Holidays, such as July 4th, always make me a little nostalgic, so naturally I go looking for some childhood memories...mainly food. One of my favorite food memories involves an ice cream flavor that may be the dessert equivalent of mystery meat. No Kidding. I googled this stuff and it's described as tasting like everything from pineapple to marshmallows to Fruit Loops. If you've ever lived in Michigan or Wisconsin, you will know this ice cream is called Blue Moon. If you grew up anywhere else, you probably won't know what I'm talking about....
Recently, a new soda fountain opened up in St. Paul. Of course, I had to check it out and, lo and behold, they sold Blue Moon ice cream. I hadn't tasted Blue Moon since I was about ten, so I asked for a taste. Holy Smokes! It was spot on! For the record, they described the taste as the milk left over from your bowl of Fruit Loops...not a bad comparison. I had to see what I could do to make it at home.
I found a few recipes on the Internet that looked promising. One in particular, from Food.com, sounded like it might be right, so I started with that and put my own spin on it.
Blue Moon Ice Cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon raspberry extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 packet of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Cotton Candy Flavor Mix (or sub 1 tablespoon vanilla pudding mix)
1/2 teaspoon blue food coloring
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and the sugar with a hand mixer until thickened and lemon colored, about 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, raspberry, and lemon extracts, the flavor mix, and the food coloring; set aside.
I found the Cotton Candy flavored Frosting Creations at the store...it sounded like it might just fit in to this recipe. As a bonus, it's blue! Since I used eggs in this recipe though, it wasn't blue enough...it had a slight green tinge, so I still added some blue food coloring.
Place the milk and the cream in a medium sized saucepan. Heat over medium/low heat until the mixture just comes to a simmer. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the hot cream and continue to heat until it comes to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for another two minutes. Remove from heat and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Pour the chilled cream into an ice cream maker and churn according to directions, about 30 minutes. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream into an airtight container and freeze for several hours.
Oh, yes! This is pretty darn close. Next time I'll try the vanilla pudding mix to see if there is a difference.
What special food did you make for the 4th of July?
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