Tuesday, May 4, 2010

TWD: (Not Quite) Burnt Sugar Ice Cream


Tuesdays With Dorie begins the month of May with Burnt Sugar Ice Cream. Ice cream – yay! Last Wednesday, which is about four days before I typically start my Tuesdays With Dorie recipes, I decided to get to work and announced to Josh that “I can burn sugar with the best of them!” He quickly agreed that he’d seen it many times. So what did I do? I added the milk and cream to the sugar before it had browned enough and ended up with sugar ice cream - totally not burnt. It wasn’t a total loss, though: I added some vanilla and chocolate chunks to the mixture, and it became chocolate chip ice cream. Josh actually said it was one of the best ice creams I’ve ever made. Luckily I was ahead of schedule and had time to give the ice cream another try on Sunday morning. This time I was slightly less anxious about rendering the sugar to an unpalatably burnt stage, but I think I was still a little gun shy. The ice cream did have a pleasant caramelly flavor, though, so there were no complaints here.



Josh rated the ice cream a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave the recipe a 4.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. (Josh also thought I should point out that photo with the enormous portion of ice cream was after our long run on Sunday.) Many thanks to Becky of Project Domestication (awesome name!) for selecting ice cream! You can find the recipe on Becky’s site and visit the TWD site to see what the rest of the group thought.



Dorie suggested several different types of cookies to pair the ice cream with. I had made all of them at some point, and though I had enjoyed them, I decided to make a different sugar cookie recipe. I think some of my other cookbooks tend to feel neglected. I made Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies, which are an excellent classic chewy sugar cookie. They also received a 9 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.6. Here’s the recipe.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Printable recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

¼ cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.


Put sugars and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed 30 seconds. Add butter; mix until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in eggs one at a time, and then the lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.


Using a 2-inch ice cream scoop (I used a smaller one), drop dough onto lined baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Lightly brush with a wet pastry brush; sprinkle with more sanding sugar. (Note: I did not bother with the double layer of sugar; I just rolled each flattened cookie in sanding sugar.)


Bake cookies until golden, about 15 minutes (mine only took 10-11 minutes, since they were smaller), rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 3 days. I made half a recipe, and it yielded over two dozen small cookies.

23 comments:

mr. pineapple man said...

that really looks delicious~ loving the texture!

Kayte said...

I knew there would be some "chocolate-ing up" of this recipe this week...might have to treat the guys to your version sometime soon. Your ice cream looks absolutely delicious. LOL on J supporting the burnt sugar.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Great pics - I just love your bowls! :)

Tia said...

it looks lovely and creamy. great for anytime eating :)

Cristine said...

Looks great!

spike. said...

always burning sugar except when you want to, huh? Oh well, at least it still tasted delicious!

Mary said...

Both your ice creams look great, and now you might have a new favourite recipe! And thanks for the chewy sugar cookie recipe-I'm always on the lookout for one of those.

Unknown said...

The caramel gave me some trouble this week and I probably didn't take it far enough either, but since we don't love caramel anyway, I didn't mind less caramel flavor :) Those cookies look fabulous! I had the same idea but used some of the chocolate cookies you sent!

Anonymous said...

How fun is that - you got two different flavors from the one recipe! They both look delicious! And Josh is too funny! I can't even tell which picture is the one with the big serving! They all look like a single serving to me! HAH! (Maybe I should be the one out running...)

Pamela said...

The sugar cookies do look great, and so does the ice cream.

Jacque said...

LOL, making caramel or burnt sugar is a shaky proposition, that's for sure... and stressful if you ask me. Getting it just the right shade of "amber" isn't easy.

Anyway, yours looks and sounds wonderful, and those cookies... ooh laa la! delish!

Hanaâ said...

Your choc chip ice cream looks awesome! Glad you gave Dorie's recipe another try. I agree, burning sugar without really burning it, is very tricky!

Anonymous said...

Mmm cookies with ice cream is such a great combo. Your ice cream looks great!

TeaLady said...

Its the flavor Not the color that's important. As long as y'all liked it, it's all good. Looks yummy!!!

Tia said...

you use your ice cream maker almost every week? That is impressive! Do you have "the perfect scoop" book?

Anonymous said...

Both ice creams look good, and so do the cookies!

Leslie said...

Chocolate chunks would be a great addition to this ice cream. I think I over did it on my caramel so the ice cream ended up very bitter. I wish I'd seen these sugar cookies sooner because they would make the perfect foil for the ice cream.

Cakelaw said...

Love the icecream and cookies - both look wonderful!

margot said...

@Tia: My boyfriend LOVES ice cream more than pretty much any other treat and eats it every day, so it got me in the habit of making it all the time. I love "The Perfect Scoop." It definitely inspired me to start making more ice cream.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

I love a good sugar cookie and I'm glad to know of one that earned a 9!! Caramel ice cream is so good, no matter what level of burnt or near-burnt you get the sugar. Thomas Keller's is my favorite - I've posted it (link in my TWD post) - it's life changing.

Mimi said...

Both ice creams look tasty. I think chocolate would have been good in them both.
Mimi

Anonymous said...

yummm!

I was actually impressed that my sugar burned properly. I cannot burn sugar with the best of them ;)

Becky @ Project Domestication said...

yours looks delicious. i really want to try that sugar cookie recipe. i feel like i neglect my other cookbooks too.

thanks for making this ice cream along with me for TWD. i really loved the recipe.