"churning" news and stories

I'm not sure if dessert gets much better than this - infusing rich, creamy ice cream with bourbon and sugar cookies. This inspired creation was prepared by Catharine from 'Not Eating Out in New York', who added a 1/4 cup of bourbon to her basic ice cream recipe. In what seems like a (brilliant) afterthought, she tossed in come crumbled sugar cookies near the end of the churning process which added texture and sweetness to the frozen concoction.

I have to agree with her that there are a surprisingly low number of popular ice cream flavors that incorporate alcohol into the recipe (like rum raisin) since it is such a natural pairing. I'm planning to purchase an ice cream maker soon, so perhaps that will be my initial project. Suggestions for flavor pairings, anyone?

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Kate, the Accidental Hedonist, has posted a neat trick that will enable you to choose the better ice cream when confronted with brands that you have never tasted before at the market. The trick is to weigh the (frozen) containers, since ice cream is sold by volume, not weight. In other words, if a manufacturer churns more air into his or her product, it will fill up a bigger container without using up extra products. By weighing the cartons of ice cream, you can choose a higher quality brand that will taste richer, creamier and better than a cheaper one.

There are different grades of ice creams that are based on overrun, which is the term for the amount of air mixed into the product. The cheapest ice creams have 90 to 100 percent overrun - meaning that they are half air - while premium ice creams have 60-80 percent and super-premium ice creams can have anywhere from 10-40 percent. Some air in the ice cream is good, as it lightens up the texture and keeps it from being a dense, chewy mass, but it's just silly to pay $5 for a gallon of ice cream when you're really only getting a quart. Next time, weigh the containers or just go for the ice creams labeled as "super premium" when you are looking for high quality indulgence. Your taste buds will thank you.

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