Red Velvet Ice Cream

Since I had my foot surgery in early January, I have only been out of the house a handful of times.

I'm really not supposed to walk any sort of distance - not to mention when I do walk, it's pretty slow and somewhat embarrassing with my velcro shoes on.

But to help me combat cabin fever, Mr. Vittles has taken me on a few quick jaunts with him... like to get some iced coffee, or get windshield wipers for his car (exciting!) or to get some ice cream (that of course I was craving, not him).

I stayed in the car for the coffee and wipers, but was feeling bold the night of ice cream.  It was about 8:30 PM on an extremely cold night, so we figured there would not be many people there.

But we were wrong.  It was wall to wall people, namely teenagers.

And I was like a deer in headlights.

Being in a packed place when you have two feet with recently broken and shaved bones is scary enough.  But being in that condition in a place packed with "clumsy high schoolers" (as Mr. V pointed out) was absolutely terrifying. 

I stood in one spot, frozen, and constantly alert for any tomfoolery that might result in someone getting pushed into me and stepping on my toes.  I stayed in there long enough to order, then quickly hobbled back out to the car.

Needless to say... no more ice cream jaunts for me, for at least the next couple weeks.

Which just means, I have to bring the ice cream to me. 

This summer I experimented with a recipe for Cake Batter Ice Cream, where I used red velvet cake mix from a box.  It came out alright, but for some reason I was not happy with using cake mix.  (However, I have yet to see a recipe for cake batter ice cream that doesn't use it?)

So with Valentines Day around the corner, I decided to give this another shot - without a recipe, and without cake mix.  Which is a little dicey, because it would be awful to waste all the ingredients that go into a good ice cream!

But then again, I have made a lot of ice cream over the past few years (and learned a lot through some painful mistakes) so I felt pretty confident that I could do my own thing.

And I'm happy to report, this one came out great - very creamy, and it captures all the goodness of red velvet!

Red Velvet Ice Cream

• 1 C. coconut milk
• 1 C. half and half
• 3 egg yolks
• 2/3 C. sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 2 t. dutch cocoa powder
• 1 T. red food coloring
• 1 C. heavy cream

In medium saucepan, over medium-low heat, cook coconut milk and half and half just until steaming.  (This is important - you are about to add the eggs, and if the mixture on the burner is too hot it will cause the eggs to curdle).

Meanwhile, in medium heatproof bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until combined.  Pour half of milk mixture into bowl with egg yolks and sugar, and whisk until smooth.  Then pour contents of bowl back into saucepan, and return to burner on medium-low.

Cook custard an additional 3-5 minutes, until you can run your finger across a rubber spatula dipped in the custard and it leaves a trail.  Remove saucepan from heat and add cocoa powder - whisk until combined and no lumps remain.  Then add vanilla extract and red food coloring and whisk.

Transfer mixture to a large, coverable bowl.  Add 1 C. heavy cream, but do not stir.  Cover bowl and place in refrigerator to chill 3-4 hours.

Once mixture is thoroughly chilled, transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.*  Then transfer to coverable, freezable container and put in freezer at least 3 hours before serving.  Makes about one quart.

*If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out this article on how to make ice cream without one.  I've never tried it, but Brown Eyed Baker is an amazing blog so I'm sure the author would not lead us astray!

Original Recipe