Which book?

[yorkshirepud]

Morning Guys,

I am in the market to buy a ice-cream making book and am not sure which ones to purchase. I have stumbled across two, so I was hoping you guys might help me decide if you have on of these knocking around you kitchen and know it little bit about its content.

So, please take my poll and help my decide.

Bear in mind that most of these recipes I will be lightening, so if there's tips in those books that would be a bonus also.

Thanks guys.
YP

[JHolcomb]

I love the Ultimate. Love it, love it. No tips on lightening, though.

[yorkshirepud]

Thanks JHolcomb,

I'm not too concerned about whether it has tips as I'm sure I can figure that part out myself (with the help of this board of course :D ). I am just looking at it on Amazon and it sure looks like it has some amazing, exotic flavours as opposed to Ben and Jerry's. Plus way more recipes. Can I ask what a few of your favourites are?

YP

[JHolcomb]

The coconut lime sorbet is DH's fave. I've also made the pineapple sorbet (yum) and the blackberry sorbet (also very yum). I made a variation on his green tea ice cream that was amazing--I used "Green Chai", green tea with chai spices, and added some additional ground cinammon and cardamom. That was amazing. Those are the only ones I've made (I think), and I can say that they were all amazing. You can't go wrong.

[Angela]

I voted Ben and Jerry's. My parents have this book and when I still lived at home it was great to be able to make Ben and Jerry's. I love the directions for breaking up the Heath bars for Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream--stand on ladder and drop bar. :) I used a rolling pin.

[yorkshirepud]

Angela,

That's what I like about the Ben and Jerry's. All the fun ice-creams. When I was browsing through it yesterday I saw ice-creams using candies (like Rolo's - yum), and that book does sound like fun. I like the idea of the Ultimate book simply because it has way more recipes and seems to use strange and bizarre ingredients.

Oh, who am I kidding. It's more than likely I'll buy both anyway. :D

JHolcomb. Thanks. They all sound great. Does it have chocolate mint chip (this is important as its one of my favourites).

Okay, time to do some work.
YP

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by yorkshirepud

Does it have chocolate mint chip (this is important as its one of my favourites).


Only about 5 different versions, if I remember correctly :D.

[yorkshirepud]

Really? Cool! I just reserved a copy at the bookstore so I'll pick it up on my lunch! Thanks for the recommendation.

YP

[Jewel]

I love The Ultimate Ice Cream Book! :) There are lots of wonderful recipes and lots of variations on recipes. As for lightening, I always sub fat free Sweetened Condensed Milk for the heavy cream in the recipes, and then decrease the sugar by about 1/2 cup to compensate. YUM!

[yorkshirepud]

Originally posted by Jewel
I always sub fat free Sweetened Condensed Milk for the heavy cream in the recipes, and then decrease the sugar by about 1/2 cup to compensate. YUM! [/B]

Thank you for this tip! I was trying to figure out how to lighten them and was a little unsure how to decrease the sugar if i used sweetened condensed milk ... perhaps you can help me (I have noticed you're the ice-cream queen around here :) ), if I add cocoa powder should i also decrease the sugar?

yp

[yorkshirepud]

Thanks for the advice guys ... I bought the Ultimate book ... my god ... its fantastic ... so many options (with so many variations) ... I'm in heaven right now ... and you know what ... I figured out I can pretty much omit 'food' from my diet and just eat ice cream ... i.e.

breakfast - oatmeal ice cream
mid-morning snack - apple butter ice-cream wih a glass of irish coffee ice cream
lunch - red bean ice cream
mid-afternoon snack - a handful of cashew ice cream with a cup of earl grey ice cream
dinner - sweet potato ice cream, with sides of carrot granita and rice ice cream
dessert - well what's a day without dessert - my fav, mint choc ice cream

do you think this is possible? :D

yp

[yorkshirepud]

Jewel,

Do you dilute the condensed milk? Or just throw it right in?

YP

[Barrie]

YP, I see you already bought your book, but I have both of them, love them both, use them both and recommend them equally. I got both of them from half.com.

[KimKelly]

I voted Ultimate, but I own both and use both. Ultimate wins out as it has more recipes. I really enjoyed the history of Ben & Jerry's though, and love their Vanilla Malt Ice Cream. As for Ultimate... try the Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream... absolutely to die for! I believe that is the one that is posted on Amazon as a sample. Once I tasted that I bought the book.
I sincerely think you should order both!

Kim

[DanaSD]

Originally posted by yorkshirepud
Angela,

JHolcomb. Thanks. They all sound great. Does it have chocolate mint chip (this is important as its one of my favourites).

Okay, time to do some work.
YP

I have the Ben and Jerry's books and I love it. I've made the mint chocolate chip several times - its mint oreo but last time I substituted a bittersweet European chocolate bar and used it as a layer in an icecream cake - yum! yum! The recipes are very easy compared to the recipes in my other ice cream book which is from Williams and Sonoma.

[Jen]

Originally posted by yorkshirepud


... perhaps you can help me (I have noticed you're the ice-cream queen around here :) ), if I add cocoa powder should i also decrease the sugar?

yp

Hi YP,

I'm not Jewel (and I'm definitely not the ice cream queen), but regular cocoa powder is unsweetened, so I wouldn't think you'd need to decrease the sugar. If you're using cocoa mix (like the kind to make hot chocolate) it has sugar in it, so you would need to decrease the sugar in the recipe. If you're subbing cocoa for chocolate, of course you'd need to increase the liquid to compensate though.

Hope this helps,
Jen (who's wishing she could get an ice cream maker and join in the fun!)

[yorkshirepud]

Thanks everyone. I did buy the 'ultimate' book but I'm sure I'll add the Ben and Jerry one too no doubt.

Kim, yes, the chocolate truffle one does sound good. Well, they all do. I will for sure have a lot of fun with this book.

Jen, I did add sugar to the recipe I made this Friday where I used cocoa. I tried the mixture before adding the sugar and it screamed for it. I didn't realise cocoa was so bland without it.

Thanks again all.
YP

[newsomz]

YP-

I know you already bought the Ultimate Ice Cream book and all but, I thought I'd post my opinion for any others that might be considering the two books. Personally, I like the Ben and Jerry's book better. At the beginning it explains some of the "science" of ice cream making that I think is really helpful. While the ultimate book does include more recipes, it doesn't have any of this science part in it. I think the science part is helpful because it will help you to be creative and come up with your own ice cream combinations/mixtures. Overall, even though the Ben and Jerry's book has less recipes I thought that by giving you the tools to improvise it is more valuable overall.

Carrie

[yorkshirepud]

Thanks Carrie,

I agree that the 'how to' etc is something that lacks from the Ultimate book ... and essentially I bought it for the recipes ... but I agree that it would be more helpful to have the 'science' behind it to help me create my own recipes ... thanks ... I'm sure I'll add the book to my collection soon ...

YP