The Perfect Scoop, Revised and Updated

THE complete ice cream cookbook for me.

I have owned this cookbook for a couple of years now, and I continue to reach for it even after making several of the varieties of ice cream and sorbets. Don’t let ice cream intimidate you. It’s actually very easy to make after your first few tries. It’s almost fool proof after you figure it out. There are too many excellent recipes in this book for me to pick out a winner but I will tell you a few that have been smash hits. The chocolate! Let’s just start there. The chocolate! It is sooooo good that I have to portion it out for myself or I could probably eat a pint at a time. It’s like chewing into extremely good fudge. The brand of chocolate and cocoa totally matters here, and my preference is Guittard. I made the Tin Roof Sundae for my nephew after a couple of successful runs for myself. He told me the second night that he had to try that ice cream again to see if it was REALLY the best ice cream in the world. The books vanilla base is perfect and it’s a great background for so many stars. I almost never let baked goods go to waste because I’ll save them and stir them into ice cream. My favorite so far is browned butter blondie chunks stirred into vanilla ice cream. His method for creating chocolate chips in ice cream is perfect, and recipes for things like chocolate sauce, wet walnuts and brittles are all excellent. The Orange Cranberry Sorbet is already on my Thanksgiving menu as a palate cleanser and the Nectarine Sorbet is perfect added to Prosecco. The marshmallows were easy to make and the hazelnut, milk chocolate gelato with chocolate chipping was a revelation and placed into and on a little sugar cone will be waiting for me in Heaven. Yes, it’s that good. I’m about half way thru the book and I’m still finding LOTS still to make. I’m going to make Candied Bacon and Bourbon ice cream this weekend but I’m substituting Armanac because I don’t have bourbon. I know it’ll be amazing. Go ahead and buy the book, some expensive organic cream, organic milk and organic eggs and try the vanilla custard style. You might balk at the organic stuff but you will notice a difference. If you fail, make it again. Go slow. Have everything prepped before you start, relax and put on some fun music. I keep my stove on about 3-4 and I take my time and enjoy it. I start with a little whisk and move to a silicone spatula after I mix in the eggs. This is especially helpful for the chocolate ice cream. Who knew making ice cream could be therapeutic.