Rosie Makes Ice Cream. Peach And Strawberry! And Pizzelle!

 

It's that time of year again.

I'm cleaning out my freezers

(Yes, freezers.  Plural.)

in preparation for filling them back up.

I had frozen strawberries and frozen peaches.

What to do...

What to do...

???

Make ice cream.

Ahhh...  Ice cream.

  The answer to so many questions.

Is that not luscious?

Strawberry and Peach Ice Cream
14 oz. skim milk
2 oz. heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 TB vanilla
4 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream

1 cup chopped frozen strawberries
1 cup chopped frozen peaches



In a medium sauce pan, combine 14 oz. skim milk, 2 oz, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Stir to dissolve sugar.  Heat over medium heat until mixture simmers.

Rosie Note Here:  Watch this mixture as it simmers, because it can go to a boil and overflow the pan in a heartbeat and flow all over the hot stove top and make a holy mess.  Not that that's ever happened to me.  Ever.

Beat yolks with mixer until light and thickened.

Slowly pour a cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolks, beating constantly, to temper the yolks.
"Tempering" means to bring up the temperature of the yolks.  You want to heat the yolks, not scramble them.

Pour the tempered yolk mixture into the sauce pan with the remaining milk mixture.  Return to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture has thickened, about 4 minutes.

Remove from heat, pour into a large bowl, and whisk in remaining pint of heavy cream.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled throughout.  This will take about 2 hours.  Or you can just leave it overnight and finish it off the next day.

As if the strawberry/peach ice cream wasn't enough by itself,

I had to crank it up a bit.

I made edible serving bowls for the ice cream-

in the form of pizzelles.

What is pizzelle, you ask?
(Pizzelle is plural.  Pizzella is singular.)

A pizzella is a classic Italian crisp, buttery waffle-like cookie,

typically flavored with anise.

And they're baked on a pizzelle iron.

And wouldn't you know,

Rosie just happens to have an antique pizzelle iron.

I found it hanging in Mama Hawthorne's kitchen pantry

a lifetime ago.

I believe it belonged to my great grandmother.

Wish I knew the history.

The word "pizzelle" comes from the Italian pizze, 

meaning round and flat (like pizza)

and the elle ending means small.

They are made by cooking batter

between two iron plates with decorative patterns on them.

 When the pizzelle come right off the iron, 

they're soft and pliable and you can mold

them around a tube to form a cylinder (like cannoli)

or drape them over a small inverted bowl,

to make a bowl shape.

Once cooled, pizzelle become brittle.

Originally, pizzelle were made in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

Often, families would have specially-made pizzelle irons

with the family crests on them.

Pizzelle
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted


In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the egg until it is thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the butter and vanilla. Gently stir in the flour. Do not overmix. Allow the batter to rest at room temperature at least 15 minutes.

 

Heat up the  pizzelle iron first.

Pour the batter.

Messy Rosie.

I don't think it's supposed to catch on fire.

Immediately drape the pizzelle over something to make a bowl shape.

I used popover tins.

Rosie needs to work on her pizzelle-making.