Seriously, how can summer be on its last hurrah when it just started last week!?
I was tickled to find out that my darling friends Becky of Project Domestication and Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia (the original ice cream queen in my book!) decided that summer needed to go out with a bang. They decided that a LABOR DAY ICE CREAM SOCIAL was the way to go and I couldn’t agree more! One thing that I was happy to bring back into our house this summer has been having an ice cream maker again. Although I’ve still made ice cream without it, it is a lot easier to have one!
Let’s face it. With school starting right around the corner we are in serious crunch time mode at the Hanks house. School shopping, PTO duties have already started and the first school function of the year commences Aidan’s 3rd Grade year this evening. I can’t believe how quickly time flies. Celebrating a few more times with some summery treats can’t go wrong in times of craziness… which is all the time here really!
A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for a homemade, from scratch version of Cake Batter Ice Cream. We absolutely loved that one, but as soon as I made it, I couldn’t get the idea for an ice cream made out of my favorite kind of batter to sneak bites of out of my head – BROWNIE BATTER! When it comes to brownie batter I have a serious weakness. Other than the method needed to make it and the addition of the cream to make it into an ice cream, brownie batter recipes easily lend themselves to being made into an ice cream since most good brownie recipes in my opinion have very little flour in them.
This ice cream has fantastic chocolate flavor, is smooth, very rich and is super creamy! These ice cream recipes that are more like a thick pastry cream custard than just a regular custard really lend themselves to a velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture. Of course, if, like me you just happen to have a couple extra brownies laying around that need a home, you can always crumble them into your ice cream at the last minute and double up your chocolate hit. Just sayin’.
I don’t know about you, but I can never have too many ice cream ideas so I’m thrilled to participate in this Labor Day Ice Cream Social with these lovely ladies today! Make sure and check their blogs for what I’m sure will be some insanely amazing ice cream inspiration!
Becky of Project Domestication
Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia
Becky of Vintage Mixer
Carrian of Sweet Basil
Holly of Phemomenon
Kelly of Mountain Mamma Cooks
Krista of Budget Gourmet Mom
Karen of 365 Days of Slow Cooking
Marie of Food Nouveau
Rachel of A Southern Fairytale
Shawn of I Wash You Dry
Stephanie of Queen Scarlett
Wendy of 101 Gourmet Series
For more ice cream inspiration, you can also follow my ‘Frozone‘ board on Pinterest!
Homemade Brownie Batter Ice Cream
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk (I used 2%)
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Dutch processed good-quality cocoa powder
1/4 cup hot water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 chocolate brownies, crumbled into small pieces
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter along with the heavy cream and milk to bring to a gentle simmer. Turn the heat to low.
In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, flour, salt, cocoa, hot water and vanilla until very smooth.
Slowly add about 1 cup of the melted butter/cream mixture to the egg/cocoa/sugar mixture and whisk to combine and make a smooth mixture. Pour the flour mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and whisk to combine. Add the finely chopped chocolate and stir to melt. Allow the mixture to thicken over low heat, this should take about another 10 minutes.
Pour the thickened custard through a fine mesh strainer into a heat proof bowl. Cover the brownie batter custard with a layer of plastic wrap placed against the surface of the custard and refrigerate, preferably overnight. When ready to churn, follow your ice cream maker instructions and churn the ice cream until thick and creamy. If using, add the brownie bits in the last few minutes of churning. Scrape the ice cream into a freezable container and freeze until scoopable for a hard scoop ice cream, or serve as soft serve straight from your ice cream maker.
Brownie Batter recipe generously adapted from Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies
