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Today’s post features a guest post from Lindsay Clendaniel, author of the soon-to-be-released book, Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States. She is sharing her PA Dutch Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream recipe. In this book Lindsay, an ice cream maker and blogger, shares the amazing recipes she picked during her travels across the country sampling ice cream from specialty shops and restaurants for her blog, also titled Scoop Adventures.
“In 2009, when I started writing my blog I was enjoying the discovery of the creation of ice cream so much that I wanted to share my recipes with the world,” Lindsay says. “I wanted to find other people with a passion for ice cream as strong, and perhaps as crazy, as mine. Scoop Adventures became a place for me to catalog recipes while sharing my love for food and flavor. Eventually, the ice cream lovers out there found me.”
Scoop Adventures features 80 adapted recipes home-tested and designed to be easily made with a home ice cream maker. Some of those recipes include:
- Lemon Ricotta Cardamom Gelato adapted from a recipe by Dolcezza, Washington, DC
- Steen’s Molasses Oatmeal Cookie from Creole Creamery, New Orleans, LA
- Seaport Salty Swirl Ice Cream from Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream, Mystic, CT
- Blueberry Kale Ice Cream from The Hop Ice Cream Café, Ashville, NC
- Abuela Maria Ice Cream from Azucar Ice Cream Company, Miami, FL
- Lavender Caramel Swirl Ice Cream from Loblolly Creamery, Little Rock, AR
- Banana Pudding Ice Cream inspired by Sam & Greg’s, Huntsville, AL
- Sweet Basil Ice Cream from The Bent Spoon, Princeton, NJ
- Plum Lemon Verbena Ice Cream from Sweet Republic Artisan Ice Cream, Scottsdale, AZ
- Mayan Chocolate Ice Cream from Full Tilt Ice Cream, Seattle, WA
Don’t have an ice cream maker? That’s ok, you can still make ice cream at home, just click on this link here.
For today’s post I asked Lindsay to share her PA Dutch Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream recipe. Visiting Pennsylvania Dutch country is one of my favorite weekend getaways and always love desserts that tempt the palate with both sweet and salty. When my husband and I were courting we would take day trips to New Hope, Pennsylvania and stroll the streets hand-in-hand. I just love this recipe and my fondness of the area.
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Guest Post by Lindsay Clendaniel author of Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States.
I spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania as a child. Although I grew up in Maryland, my entire extended family lived in Southeast PA. My parents, brother and I would frequently pack ourselves into the family car and drive North to visit the relatives. My memories of these visits include family, fun times, and food. Halfway between my childhood home in Maryland and my grandparents’ town was a little restaurant with the best vegetable soup and root beer floats. Special occasions and holidays brought out funny cake or shoofly pie, showcasing my family’s PA Dutch heritage. Road trips were not complete without sandwiches made by grandmother with the crust cut off the edges.
We spent many summers traveling around the area with my grandparents, visiting sites such as Valley Forge or small historic towns. One town we found along our way was the town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, with its sleepy streets and small buildings meandering along the Delaware River. While wandering our way through town, my family and I stumbled upon Gerenser’s Exotic Ice Cream. Visiting this ice cream shop was my first true “exotic” ice cream experience. I recall flavors such as African Violet ice cream as well as something with rosewater, and although I do not remember the flavor that I ultimately picked, my trip to this shop stuck in my mind long after we returned to Maryland.
While writing my cookbook, my goal was to include some of the most creative ice creams in the country, and I was quickly reminded of my trip to New Hope. Gerenser’s became one of the first ice cream shops I contacted to include in the collection of recipes. Luckily the shop still stands, now serving food in addition to its flavorful ice creams. In addition to the cheesesteak, Philadelphia is a city famous for its soft pretzels. Philadelphians are rumored to consume twelve times as many pretzels as the average US citizen, and the city boasts a pretzel museum. Given that cheesesteak ice cream would taste pretty bad, chocolate pretzel ice cream was the go-to flavor for Bob Gerenser to best represent the city of brotherly love. He hopes you enjoy one of his favorite ice cream flavors combining bittersweet chocolate and crunchy salty pretzels which are showcased in this PA Dutch Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream recipe. Enjoy!
PA Dutch Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE LIQUOR
- 1/3 cup 37g cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup 79ml water
- 1/3 cup 67g sugar
- 2 oz 56g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
ICE CREAM BASE
- 1 ¾ cup 414ml whole milk, divided
- 1 tbsp 9g cornstarch
- 1 ½ cup 355ml heavy cream, divided
- 1/3 cup 67g sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 cup 180g chocolate-covered pretzels, chopped
Instructions
- Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. Begin by making chocolate liquor; combine cocoa powder, water, and 1/3 cup (67g) sugar in a small saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a low boil, whisking constantly. As soon as you see bubbles, remove from heat and add chopped chocolate. Let sit for 2 minutes and then stir chocolate liquor until smooth. Pour into a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 Tablespoons milk with cornstarch, whisk and set aside. Combine remaining milk, ½ cup (118ml) cream, salt, and 1/3 cup (67g) sugar in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring milk mixture to a low boil. Cook until the sugar dissolves, 3 minutes. Remove milk mixture from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Pour base into the chocolate liquor and whisk to combine. Stir in remaining 1 cup (237ml) cream. Set bowl in the ice water bath to cool, 20 minutes, whisking occasionally. Once cool, add vanilla. Refrigerate ice cream base until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Pour base into an ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. When churning is complete, gently fold in chocolate-covered pretzel pieces. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Notes
There you have it, GGG crew. Wasn’t that a great guest post? I can’t thank Lindsay enough for her awesome post and for sharing this amazing PA Dutch Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream. I wish her the best of luck with her cookbook, Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States. To celebrate this great book I am giving away a copy to one lucky winner. Just enter below for your chance to win. Good luck guys!
Discloure: I was invited to participate in this blog tour and received a free copy of Scoop Adventures. The giveaway copy was also offered to me for GGG readers. Affiliate links are also included in this post which help support GGG.
This article was written by food blogger Linda Arceo for Giggles, Gobbles and Gulps.