also, mine definitely seized up as the recipe warns you, but I just was patient and kept stirring till (most) of the solids had dissolved. Well worth it!

[mineral]

We are working our way through this book this summer. Here's what we've made so far:
-Both the vanilla and chocolate are great--great bases for a variety of stuff you might want to mix in.
-Strawberry sorbet--intense intense flavor, really good.
-Toasted almond and cherry--we made this without the almonds and instead added mini-chocolate chips, great texture and flavor, I recommend the addition of chocolate!
-Blackberry-lime sorbet--just made this this weekend, gorgeous color, not too sweet, you can really taste the lime
-Orange popsicle--totally a summer flavor, but it definitely tastes more popsicle-y as opposed to creamsicle-y, so just a note depending on what you're looking for. It does have creamsicle-y hints though. Another winner.
-Cherry sorbet--eh. Just ok...it was more a texture thing, almost mushy, which doesn't scream "winner" to me.
Next up: mint chocolate chip and lemon speculoos. Have fun!!

[katecm]

I made the orange popsicle this weekend. With a dash of vanilla, it really took on a creamsicle flavor. I wonder about using creme fraiche in the place of sour cream. I'll definitely revisit this flavor, but I still have a lot to try first!