yummy

ginger’s ice cream class


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Have I told you how much I adore Ginger Elizabeth and her precious chocolate shop here in town? Oh I have? Forgive me, but I love love love her and everything she sells. (Hey foodies, David Lebovitz loves her too!) Plus, anyone that uses their first and middle name as their brand identity is awesome, no? And after attending her ice cream class this Saturday, I can add her demo classes to the list of things that I adore. During the summer, she’s been selling special sundaes for our Second Saturday festival, so she figured a class on ice cream might be enticing to people who love her creative confections. (Check out these sundae descriptions: Lavender Ice Cream, Lemon Custard Ice Cream, Gently Crushed Blackberries, Lemon Verbena Raw Milk French Toast, Whipped Crème Fraîche OR Sweet Corn Ice Cream, Fresh Ricotta Semifreddo Parfait, Barely Cooked Farm Peaches, Olive Oil Pine Nut Streusel, Chantilly Cream)
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We each had a seat with our tasting utensils, water, and a mini chocolate tasting set up for us as well with cocoa butter, cocoa nibs, and chocolate pieces. But this class was all about ice cream and its goodness… so that’s what it centered around. She started out by making a Tahitian Vanilla ice cream base, upon which all of the other ice cream recipes would be based upon. We learned how to open the vanilla bean and infuse it properly into the cream base, and then got to sample the freshly made ice cream as well. Are you looking for photos of this awesomeness? Yeah… I was a bit in awe of what was going on, and the sample was just so good, that I didn’t have time to take a snapshot. But luckily that was just the start of the class!
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Next, she made a fresh strawberry sorbet… and blended the strawberries right there in front of us with awesome giant hand blender to illustrate just how easy it is.
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And about 20 minutes later, we got to taste the amazing sorbet straight out of the ice cream maker! Her only secret ingredient was adding an egg white to the mixture right before the end of the process to help bind it all together.
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Next… it was time for ice cream sandwiches. For our demo, she made fresh gingersnaps that keep wonderfully in the freezer. (This recipe will be used extensively at Christmas as well!)
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As for the perfect ice cream filling? How about summer lemon? Could you imagine that she uses the zest of 4 lemons to flavor the lemon ice cream?
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And now, how would one end the perfect ice cream class? Why not make a Baked Alaska with homemade chocolate biscuit (bis-kwee) and white coffee and chocolate nib ice cream?!?
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Heck, I’m not intimidated to use my tiny torch if she can go to town with a giant blowtorch like this!
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And there you have it! The perfect end to a wonderful class. I wanted to run home and make everything, but I’ve resisted and will try to keep my ice cream indulgences to once a week. But seriously… with ice cream that tastes this amazing, you only need a couple of bites to make your day infinitely better!
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If you’re in the Sacramento area, just head to her website for more info on her upcoming classes. I’m signed up for the “Chocolate for Breakfast” class in October and can hardly wait for chocolate/bacon pancakes!!!

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