A little detour into ice cream making

Shortly after Sheri wrote about her ice cream machine and the recipe book she purchased with it, I decided to follow suit and get both for myself. The first ice cream I made was a recipe from the book that came with the machine. More cream than milk, about a 2:1 ratio. I didn't really like the taste, or more accurately, the feel of it. Hard to explain.  So I turned to Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, which I had already perused and decided that the recipes looked like too much work. I started in the current season, which was Autumn. First recipe: The Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream In the World. Results: delicious! Used 2 bowls, a 4-qt pan, a whisk, a heatproof spatula. Lots of dirty dishes (and no dishwasher). But absolutely worthwhile. Jeni's recipes use approximately a 1:2 ratio of cream to milk. They also include a little bit of cream cheese and corn syrup, corn starch, and no eggs. I don't use her quick-chill method after cooking the ice cream base; instead I pour it into a container & chill in the fridge overnight.
Next up: Salty Caramel Ice Cream. Verdict: Loved it!
Then: The Buckeye State Ice Cream [Honeyed Peanut Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Freckles] Yum!
Skipped the Star Anise Ice Cream. I needed 1/2 cup of candied fennel seeds. Jeni provides sources for ingredients in the back of the book, but I just wasn't sure about this.
Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice Ice Cream. Well, my parents liked it a lot. I'm not the world's biggest fan of pumpkin pie, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Then... I skipped the whole winter section. I didn't make ice cream again until late spring. The Roasted Strawberry & Buttermilk Ice Cream was wonderful. So was Savannah Buttermint Ice Cream, though the white chocolate flecks might have been a bit of overkill.

All of a sudden, it was summer. The first recipe in the summer section is Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry Ice Cream. Yes, corn. It gets cooked in with the milk, cream & sugar, then strained so there aren't any pieces of corn in the ice cream (ew!). Couldn't find black raspberries, or even blackberries, so I made the sauce with raspberries. Tastes great, anyway. The ice cream does have a sweet corn flavor, but it's really good, not weird.
Next week: Kona Stout Ice Cream. Coffee & beer -- I'll let you know how it goes.

What I really appreciate about these recipes is that she spells out all of the prep steps so you're not trying to combine corn starch & milk or cream cheese and salt while stirring the milk, cream & sugar and hoping it doesn't boil over. Very well thought out and written.