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[Image]One guest gives the ice cream table a thumbs up.

Back in August I had my annual ice cream party. Since this is my one big chance to make all the ice cream I want, I usually go a little crazy, and this year was no different (the people voted and next to the winners is their ranking -- as you will notice, there were a lot of ties!):

Ice Creams
adam’s sweet cream kit-kat (4)
arianna’s avocado (from the Food Network)
chitra’s chocolatecraig’s cocoanut chipdesousa’s durian fruit (found here)
ernie’s cookie ‘n’ cream (4)fragolino rocksjesse’s fluffernutter (3)kevin’s peanut butter sinklambic raspberry (here's a good site)
‘lexis mahon’s lemonade meringue (2)lisa’s white chocolate cranberry cookiemom and dad’s raspberry patchpatrick’s starburst jelly bean vanilla beanrackle’s vermont hippie crunchred hot sarah’s cinnamon (here's the kinda recipe from when I made this before)
rosemary peachsarah and john’s candied bacon (2)scoopalicious cake batter (2)shioka’s chocolate guinnessshirley, ashu’s templesteve’s duck sauce fortune cookiestrawberry rhubarb (1)vanilla bean (4)veronica’s coffee cheesecakeSorbets
meghan and ross’s blueberry and red wine sorbetshirley, anisha’s temple sorbetsnyder’s strawberry rhubarb sorbet (4)
So yes, I made 25 ice creams and 3 sorbets for a total of 28 flavors. Guests also brought some this time:
dan and ashley’s garlic goodnesscarley's chocolatey goodnessliam’s great bowl of ginger (3)So yes, Baskin Robbins, we caught up! Our own 31 flavors!

[Image]Lisa's White Chocolate Cranberry Cookie.
Who is Lisa and what kind of name is that?

Here's what you might be wondering...the names. How were they named? There were two ways. If a guest suggested the flavor (or even better, made it themself) it was named after them. Aternatively, if a guest's name had good aliteration with a flavor, then that was grounds for personalization as well. (By the way, Lisa is a dear friend I went to college with, but I didn't really get know her until we remet on the elevator at Houghton Mifflin. She loves these cookies by King Arthur Flour, so I made it into an ice cream for her.)

Gosh, where to begin about this? My favorites? Well, I loved loved loved Snyder's Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet that I only made by accident and I don't ever ever choose sorbet over ice cream. How did I make it by accident? Well, I had to have a certain amount of pulp for the ice cream. Mine was too much and too watery, so I drained out two cups of liquid. Now WHAT am I going to do with two cups of strawberry liquid? A-ha! A lightbulb went off...sorbet! I am a sucker for Fluffernutter, Oreo and Cake Batter ice creams, so Jesse's Fluffernutter, Ernie's Oreo, and Scoopalicious Cake Batter were winners in my book.

What was I most proud of this year? Scoopalicious Cake Batter, Veronica's Coffee Cheesecake, and Rackle's Vermont Hippie Crunch. Why? Well, Veronica's Coffee Cheesecake and Rackle's Vermont Hippie Crunch I was proud of because I really had no idea where to begin with either of them, but looking through some books and combining some recipes, I was able to come up with some pretty good ice creams. If I can remember how I made them, I will be sure to post the directions. And the Cake Batter impressed me because a while back Tina made a really good Cake Batter Ice Cream but then there was some speculation from a reader about the possibility of Salmonella because of the uncooked cake batter. So I cooked it. And it still came out really well. I will for sure post this recipe because I did actually write it down! Cake Batter without the Salmonella -- who wouldn't want to remember that recipe?

[Image]Here my parents taste some ice cream.
Meghan is enjoying some in the background as well.

Surprises? I hate ginger in general, but I actually liked Liam's Ginger Ice Cream. And Sarah and John's Candied Bacon...um, really good! Who knew?! Thanks David Lebowitz! Not a surprise? Didn't really like DeSousa Durian Ice Cream or Ashley and Dan's Garlic Ice Cream, but I do have to shout out to cousin Dan and his girlfriend Ashley because they put in quite an effort making that ice cream knowing it might not be a big hit!

Oh, and another surprise, we went through about 700 of the 3,000 tasting spoons! I thought we'd never go through them -- at this rate it will only take about four years!

[Image]A group enjoys ice cream and conversation,
while my brother-in-law scoops away.


Whew! Guess that's the scoop. Going to try to post some of the recipes but please let me know if there are particulars you would like to see -- we'll see if I can find them, direct you to the book they were from (if I remember) or post it!

Images courtesy of Rachel Distler, Rachel Distler Photography. For more images of the ice cream soiree, please visit here.