Mom's Boozy Ice Cream Episode 1

Welcome for the first installment of Mom's Boozy Ice Cream!  My Mom has always made exceptional homemade ice cream, but in the last several years she has made it an adult dessert. What better way to complete my Bridget Jones transformation than taking the inescapable, vast black hole of Netflix, booze and ice cream, but without having to worry about measuring and mixing??

All sarcastic joking aside the *small* amount of alcohol in the ice cream does actually serve a purpose. It helps keep the ice cream softer and more scoop-able while adding a *hint* of flavor. However, if you are into dessert cocktails you can absolutely make it into a boozy milkshake. 

Peppermint Schnapps plus Junior Mints

The Not-For-Junior Chocolate Mint Ice Cream came into existence due to my Christmasy Cravings. While I did *ignore* the majority of the holiday I did cave into the flavors of Christmas (peppermint and gingerbread).

Junior Mints taste so good frozen that it seemed like a logical choice.

Just so you can see the amount of liquor actually in the ice cream. Again, looking for a kick...add more post-freezer. 1/4 to a 1/2 a cup for the whole batch.

 Ingredients

1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1cup semi-sweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon peppermint extract
1 box Junior Mints (chopped up)
1/4 or 1/2 cup of peppermint schnapps (Add to your liking)

Melt semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl. Once melted, mix the sugar and eggs with the chocolate until fully blended and smooth.

Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan. Once boiling, slowly pour the milk into the sugar, eggs and cocoa mixture. Blend well. Once blended, pour it back into the pan and keep on low heat. With a wooden spoon, stir constantly until it thickens up a bit. You can use your wooden spoon to test how well the custard coats the back of the spoon. Do not boil the custard or else you will have more of a breakfast treat than an ice cream!

 Remove from heat, and carefully pour through a strainer into a clean bowl. Let cool. Slowly add your cream, chopped Junior Mints and peppermint extract.

Once fully mixed and cooled, pour into your ice cream maker for about 15 minutes. Add in your peppermint schnapps and continue to keep your ice cream in your machine for an additional 15 minutes. Using a spatula, scrap your ice cream out of the machine and into a freezer safe container and freeze overnight.

Mmmm..minty fresh!

Additions: Chopped Walnuts, Hot Fudge, Peanut Butter, or wafer cookies. My mom and I used a thermometer because she is OCD and likes to make sure everything is perfectly even and numerically accurate. This is why she excels in baking.

Boozy Banana Ice Cream came to be simply because we had an excess of bananas in the house and what better way to use them up? The only problem that I now foresee is the fact there there is a whole bottle of 99 Bananas to use up. Got rid of the fruit. Now have a bottle...about 92 Bananas left.

 This might come in handy if I can somehow mix up a Bluth's Frozen Banana beverage in honor of Season 4 of Arrested Development, which will be a bittersweet viewing. (See later postings for trial and errors on this mission)

Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large ripe bananas (The more brown spots the better. This will be easier to mash and also make the ice cream sweeter.)
1 cup cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract (can substitute run extract if you are feeling a bit tropical)
1/4 cup or 1/2 cup 99 Bananas (You can substitute dark rum or one of those sweet chocolate, whipped cream nonsense vodkas.)

 In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar into the eggs until blended and it has a yellowish hue. Whisk the flour and salt into the mixture. Keep to the side.

Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat on the stove top until boiling. Remove from heat and slowly pour into the eggs and sugar mixture. Once combined, pour back into the saucepan and put on low heat. With a wooden spoon, stir constantly until it thickens up a bit. You can use your wooden spoon to test how well the custard coats the back of the spoon. Do not boil the custard or else you will have more of a breakfast treat than an ice cream! (Did you just get deja vu?)

Remove from heat, and carefully pour through a strainer into a clean bowl.

Peel your brown-spotted bananas and put into a bowl. Mash them up using whatever utensil you prefer. I found that the back of a fork worked just fine. Add the mashed up bananas to the custard mix, which should still be hot. Let cool. Stir in your cream and extract.

Once fully mixed and cooled, pour into your ice cream maker for about 15 minutes. Add in the liquor of your choice and continue to keep your ice cream in your machine for an additional 15 minutes. Using a spatula, scrap your ice cream out of the machine and into a freezer safe container and freeze overnight.

I feel like you can make this ice cream and take off with it. Some add-ins you might want to also consider are dried coconut flakes, bake pie dough, chocolate chips, cherries etc. I found this recipe very sweet and I like to tone it down with a sweet/salty combo so I added some natural peanut butter. Perfection!