Raspberry-Blackberry Chip Ice cream

Summer means lots of Berries and lots of Ice cream! I love the 'Black Raspberry Chip' ice cream from Graeter's and also by the 'Homemade' brand which comes very close to Graeter's in flavor.

I didn't have any Black raspberries, so tried to make my favorite flavor of ice cream with combo of  Red Raspberries and Blackberries and Dark chocolate with almonds. The combination worked well and the ice cream turned out super awesome and Yumm!

This ice cream recipe is super easy to make and the ice cream comes out perfect textured! You can use Heavy whipping cream+ Condensed milk and add pretty much any flavor you want to make your very own delicious homemade ice cream!

Ingredients: (Makes about 2 cups or 4 small scoops)
1/2 cup (heaped) Red raspberries+ Black berries
1/2 Cup Heavy whipping cream (unsweetened), chilled
1/4 cup Sweet condensed milk
2 tbsp milk (cold)
2 tbsp chopped dark chocolate with almonds (I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate with almonds bar)
3 tsp sugar
Edible sugar pearls (optional) for decorating the glass

Method:

1) Add the berries to a pan. Add 3 tsp sugar and cook for 3-4 mins till berries start to cook. Crush the berries with spoon. ( I didn't mind the tiny berry seeds and pulp in the ice cream. You can strain the puree if you don't like pulp/seeds) The berry sauce will reduce to about 1/4 cup. Let the berry puree cool down completely and then refrigerate for 15 mins.

2) Mix the cooled berry puree, condensed milk and normal milk in a bowl.

3) Beat the chilled heavy whipping cream with electric mixer till stiff peaks form. 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream will yield 1 cup whipped cream after whipping is complete.

 Reserve 1 tsp whipped cream for decorating the glass later. Save it in the refrigerator.

4) Gently fold in the whipped cream and chopped dark chocolate into the condensed milk-berry mixture.

5) The mixture will be thicker than smoothie consistency. Pour into freezer safe container. Add extra chopped dark chocolate on top.

6) Freeze for atleast 7 hrs for perfect consistency of the ice cream

7) Serve chilled in ice cream glass with extra berries and sprinkle some chopped dark chocolate 

Optional: Apply the reserved whipped cream as a glue to the rim of the glass. Stick the edible sugar pearls to the rim with whipped cream to decorate the ice cream glass.

Enjoy the delicious treat of homemade ice cream !

New Years Special Dessert- Icecream Cake!

This is one of the easiest and prettiest dessert that you will ever make! My initial plan for New Years dessert was to bring some dessert shells and do some kind of berry sauce to go top of them along with ice-cream or homemade whipped cream. But as usual, no dessert shells to be found in the grocery store! But I did find 'lady fingers' (soft spongy mini cakes that are used in desserts like Tiramisu) and so came the idea of assembling a easy breezy beautiful Ice cream cake with Vanilla and Chocolate ice-cream layers and top with fresh berries. I wish I had used strawberry ice-cream instead of vanilla to give more color contrast to the cake.

What you need:
Lady Fingers- 2 packets
Vanilla ice cream (or Strawberry ice-cream will make it more colorful and prettier)
Chocolate ice cream
Fresh berries ( I used raspberries and black berries)
Loaf pan
Plastic wrap


How to assemble the cake:

1) Soften the ice-creams in the refrigerator for 1/2 to 1 hour.

2) Line the loaf pan with plastic wrap. Then line up the lady fingers on the side and bottom of the
pan.

3) Spoon the soften vanilla/strawberry ice-cream to cover the bottom and smoothen it out.Layer with few lady fingers. Then spoon in softened chocolate ice cream.

4)

Smoothen the top of the ice-cream. With a fork make lines on the ice cream top to make criss-cross patterns. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze the pan in the freezer for 3-4 hours.

5) When ready to serve, garnish with fresh berries of your choice.

6) Slice horizontally to cut and serve with extra berries! Enjoy the ice cream cake with your loved ones :)

Wish You All a Very Happy, Healthy and Delicious New Year!

Easy Homemade Blueberry Icecream

Summer means berries!! And lots of lots of them!! Super markets are full of them and plus you go on 'U pick' trips and bring home more than you can eat!!
Apart from freezing them to save them..here is a quick and easy homemade blueberry ice cream recipe.
The ice cream gets a perfect 'blueberry blue' color and is smooth and rich from the whipped cream and condensed milk.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
1.5 Cups fresh blueberries
1 tub Cool Whip
14 oz Sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tsp sugar
1 pinch salt

Method:
1) In a pan add 1.5 cups fresh blueberries, 2 tsp sugar and 1 pinch salt. Boil for 5-7 mins till the berries start to break down. Let it cool.Crush roughly with spoon. 
2) Mix it with 1 tub Cool whip,whole milk and 14oz can of sweet condensed milk. Mix well. Pour in molds or freezer safe container and freeze! Done! 
3)Freeze atleast for 6-8 hours

Gajar halwa/ Carrot Halwa with Vanilla ice cream

"Beta aaj maine tumhare liye Gajar ka Halwa banaya hai"....a typical old Bollywood movie dialogue. A dessert so typically 'Bollywood' that I actually think...Bollywood moms only knew how to make one dessert....Gajar ka Halwa!!

So...my 'beta' (son) for the past few days has been demanding this dessert....especially with Vanilla ice cream. The combination of warm 'carrotty' halwa melting the cold vanilla ice cream..could be anybodies dream! Can't wait to see his smile when he gets home from school and has his favorite bite:))

Ingredients:
4 Big carrots shredded
1/2 to 3/4 cup Sugar (adjust according to sweetness of the carrots)
1/2 cup Milk powder
1tbsp Ghee/clarified butter
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tbsp golden raisins
1 tbsp cashews
2-3 Pistachios sliced for garnish
Silver leaf/ varkha for garnish

Vanilla ice cream

Method:
1) In a pan, heat the ghee. Add the cashews and fry till slightly golden.
2)  Add the shredded carrots and saute for 1 min.
3) Add the sugar,cardamom,nutmeg,raisins and mix. Add the milk powder, mix, and cook till the carrots are cooked.Cover with lid for 2 mins. The milk powder will cook with the liquid from the carrots and turn into something like 'khawa/khoya/ mawa'.
4) Before serving garnish with chopped pistachios.
Serve the warm halwa with cold vanilla ice cream.Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Homemade Strawberry icecream

It's strawberry season here....and the markets all full of these lovely red berries!! What's the next better thing than eating them fresh.....turn them into a creamy luscious pretty pink Strawberry ice cream!! Agree??
I love this Quick and easy recipe of using whipped cream and condensed milk to make ice cream.The ice cream comes out creamy, perfect texture every single time.
It took 4 mins to 'make' the ice cream mixture and then 5 hrs to set it in the freezer! There was no mixing every 1/2 hour, no tedious work involved, no ice crystals.....and the results were still luscious and heavenly!!
Using the same recipe...this is my favorite Mango ice cream..and I promise it will be yours too:)
Quick and Easy Mango Saffron ice cream

http://www.my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/2011/08/sweet-treats-quick-easy-delicious.html

Ingredients:

This is all you need!
1) 12-14 fresh strawberries
2) Half of the 8 oz tub of Kraft Cool Whip
3) Half of the 14 oz can of Sweetened condensed milk
4) 2 tbsp milk
5) 2tbsp Strawberry syrup

Method:

1)  Thaw the cool whip in refrigerator for 1/2 hr till softens.

2)Wash and Cut off the strawberry leaves and stems.Put them in the blender along with 2tbsp milk.Puree them.

2) Mix the 1/2 container of cool whip, 1/2 container of sweetened condensed milk, strawberry puree and syrup.Mix gently till lumps are gone.

3)  Pour into a freezer safe container/ individual serving glasses( I like the 'bath' cups...they are perfect for single serving of ice cream)

4) Freeze for 5-6 hrs.Done!!!

"Sweet Treats"- Quick-Easy-Delicious homemade Saffron-Mango Icecream

Recipe Idea: Ananya Joshi
This was so far the BEST homemade ice cream I have ever had. Really....it was soooo creamy, smooth
,"non greasy',delicious and Best of all .....quick quick quick!!!! It took 2 mins to' make' the ice cream mixture and then 3-4 hrs to set it in the freezer! There was no mixing every 1/2 hour, no tedious work involved, no ice crystals.....and the results were still luscious and heavenly!!

Last time when I was at Ananya's house, her husband had made 'Anjeer icecream' at home with same recipe.It was so delicious and creamy, that I couldn't wait to try out myself....
It tasted just as good as 'Kaware Mango Icecream' back home in Pune. I wish I could send this homemade ice cream to my mom in Pune who just lovessssss Mango ice cream!

Ingredients:

This is all you need!
1) 1- 32oz can of  Mango pulp (found in Indian stores)
2) 1- 8 oz tub of Kraft Cool Whip
3) 1- 14 oz can of Sweetened condensed milk
4) 1 tbsp milk
5) Few strands of Saffron (Optional) 

Method:
1) Warm the 1 tbsp milk.Add the saffron strands to the milk to make 'Saffron milk'.Keep few strands for garnishing.
2) Mix to together Mango pulp, Cool Whip, saffron milk and condensed milk, till all the cool whips lumps are gone.
3) Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze!

Enjoy the cold-creamy-sweet Mango ice cream with hint of saffron!