Beet Sour Cream Habanero with Chocolate Swirl

We’re nearing the end of the summer harvest which means a scramble to get our hands on all the local produce we can and figure out ways to use it.  We’ve been scheming on root vegetables for awhile, and experimented a bit, but this flavor crosses into new territory for us.  We stretched our legs, and gave it a hint of spice from one of the hottest peppers you can get your mitts on, and added a nice chocolate ganache swirl for kicks.

Beets are plentiful at the farmers markets, and we picked some up from our neighborhood favorite – (Midtown Farmers Market).



 

 

 

 

 


 

Coincidentally, I happened across a pile of these beautiful habaneros as well.  The flavor of the habanero pepper is often overlooked because they are so hot, but if the seeds are removed they can be very tolerable in small amounts.  The red pigment and sweetness of the beet, along with the heat of the habanero seemed to be the perfect one-two pair.  After all, red means HOT right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ice cream was a 3 step process.  First, the beets were pureed with a little bit of water to bring the juice out of them.

 

 

 

Damn if that color isn’t gorgeous.

 

 

 

After pureed, we strain out the pulp and reserve the juice to reduce into a syrup.

 

 

 

I think I accidentally discovered a recipe for fake blood in this process. But I digress..

 

 

 

For this flavor, we use our sour cream ice cream base since it pairs so well with beets and pepper everywhere else.  While the beet juice cooks down, we take the reserved pulp along with the (1) seeded habanero pepper and steep them in the hot ice cream mix, then strain again at the end.  This process allows us to keep the starchy/grainy vegetable out of the end product, but maximize the beet flavor and retain some of the heat of the pepper without making the ice cream an endurance/sanity contest. The heat ends up being incredibly subtle and tolerable even to my 4 year old son.  Yes it could certainly be hotter.

 

 

 

Finally, the scratch made chocolate ganache, is added in to the ice cream as a swirl for an extra twist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it. Beet Sour Cream Habanero with Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream.  A beet and habenero infused sour cream ice cream with little ribbons of chocolate ganache.  The beet provides a unique earthy sweetness which goes great with the hint of chocolate and ends with a nice bit of heat on the back of your palette.

 

 

 

If you’re interested in trying –

Every week, we give two pints away of our new flavor in a random drawing. To enter, leave a comment on our facebook page or, leave a comment right here on the blog. We’ll draw two winners on Friday afternoon (9/7/2012) at 4pm and will announce them on our facebook page (or email you if you’re comment resides here). Our only conditions are you must be able to pick it up here in Minneapolis, and agree to give us a little feedback that can be shared with everyone else. Good luck!

 

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Sour Cream Christmas Cookie

‘Tis the season of forming a solid leftover strategy.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, pie, veggies, breads, desserts – you name it, and its probably stacked in a container somewhere in your fridge.  Some find the form of a hotdish, others make for perfect sandwich toppings.  No matter what, if you’re going to make the best of it, creativity is key.


So as it happens, this flavor just fell into our laps.  These “cutout” Christmas cookies have been a staple in my family for ages.  We’ve had them every year as far back as I can remember.


 

But they don’t end at Christmas. Once the holidays are over the cookies go on…and on.  Since my Mom makes enough of these delicious cooks to feed a few families for several months, we thought we’d take some off her hands and put them to good use.

 

 

 

Now, this isn’t a super challenging flavor by any stretch of the imagination.  But we did need to figure out a way to cut the extra sweetness of the already iced cookies in the sweet cream.  So to counter it, we chose to use our sour cream base to provide a nice subtle hint of acidity to balance the extra sugar.

 

 

 

For the big finish, the cookies are crumbled  into the base at the end.   Its the holiday FrozBroz interpretation of Cookies and Cream.

 

 

And that’s that.  Sometimes simplicity rules, and in this case its hard to lose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like to win a free pint?  Per the weekly drill, we’ll be giving away two pints of this flavor. Just leave a comment on our facebook page to be entered into the drawing. If you don’t have a facebook account, leave a comment right here on the blog. We’ll draw two winners on Friday afternoon (12/30/2011) at 4pm and will announce them on our facebook page. Our only conditions are you must be able to pick it up here in Minneapolis, and be willing to give us a little feedback that can be shared with everyone else. Good luck!

 

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Sour Cream Strawberry Shortbread

Summer has arrived, and that usually means the local strawberry season is nearing its end here in Minnesota. This years season happens to be late, but for my family, the ending harvest means one last memorable dessert. My son’s birthday is June 24th, which inspired me to start a tradition of making him strawberry shortbread with vanilla ice cream.

 

 

 

Agreed, we’re not reinventing the wheel here, but we think putting shortbread and strawberries into our ice cream is a really good idea. Especially when we add a bit of tartness with sour cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organic strawberries from Hoch Orchards in La Crescent, MN – Foxy! They’re going in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of them we roast in the oven. Some of them we don’t. These? – Roasted!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We make these shortbread croutons with flour, butter and sugar. These guys like to soak up all that sweet strawberry cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is it: FrozBroz style Sour Cream Strawberry Shortbread ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

To win a pint from the blog this week, be the first to accurately guess in the comments section where “Strawberry” ice cream ranks on the list of popular ice cream flavors .  To be fair, if you won the week previous you can’t win this week.

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