Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream

I have made vanilla ice cream before.  It's simple, it's clean, and most importantly, it's delicious.  However, there is another flavor that I enjoy with vanilla, and that is Lavender.

My mother would always keep lavender growing somewhere while growing up.  She would make heating pads containing lavender, so while we used them we could also relax.  I even have some dried lavender she had grown in my Herbs de Provence.  But, I wanted to infuse vanilla ice cream with lavender, and the result came out quite interesting.

Firstly, I used a different recipe, requiring less eggs.  This was done out of necessity, because I didn't have many eggs left in my house, and I didn't want to go shopping.

First, I combined my dairy products 2 cups of whole milk with 2 cups of half and half.  While in the pot, I split 1 vanilla bean and added it to the mix, as well as a washed bundle of fresh lavender.

While these flavors worked, I whisked together 3 eggs with 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

I tempered the egg mixture with the dairy, and then I whisked to combine it all.

Once the mixture became thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, I strained it into an airtight container, letting it cool to room temperature before placing it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I broke out my ice cream machine, and poured in the mix.  After an hour, I got some ice cream.

I made this so we could have root beer floats, but I would also recommend eating with with some fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream.

It tasted like a frozen creme brûlée, which is funny since there are so few eggs in this recipe.  The vanilla and the lavender don't fight for flavor domination.  They work very well together, and it really tastes like summer.

Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie

So, this is rather late, but I decided to make a banana cream pie from scratch.  Usually I don't like banana flavored desserts because they remind me of that horrible fake banana flavor from kids' toothpaste, but I had been watching The Mind of a Chef featuring David Chang, and his pastry chef demoed their recipe.  It looked really good, and not too difficult to reproduce, so I gave it a shot.

I found the recipe here.

First, I took two very ripe bananas and froze them twice.  The formation of the ice crystals helps puncture any cells within the fruit, giving it a nice texture for pie.

I then blended them with 1/3 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup of milk.

Next I added 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 3 egg yolks.

I removed the mixture from the blender and started cooking over medium low heat in a saucepan.  This allowed the cornstarch to thicken the entire mixture until it was like glue.

While this was happening, I bloomed one packet of powdered gelatin.

I placed this back into the blender, added the gelatin, and turned it to high.

While the mixture blended, I added some yellow food coloring.

I placed the very yellow mix int he fridge to tighten up.

In my standing mixture, I began to mix up the cream for my banana cream pie.  I combined 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup of powdered sugar.  I beat them together until medium peaks formed.

Once the banana mixture tightened up, I added it in 4 batches to create the cream.

I put half of the mixture into a chocolate cookie crust.

I sliced up a ripe banana and layered them onto the cream.

I topped it with the last of the cream, and let it sit in the fridge.

Tasting it, I have to say that it was one of the best banana cream pies I've ever had.  My husband loved it, and ate most of the pie on his own!

Enjoy