Salted Almond Butter Ice Cream

The other day, I came across this blog post. It struck a cord with me because from time to time, hubby and I discuss how our marriage changed since the arrival of Asher.  I'm a very lucky woman because I have the world's best hubby in so many ways. He is a hands on daddy, in love with me and is absolutely supportive in my fitness, health, work, family and food goals.

That does not mean though that we do not struggle from time to time. Like most families, we can fall into a rut if we are not careful. Because of his early morning starts, more often than none, he gets easily tired. For me, I'm a perfectionist in some ways and like to make things "right". With our focus on Asher, it's easy to start the morning with a text message and we may not even have a decent chat till 2 days later!

With tiredness and busyness means we say things we do not mean (or think), we forget appointments and neglected to check in with one another. It comes in with impatience and annoyance. I felt unappreciated, and he felt unheard. It could easily spiral into a downward mess.

I'm writing this to remind myself that I'm very very lucky even though sometimes I don't feel that way. Because counting my blessings makes me realise that the world is not bleak. My husband isn't the world's most unthoughtful person or mean. He is a human and humans can tire and make mistakes. So this is my list to remind myself.

1) He wakes up early every morning so that he can be with us earlier in the day
2) He brushes his teeth in the guest's bathroom so he doesn't wake us up.
3) He never complains with whatever I cook.
4) He plays with Asher every single day. He change his nappies when needed and feed him most dinners.
5) He budgets and make sure our household gets taken care of
6) He says "I love you" daily to me
7) I have been obese, skinny and pregnant and he stood by me
8) He stayed close to me when Granny was seriously ill and passed on.
9) He welcomed my family into our lives and even like them staying with us.
10) He adored my granny and attempted/learned cantonese with her.
11) Also attempted to speak mandarin to my dad
12) Taste and eat every single dish I made and bake AND gave me honest thoughts.
13) Never once did he complained about my gym schedule. He change his work schedule so I can head to the gym to have me time 4 times a week.
14) Totally embraced eating clean.
15) Does the laundry
16) Remembers rubbish and bin collection days
17) Trusts me completely with shopping and budgeting
18) Always on the lookout for cheap flights
19) Appears to know every city and transport system around the world.
20) Cooks me breakfasts occasionally
21) If I forget an ingredient in the midst of baking, he would go out and buy it straight away.
22) Often think about our future
23) Share our love for travelling
24) Endure my occasional need to "get it right!" (and then having to taste countless tarts, ice cream or roasts)
25) He is in love with Asher.
26) Some evenings, make me a cup of chai tea with warmed up almond milk.
27) Want to spend time with us. He doesn't stay long for work functions or meet up with friends for a beer at night.
28) Always keep me updated on his work, what's been bothering him or finances
29) Calms me down when I feel upset or panic.
30) Pray with me and for us.

I'm sure there are more and i'm sure I can add to it as time goes on.

So for my hubby, this salted almond butter ice cream is for you. (Just because I know how much you love ice cream!)

Salted Almond Butter Ice-Cream (serves 2)
2 frozen bananas
2 tablespoons of almond butter
pinch of salt

place everything in a food processor and blitz till it becomes ice cream! Drizzle with your favourite topping.

Frozen Bananas Berries Ice Cream

Oh my goodness! Have I just discovered like the best healthy ice cream ever? Have I been living under a stone? Who would have thought that frozen berries and bananas blitzing it together will create like amazing ice cream?

Totally. In. Awe.

It must be some sort of food science. Too bad science (except for biology) was never my strong subject. Looking at a few health food blogs and instagram, people were commenting how lovely it is to blitz up frozen banana. I always have some frozen bananas in my freezer- it's my quick snack. A little with almond butter goes a long way. Sometimes, I throw them into smoothies. And now, it can be ice-cream! I also love the colour of the ice cream from the berries.

Surely I can have this up my sleeve in the future for an "ice cream" when Asher discovers the world of sweets?

PS- Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary! I will write more in my next post. But today is officially 5 years since we signed the papers.

PPS- Happy 9 months Asher.  Nine months of you in our life. We love being your parents.

Frozen Banana Berries "Ice Cream" (serves 2-3)
2 frozen bananas
1frozen cup of mixed berries

Blitz everything up. It will look like granita at first, keep going and it will turn into a creamy texture. DIG IN!

Froyo- Frozen Greek Yogurt with Almond Butter

While I'm blogging less, it doesn't mean I am cooking or creating less. For the past week or so, I wondered... what am I trying to do on my blog? Is it about food? Asher? Me living a healthier lifestyle?  It's really all of the above. I think it is important to eat well and more importantly enjoy good food. Good food does not have to be boring or bland. However, I think a balance of having treats here and there is also realistic not to mention important. Variety and moderation is the key here. Then, I have Asher whom I dearly love and enjoy seeing him grow.

So I think from now on, it's going to be a mixture. This is going to be what my life is about now. I started writing when I was a 4th year undergraduate completing my honours. Then most of you followed my journey in completing my doctorate, being engaged, married and now a family of my own. It makes sense then, that I continue to write about my evolving life and how I continue to grow as a person. ;) Thank you for being so patient with me as I juggle between writing posts, being healthy and loving my family.

As the warmer weather sets in, I'm starting to make use of my ice-cream machine again. This time round, I'm making froyo- which is basically frozen yogurt. Nothing beats having a nice cool ice-cream on a hot day but as I am determine to reach my fitness goals, I wanted to create something healthier and lighter at home.

We can probably just mix the yogurt up with any toppings and freeze it. Using the ice-cream machine though, it just provides a soft serve or a more "ice cream" texture. Not to mention, it is quite alot of fun watching the machine churn and come up with a yummy treat. I made two versions of it, with this being the first one. A simple greek yogurt with almond butter treat. My favourite way to eat it is to top it with blueberries and a sprinkle of lindt dark chocolate. Or in a mug of ice cold coffee.

Froyo- Frozen Greek Yogurt with Almond Butter (Serves 4)
250 ml of greek yogurt
1 tsp of honey
1/4 cup of almond butter

Mix everything up in a bowl. Pour into ice cream machine and churn for 20 minutes. Remove and freeze for 30 minutes. Open up the box and eat without guilt.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

The classics of all classics. One of my favourite ice cream flavour since I was a kid. Who can resist a good cookies and cream ice cream? I mentioned before that I like my ice cream with a crunch. Oreos cookies and ice cream just seem like a perfect marriage.

Having an ice cream maker almost makes me feel like a kid again. Seeing the ice cream whiz into a lovely creamy blob. Crunching the oreos and mixing it into it. Anxiously waiting to see if it sets in the freezer... ah....

I took the plunge and made this without looking at any recipes. Surprise surprise, it turned out the way I love it.

Rubbing my hands in glee and wondering what other types of ice-cream can I make!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
1 cup of cream
1 cup of full cream milk
1/4 cup of organic coconut sugar (or sugar)
2 egg yolks
1 packet of oreos cookies crushed

Freeze ice cream bowl overnight.

In a saucepan, simmer cream, milk and sugar. When you can see some of the bubbles on the surface, pour egg yolk in slowly. Continue to whisk while you do this. Simmer till it coats the back of your spoon and you can draw a line across without the line closing in.

Cool and fridge it for 1 hr or so or cool it rapidly through freezer for 30 minutes.

Pour into ice cream maker and churn for 20 minutes. Add crush oreos in the last 5 minutes and let it churn. Freeze ice cream overnight.

Coffee Hazelnut Ice-cream

Did you hear? It's spring!! The sun is out, the birds are chirping and the wildflowers are blooming.  To celebrate, I made ice-cream. Ok, I lied. I will probably make ice-cream anyway regardless of rain, shine, snow, hail..etc as long as I have electricity, milk, cream and eggs.

I do have a soft spot for coffee ice-cream. Especially one with a crunch. I adapted this from my past experience of making ice-cream and by including some of my favourite ingredients- such as espresso beans covered with dark chocolate. Kinda like Coffee Bean Black Forest ice blended with a crunch. While I did not add glace cherries in this, I preferred hazelnuts for the added crunch and texture.

The result was a creamy chocolatey ice-cream with a nice bite to it.

Oh, I love my ice-cream machine.

Coffee Hazelnut Ice-cream
1.5 cup of milk
1.5 cup of cream
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
4 tsp of espresso coffee powder (I used instant)
200 grams of espresso bean coated with dark chocolate chopped and smashed
60 grams of hazelnuts chopped

Freeze ice cream bowl as directed.

In a saucepan, heat up milk, cream and sugar. Stir till it coats the back of your spoon. Slowly add whisk egg yolk. Keep cooking till it coats the back of the spoon, with a line drawn through it, the line should still stay. Dissolve coffee into the milk mixture. Fridge it till cold.

Churn in ice-cream machine till nearly done. Add the crushed espresso beans and hazelnuts. Churn till it fold through and freeze till ice-cream is smooth and creamy.

Green Tea (Matcha) Ice Cream

Finding a good scoop of green tea ice cream in Perth is pretty difficult. I think I did have one before from a Japanese shop but it tasted sweeter than what I would like. Having spotted this version from Nami, I could not resist trying it.

The result is delicious! There is a good amount of green tea powder and more importantly, the right creaminess to it. It's so good that I couldn't stop licking my spoon as I scoop it into the container. The best thing is that it is really easy to make- and with no eggs too!!


As I write this, I noticed that Sonia from Nasi Lemak made hers too and it looks just as fantastic!

Green Tea (Matcha) Ice Cream Adapted from Nami's Just one Cookbook
1 cup of cream
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoon of green tea powder
pinch of salt

Freeze ice cream bowl.

In a saucepan, bring milk, cream, sugar, salt and green tea powder to a simmer. Keep whisking till it starts to have bubbles. Remove from heat. Cool completely. Fridge it till cold.

Churn in ice cream maker for 25-30 mins till creamy. Spoon in container and freeze till firm!

Rosewater and Pistachio Ice Cream

 There is something about ice-cream that makes people happy. Maybe it's the sweetness. Or perhaps it is the cold creamy texture that dances on your tongue while we lick it. Either way, most of the time, kids and adults love indulging in this cold dessert.

This is the first time I used whipped cream to make ice cream at home. It is a tad too milky and creamy for my liking but I love the rosewater. If you were to ask me what is my favourite smell in sweets, I usually go for something with a rose smell for it.  Some days, you can find me enjoying a pot of rose tea in the morning.

Surprisingly, rose is not my favourite flower!

It sounds and looks Persian. That's because I took inspiration from Javane's Kitchen. What a lovely blog I have found. The wonders of pin interest.

I halved the amount and reduced the sugar. I did however, double the amount of rose water. I was surprised that it wasn't overpowering at all!

Rosewater and Pistachio Ice Cream 
200 ml of milk
200 ml of whipping cream
40 grams of castor sugar
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup of rose water
1/4 cup of pistachio nuts

Day before- freeze ice cream bowl (it's permanent in my freezer now!)

In a jug, mix egg yolks, sugar and rosewater together.

Heat milk in small pot till it nearly boils. Slowly pour egg yolk mixture into the pot. Whisk it slowly till it combines. It is done when it coats the back of the spoon, or if you draw a line on the back of the spoon, the line stays. Do not boil it. Stare at the custard if u need to. Remove and cool.

Mean while, whip the cream.

Fold cream into the cool mixture. Churn in ice cream maker for 30 minutes. Add nuts in the last few minutes. Spoon in container and freeze it. Serve with more nuts if you like.

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream

If you have a favourite ice cream flavour, what would it be? For me, rum and raisin wins hands down. There is the simplicity of just rum and raisins in a vanilla base ice cream that just catches me. Or maybe it's the alcohol that permeates through the ice cream!

For years I embraced the low fat ingredients. Since my treats are usually limited to one day a week, I decided that it has to be worthwhile. I bravely walked up to the milk section and grabbed a bottle of..... breath in... whole milk! Woah, it may be real proper cream next.

Eating clean makes me appreciates these ingredients more I think. Moderation is key and because of the richness of the ice cream, I'm finding it that I savoured every bite of it when I do eat it.

When my MIL came to visit, she requested for rum and raisin ice cream because it seems that Malaysia is no longer allow to sell this due to the alcohol content. So I experimented and found this awesome blogger and her rum and raisin recipe adapted of course from David Lebovitz.

I suspect I went a tad over excited with the rum in this though. It was powerful to say the least. I soaked the raisins overnight with the rum-and I do think that it is probably a good idea for me to reduce the amount of rum, just because too much of it gives a slight bitter taste. Yes, I know... too much alcohol can be a bad thing :p

I didn't make the caramel sauce as I think this ice cream is rich enough for me. I increased the amount of raisins which we all enjoyed as every bite has raisins in it. The funny thing is that I am not usually a big fan of raisins when eating with nut mix but when it is mix with rum ice cream, oh joy!

What is your favourite ice cream flavour? Tell me and I might just make it!

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream 
1.5 cups raisins 
3/4 cup rum 
3 cups whole milk 
2/3 cup sugar 
Pinch of salt 
4 large egg yolks 

In a small saucepan, place raisins and dark rum. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for a couple more minutes before removing from heat and covering with a lid. Allow to soak for at least 2-3 hours or like me, overnight for a deeper flavour! 

Meanwhile, whisk together milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat until steaming. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly pour in warmed milk while whisking rapidly to prevent the yolks from curdling. Return mixture back to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the milk forms a custard thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain mixture and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Before placing in an ice cream maker, strain the raisins, pouring any extra rum into the ice cream base. Freeze mixture in ice cream maker, following the manufacturer's instructions. In the final minutes of churning, add the raisins so they spread evenly throughout the ice cream. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze for 2-3 hours before serving.

Nutella Ice Cream

There is something magical about having ice cream on a cold day. It sends shivers down your spine when the cold hits you. That shiver rocks. Cold upon cold. Not that you can't enjoy ice cream on a hot day too- that is a difference form of enjoyment. It's a sense of relief from the hot weather.

 I cannot remember now where I stumble across this recipe. It is sooo good! Nutella ice cream is like having a legitimate reason to have spoonfuls of nutella. What's better with this recipe is that it uses coffee to bring out that hazelnut taste. A good thing about home made ice-cream, on top of the whole no preservatives, and the you know exactly what goes in there argument, is that it is made in small batches. We totally savoured this creamy rich ice cream. Every bite was a winner.

I'm slowly getting the hang of making ice creams as well, and am very happy to say this is a successful recipe. The tricks I have gather include being patient when making the custard base and also using full fat real ingredients. It is also the first time I used a recipe that does not have any eggs in it and uses corn starch to thicken up the custard. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was, and there wasn't a starchy taste to it at all. The ice cream in the photo looks soft. That's because I was greedy and decided to scoop it up when it was only in the freezer for an hour! It was far creamier when in the freezer over night.

 Now, this makes me wonder about a peanut butter base ice cream!

Nutella Ice-cream 
3 cups full cream milk
 2 tablespoon of sugar
 2 tablespoon of cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon strong coffee powder
1 cup Nutella

 Place ice cream maker canister in freezer for at least 24 hrs.

 Bring 2.5 cups of milk to boil. Meanwhile, place 1/2 cup of remaining milk, sugar, corn starch, coffee and salt in another bowl. Whisk well.

 When milk boils, slowly whisk nutella in. Then, whisk in the above milk mixture. Bring it to low boil for 2-3 minutes till it thickens. When you dip a metal spoon it, it should coat the spoon. Draw a line down, the line should stay. Remove from heat. Place into another bowl and chill for 4 hours if not over night. Then churn in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes or so. Freeze. It will appear soft when you remove from the canister but harden when frozen.




 

Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream

 Earlier this year, I said that I'm going to have a hand in making more ice creams this year. It took me a while, but finally I got to it. Part of it of course, is that we have a tiny freezer and I have to freeze the ice cream bowl. Well, things will change in the next few months when we finally invest in a bigger freezer and fridge!

Coming back to the ice-cream, I have to say it is the creamiest ice cream I have made. I suspect, it's the coconut milk that we used that added to that creaminess.

Churning the mixture, and waiting for 25 minutes to firm up was exciting. When it was finally done, I stopped the machine and saw that it has turned into creamy custard. Oh yum! I froze it overnight, and we had ours with waffles together with a few friends.

I adapted this recipe from David Lebovitz's ice cream recipe which is probably one reason why it is so good! What's next I wonder!!?!? Ice cream here I come!

Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream 
250 ml coconut milk
2/3 cup of philediaphia cream for desserts
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
1 vanilla bean scrapped

Simmer coconut milk, cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan slowly on low heat. Then slowly add in whisk egg yolks in the mixture. Cool. Chill for 30mins to 1 hr. Then place in ice cream machine and churn for 25-30 mins.

Banana Brown Sugar Ice-Cream

If you love making ice-cream, you know David Lebovitz. I have been eyeing his Banana- Brown Sugar Ice-cream for a while now and finally has a chance to try it.

The sweet smell of banana and brown sugar fills the air when I was caramelizing it. Blending it was dead easy, but waiting for the mixture to cool down before it starts to churn in the ice-cream maker was hard.

Was the result worth it? Hubby loved it and said it was smooth and had a lovely banana sweetness to it. I find it a tad to sweet and wonder if reducing the brown sugar would help.

Unfortunately it would be sometime till I will try this again. Due to the recent disasters in Queensland, bananas prices are increasing like crazy (AU$10/kg?!). I was lucky, as these bananas cost around $3/kg- bought just after the disaster.

Nevertheless, this is my 3rd ice-cream attempt! It's really a good way to stop me from buying ice-cream from shops. Plus home made ice-cream means there is usually less of it in the fridge-keeping me from having it as dessert too often in a week! ;)

Banana Brown Sugar Ice-cream (from David Lebowitz)
6-7 ripe bananas sliced
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups of coconut milk
1 tsp of rum
1 tsp of vanilla extract
squeeze of lemon
pinch of salt

In a pan, heat brown sugar with 1/3 of the coconut milk. Simmer. Add bananas and a pinch of salt. Cook for around 5 minutes till it is soft and cook through. Remove heat and add in remaining coconut milk. Add essence and rum. Squeeze lemon juice. Taste and adjust. Blend in blender. Cool in fridge for around 30 minutes.

Put it through the ice-cream machine. Freeze it for another 2 hours. Serve.

Bellicious Kitchen has invited me to her challenge of One year, One new recipe a month. Remember that I said I wanted to make ice-cream and curries from scratch this year? I'm one recipe closer!

Red Bean Ice-Cream

You guessed it right! After my 2nd attempt in making Mango Ice-cream, I decided to venture out of my comfort zone even more to create other flavours. At around the same time, Grandma complains that she misses her red bean ice-cream. Well, I thought her grand daughter can create something at home which is better than store bought one (hrmph!)


I have no recipes, just experience from the previous two attempts. I decided to use a coconut cream base instead given that red bean goes well with it. I used soy milk again and it still gave a lovely result. The coconut cream certainly adds a lovely sweetness and creaminess to this.

I cooked the red bean paste down using azuki beans. That took the longest, probably around 1 hr or so. I did it slowly because of my lack of experience, but also because I wanted it in a paste form and not like the watery dessert. I added one cup of water each time and cooked it down using a simmer. A pressure cooker would have been handy I think. I cooled the paste down and made the ice cream the next day.

Red Bean Ice-cream

1.5 cup of red bean soaked in water for at least 4-5 hrs
around 6 cups of water-each cup added in after the previous one was absorbed.
around 1/2 cup of brown sugar


Cook red beans till it becomes a paste. Use a fork to mash the beans if needed. Cool!


1 cup of soy milk
2 cups of coconut cream
1/4 cup of sugar
red bean paste

Whisk soy milk, cream and sugar till well combined and frothy. Then whisk in red bean paste till well combined. Pour into ice cream maker as per instructions. Freeze ice-cream for at least 2 hours before consuming.

Home Made Mango Ice Cream

ooo... Hubby bought me a Cusinart Ice Cream maker for Christmas! Yeah! What a cool appliance to have. Soon after opening up the package, I realised that the main thing that an ice cream maker does is to churn cream into a thicker substance.

Indeed it is a good present as due to my lactose sensitivity, it is getting harder to eat store bought ice cream unless it is soy or gelato/sorbet. I can consume small quantities but not a whole bowl. Timely plus a new toy for me to play with.

The first time I made mango ice-cream, I used yogurt and the result was an ice cream that has a watery texture. I think perhaps I should try greek yogurt for my next attempt in yogurt ice-cream. This one though, I used Philadelphia cooking cream which has 60% less fat than normal cream. The result was a much creamier ice-cream.

Gotto scoop and eat it up quick though- it melts quickly!

Mango Ice-cream (Serves 3-4)
1 cup of soy milk
2 cups of philadelphia cooking cream
1/2 cup of sugar
1 mango cut up in tiny cubes

Whisk milk, cream and sugar till well combined. Pour into freezer bowl of ice-cream maker and start churning. Add mango cubes in the last 5 minutes of the 30 minutes cycle. Spoon into container and freeze for additional 2 hours+. Serve and enjoy healthy, natural ice cream.

Submitting this to Sugar High Friday. This week it is hosted by Zoe with the theme Grain Free!!