Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
by Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield, Nancy Stevens
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Book Reviews of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
Book Review: Fun but flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
Like many other people, I love Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Unfortunately, the premium taste also comes with a premium price, so many years ago my husband gifted me with this book.
It's fun to read about how it all began (two chubby little boys who liked eating more than gym- and who can blame them?) and how they fought off the evil Pilsbury Dough Boy to take a stand in the giant world of commercially delivered ice cream. But really, I'm here for the recipes. Sadly, they had some flaws.
While I realize this was written over ten years ago, I think it's almost inexcusable that nowhere do the authors mention cooking the eggs before you use them. Even if you aren't concerned with salmonella (and if you're using egg yolks, you should be), the difference between a raw and cooked egg base is immense- no matter how much chocolate you throw at it, raw eggs just aren't going to be as delicious. Reams of dessert recipes later, I've figured out how to do it (beat the eggs and sugar, scald the milk, slowly add to egg mixture then carefully cook over low heat until you have something resembling a custard sauce NOT scrambled eggs; chill, then add your cream- THEN use the ice cream maker). Was that so hard?
Also, while I appreciate that they are ice cream makers and not bakers, the recipes they give for their ice cream cakes are off as far as amounts given. For instance, for their brownie ice cream cake, they advise baking their Superfudge brownies in two six inch cake pans and then covering the confection with 1 quart of beaten whipping cream. Having made this recipe several times, I can say without any doubt that their proportions are all wrong- you'll end up with enough left over batter for more than a few cupcakes and possibly another layer. And having doubled this recipe and successfully frosted it with the whippings of two cups of cream, either they whipped their cream to butter or they miscalculated (and didn't test) this recipe.
Still, once you have the technique down (Nigella Lawson's books are good for that), the ingredients and amounts they list work pretty well (again, if you're not baking). I'll never part with this, but I wouldn't give this to anyone just starting out on their homemade ice cream adventure.
Book Review: Fun book, but don't expect to duplicate B&J ice cream
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had and used this book for about 8 years now. I actually bought it from a Ben & Jerry's store when I lived in Vermont.
I have made some great ice cream since then and used just about every recipe in the book. In addition to ice cream recipes, they also include recipes for sorbet and other non-dairy desserts, as well as recipes for brownies and other "add-ins" for your ice cream. And the recipes are GOOD!
Just a couple notes to those of you who are expecting to not have to buy B&J again once you get this book. There's a lot more to making ice cream than just the ingredients, which are very simple - I can tell you right now it's cream, milk, sugar and if you want, eggs. That's it -- that's a "base" for whatever you want to add, like vanilla, chocolate, M&Ms, cookie dough, whatever. But B&J has really perfected the art of *making* the ice cream - putting in the proper amount of air, freezing it in the proper amount of time to reduce the ice crystal size, etc. I have found it very difficult to do this at home with normal ice cream making equipment. I used to have a regular ice/salt freezer that turns as you add ice and salt around the bucket to make it cold. Now I have one of those bowls for my Kitchenaid stand mixer that you pre-freeze in the freezer. It works fine - but here's a tip: After you make your ice cream mix, put it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour to make it as cold as possible (without turning to ice) before you put it in your maker. The faster the ice cream freezes, the creamier it is. Another thing, if you want more "volume" (less dense) ice cream, whip some air into it before you put it in the maker. Some commercial ice creams have as much as 50% air! Gee, no wonder when it melts there's only 1/2 of what I thought I had! ;-)
Just one issue I have had with the book is that it does not include a recipe for a custard base, which is basically the milk/egg/sugar mixture cooked until it's thickened, then cooled and churned in the maker. Maybe they don't sell this "frozen custard" and that's why they didn't include it -- but I really like the texture of this type of ice cream better.
Book Review: When they say "generous" they MEAN it
Summary: 5 Stars
I tried out this book's chocolate chip cookie dough recipe along with my new Cuisinart quart ice cream maker today.
When they say "generous quarts" they MEAN it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing... but if you plan on adding mix-ins, I'd recommend adjusting the quantities by starting with half a batch. I seriously mean it: half a batch.
I should've known something was up with their recipe measurements when their sweet cream base added up to four cups of material (three of milk and cream, three-quarters for sugar, and two eggs) and then they were talking about another cup and a half of add-ins. Add the fact that ice cream expands by at least a quarter to a half when you mix it...
I ended up with closer to "two quarts" than "one generous quart" when following the cookie dough directions accurately, and I had to hastily shut off the ice cream maker to keep from decorating the entire kitchen!
So I'd recommend doing the quantity math on their recipes and allowing a cup or two of space for the air that gets mixed in during the process. (Or the easier way is just to cut the recipe in half, like I said earlier.)
But to me the best part of this book (aside from the delicious recipes) is that it teaches you how to think about ice cream making. It teaches about things like how much air gets added, how to vary the types of ice cream bases for different purposes, how to judge what kinds of mix-ins to use and when to add them in the process, etc etc etc...
The ice cream tastes fabulous, and they teach enough about the theory and options of ice cream making that I feel confident in following their guidelines to come up with my own stylized versions of ice cream. (I want to come up with a lower-calorie, lower-cream version, just for starters. And I love green tea ice cream, so I want to come up with a less milky base for that. And I've never heard of anyone doing this but I think chai ice cream sounds like a fabulous idea. And so on, and so on...)
Book Review: Homemade Ice Cream is just Minutes Away
Summary: 5 Stars
My favorite flavor of ice cream is Coconut Almond Chocolate Chunk from Ben & Jerry's; it's only available in their stores, and isn't expected to be available in grocery stores anytime soon. When I was on their web site, I discovered that they had published a cookbook that contained the recipes of most of the Ben & Jerry's flavors, so I immediately purchased it so I could make my favorite flavor at home.
This book is casual and fun. There are colorful drawings throughout, and the recipes are quick and easy. It looks almost like a children's cookbook, and is written so that anyone--child to adult--can understand and follow the recipes.
In addition to ice cream recipes, there are also recipes for refreshing sorbets--mostly fruit, but even one for beer sorbet, brownies--which can be used as an ingredient in ice cream or eaten alone, cookies for ice cream sandwiches, sundaes, sundae sauces, and a few specialty desserts. Every recipe I have tried so far from this book has been quick, easy, and good.
The book also has a history of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, helpful hints and notes on ice cream ingredients, and even a butterfat chart. This book contains a complete index, which is helpful when looking for specific items.
One thing that is missing from this book is a recipe for an old-fashioned cooked custard ice cream base; all of the recipes are uncooked. While the uncooked bases are good, it would have been nice to have at least one recipe for real custard. Also there are no photographs.
If you're interested in making ice cream fast, this is a great and inexpensive book. Even if you don't plan to use their recipes for your ice cream base, the book has lots of good ideas for flavoring and preparing ice cream. I would recommend this book as an addition to your cookbook library; it's a great excuse to purchase a new automatic ice cream maker and eat ice cream every day of the summer!
Book Review: Beware the Hype!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this book mainly because of the many five star reviews by so many customers, however, I have to admit I don't see what all the hype was about! I was a bit disappointed.
Firstly, there aren't that many recipes in the book as I thought there would be, having said that, some of the basic ice cream flavours have not been included in the book and some really weird ones have. The one thing that I think redeems the book is the butterscotch recipe and the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream recipe!
The thing that annoyed me the most was that the images in the book look like something out of a pre-schoolers book or as if they were intended for someone who is completely retarded!! It feels a bit demeaning! I appreciate the possibility that the authors were trying to make something fun for both children and adults, but someone messed up really bad!
I bought this book with The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And Moreby Bruce Weinstein, and I have to say that buying the two together was the right thing to do, they really complement each other well! The number of flavours in Weinstein's book is so vast that you will definitely find what you are looking for (ice creams, sorbets, sauces and the whole lot!) and B&J's book has some interesting and unique ideas.
Don't bee fooled like I was, by the number of raving customers, the book isn't bad but not great despite what the many customers would have you think. If you're thinking of buying just one ice cream book go for Weinstein's book and you won't regret it! But if you don't mind buying the two then why not?