Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts Review

Posted by Juanita Avenue on Monday, November 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

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(More customer reviews)From the Orange County Register
August 9, 2007
by Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family

When is a baked potato not a baked potato? When it's made out of ice cream, that's when!

Peggy Fallon, a self-proclaimed "sucker for trompe-l'oeil" (French for "trick the eye"), delivers so many whimsical, crowd-stunning ideas in "Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts" you'll want to clear out your freezer to make room. A Watermelon Bombe with chocolate chips masquerading as pits. And how about Ice Cream Spaghetti...with meatballs and garlic bread!

"I have a perverse sense of humor, I guess," admitted Fallon. "It's based on an Italian dessert. They do all sorts of playful things with it. I got carried away. Once I get on a roll it's hard to stop!"

Use a potato ricer or spaetzle maker to squeeze out the strands. The meatballs are small chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa powder or finely chopped nuts. Strawberry jelly or sauce mimics tomato sauce. For the garlic bread, toast pound cake slices and trim to shape; then top with apricot jam mixed with minced fresh mint to simulate garlic butter.

But novel presentations are just the beginning in this lusciously photographed step-by-step primer to frozen confections, whether you use Fallon's imaginatively flavored homemade ice cream, gelato, sorbet, frozen yogurt, granita, sherbet - the list goes on - or even store-bought.

"I think the appeal of homemade ice cream is that you control what goes into it," Fallon noted. "There are so many odd ingredients in most supermarket ice cream. Just look at the labels. When you make your own, you use real cream, eggs, sugar and milk."

Fallon presents over one hundred flavorful treats to tempt you: Chocolate Chipotle Ice Cream. Espresso Bean Gelato. Black Forest Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate and Cherries. Green Apple Sorbet. There's even a chapter on the light side: Drambuie Ice Milk. Tangerine Buttermilk Sherbet. Quick Caramel-Pecan Light Ice Cream.

"It doesn't always have to be a high-fat experience," she explained. "You can get the same satisfaction. The low-fat ice creams we're seeing today contain fish emulsions, carrageenan and all kinds of bizarre things they have to use to keep the calorie count down. By making it at home there are no preservatives."

Confused about which ice cream maker to buy? A helpful guide demystifies the selection.

"It used to be you'd have to buy an expensive imported Italian machine that would cost as much as your first car," Fallon quipped. "But they've come down in price, and more manufacturers are getting involved. You're going to be seeing a lot of homemade ice cream."

While store-bought ice cream is fine for many of the recipes, Fallon warns, "If it comes in a size larger than a quart, beware. Buy premium or super premium rather than stuff that's got a lot of air whipped into it. I'd rather have a small portion of something really good than a banana split made out of something horrible."

In the unlikely event you have leftovers, store smart. "Iciness is caused by air gaps," she explained. "Place a piece of plastic wrap directly down on the surface to keep out the air." Specific storage instructions are included with each recipe, but note: "The more fat in the product, the better the holding power. Sorbets and low-fat ice milk really do not hold well and are best eaten the same day."

Whether you whip up one of Fallon's homemade flavors or use store-bought, who can resist a hot fudge sundae?

HAUTE FUDGE SAUCE
From "Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts" (DK Publishing) by Peggy Fallon

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup light corn syrup
Dash of salt
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a heavy nonreactive medium saucepan, combine the cream, brown sugar, cocoa powder, corn syrup and salt. Cook over low heat, whisking often, for 5 minutes, or until sugar dissolves and bubbles appear on the surface. Remove from heat.
2. Add chopped chocolate and butter. Whisk until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla.
3. Use at once or cool to room temperature. Makes about 1 1/2 cups

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Product Description:
There's a new twist in the world of frozen desserts: homemade. Learn step-by-step how to use each type of ice cream machine on the market, and then indulge your creativity in the kitchen with this fully illustrated guide, packed with over one hundred flavorful treats, from classic French Vanilla Gelato to extravagant Chocolate-Chipotle Ice Cream.AUTHOR BIO: Peggy Fallon is a well-known recipe consultant and food writer. She was the Recipe Developer for NUTS from Diamond of California and Recipe Consultant for the award-winning Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook; and a culinary consultant for Cooking.com. She is the author of The Best Ice Cream Maker Cookbook Ever and Chicken Dinners in One Pot.