Simple Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Making vanilla ice cream is very simple to do.  Here is a simple recipe from Food Network:

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean

In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean until all the sugar is dissolved.  Then strain it into a bowl and cover the bowl and freeze it in an ice cream freezer for a few hours.  Before serving it allow it to soften.

Have you ever made ice cream before?

Dessert Sales in America

Ever wondered how much money dessert sales produce at the end of one year?

The amount of dessert sales are immensely high, reaching almost $9 billion in the U.S. Ice cream sales are $2.3 billion in one year (according to the Nielsen survey of supermarket sales). Ice cream comes in second to cookies, which are $3.6 billion. Behind ice cream are frozen novelties ($1.4 billion) and frozen yogurt ($631 billion). This means out of the top four desserts in America, 3 are a type of frozen dish. Let's get ice cream to be number 1, Eat up!

Ice Cream VS. Frozen Yogurt

Both ice cream and frozen yogurt are a very popular frozen dessert and both are very similar, but what are the main differences between ice cream and frozen yogurt? While ice cream is available in countless flavors, frozen yogurt started out as mainly fruit flavored, but is now becoming available in 

lots of different flavors also.

Whats the main difference about the way they are made? The main ingredients in a typical ice cream flavor is milk or cream with lots of sugar and other flavor ingredients added.  The main ingredient in frozen yogurt obviously is yogurt, with added sugar and flavoring ingredients.

Because of the difference in the ingredients, ice cream is a much richer dessert and therefore has more calories in it than most frozen yogurts.  So, although frozen yogurt has more calories than regular yogurt, it still has less calories than ice cream and would be a healthier alternative to ice cream.

Lemon Sorbet

I know this technically is not "ice cream" but it is a frozen dessert which i love. Sorbet is very light and tasty. Lemon and lime, especially, have a very fresh and refreshing taste, which is perfect for a hot summers day. There are also many types of sherberts, similar to sorbets, and they are just as delicious yet more fruity and sugary. What types of sherberts, or sorbets have you tried recently?

Chocolate Cookie Dough ice cream?

A few weeks ago I had this ice cream flavor that I had never seen before...it was chocolate ice cream with pieces of cookie dough in it! Seems like a simple flavor right? But it was the first time that I had ever seen it! And it was delicious...cookie dough and chocolate go perfectly together! Have you ever seen chocolate cookie dough ice cream?

You should give it a try!

National Ice Cream Day?

Did you know that there actually is a holiday for ice cream? Well in 1984 Ronald Regan declared July the national ice cream month!  July is very hot summer month so most people consume the most ice cream during this month.  Also, the third 'Sundae' in July is National Ice Cream Day! Have you ever heard of National Ice Cream day?

15 Most Popular Ice Cream Flavors

What are the top selling ice cream flavors in the U.S? Here are the top 15:

1.  Vanilla 29% - As expected Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor by a large percent.  Because of its sweet, plain flavor it has always been the most refreshing and most popular ice cream.

2.  Chocolate 8.9% - Who doesn't enjoy chocolate ice cream? Not surprisingly this ice cream flavor came in second to Vanilla because all children enjoy the rich and sugary flavor that it has.

3.  Butter Pecan 5.3% - Surprisingly, Butter Pecan comes in third.  The buttery tasting, smooth textured, ice cream goes perfectly with the crunch of the pecans, which is why it is ranked to highly.

4. Strawberry 5.3% - The sweet, fruity flavor of strawberry ice cream, make it perfect to eat on a hot summer's day. The natural tasting strawberries combine with the creamy ice cream to produce an exceptional flavor.

5. Neapolitan 4.2% - Can't decide on just one flavor to have? Why don't you just have 3 of the top 4 flavors at once! Neapolitan is an ice cream combined of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. By mixing these three great flavors, it makes your ice cream treat that much better. 

6. Chocolate chip, 3.9%
7. French vanilla, 3.8%
8. Cookies and cream, 3.6%
9. Vanilla fudge ripple, 2.6%
10. Praline pecan, 1.7%
11. Cherry, 1.6%
12. Chocolate almond, 1.6%
13. Coffee, 1.6%
14. Rocky road, 1.5%
15. Chocolate marshmallow, 1.3%
All others, 23.7%

Source: International Ice Cream Association, 888 16th St., Washington, D.C., 20006.