Black and Tan Ice Cream PLUS a Giveaway!

***Comments are now closed. The winner will be picked and notified by Monday. Thanks!***

I have to say. This “job” we have. The one where we take tasty beer and mesh it with tasty food and make something even better. Even tastier?

It is a TOUGH JOB!

Like for instance, when I set out to create this Black and Tan Ice Cream, I had to pick the right beer for the recipe. When you make beer ice cream, that is a muy important step. It is really an important step when you make anything with beer. If you don’t like the taste of the beer out of the glass or the can or bottle, you sure as hell won’t like it when you mix it with food. Jeff & I have :shudder: wasted our share of beer and varied food ingredients. Or just ate while choking back disgust.

“HOW DID WE THINK THIS WOULD WORK?”

Which brings me back to the hardest part of this job. The right beer. The PERFECT beer for the job. And the only way to find that beer, is to TASTE beer. LOTS and LOTS of beer. I went thru a freakin’ gaggle of pale ales for the ice cream base on this recipe. To the point where all the flavors started blending. And my eyes starting crossing. And my words starting slurring… but in the end I found the right beer. I think. It is all pretty hazy really.

And this is also the reason why we stick to telling you the style of beer we are using and only RARELY specify the actual beer used for our recipes. Because my favorite pale ale and your favorite pale ale and grandpa’s favorite pale ale – all completely different.

So taste taste taste your way thru ALL THE BEERS. It is the only right thing to do.

This is a multi-part recipe but worth the time it takes. Plus you get a bonus brownie recipe. Ka-Ching!

First, the Chocolate Stout Brownies.

1 bottle of your favorite stout. (I used a regular stout, but the options are endless. Cherry Stout your favorite? Chocolate cherry brownies!)
2.5 cups of sugar, divided
1 cup cocoa powder
1 stick of butter, room temperature
2 t vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup flour
Optional- 1 cup peanut butter morsels or 1 cup of chopped walnuts or use your imagination…

Preheat oven to 325°.

Taste your beer.

Like it? Pour it into your pot and bring to boil over low heat, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the cocoa powder and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Mix till everything is dissolved. Let cool.

In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter, 1 cup of sugar, vanilla and eggs. Slowly add the cooled beer mixture and mix well. Add the optional ingredients.

Pour into a prepared 11 x 7 (or comparable sized) pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until center is set. Allow to cool completely. Cube about 1-2 cups of brownie into 1/2″ cubes and freeze. Eat the rest.

Onto the next step,

Pale Ale Ice Cream

A bottle of your favorite pale ale (I do recommend a lighter pale ale.)
1 8 oz block cream cheese, cut into small chunks
1 1/2 C half and half (Yes whole cream would work here too.)
2 egg yolks (Save those whites for a tasty egg white omelet!)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, scraped. (Tip- Save the bean pod in a jar of granulated sugar for some tasty vanilla sugar!)

In a heavy bottomed pan bring the ale to a slow and low simmer over low heat. You do not want to rush this because too much heat too fast can change the taste of your chosen ale and ruin the flavor.

In a separate bowl, combine the half and half, the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Once the beer is simmering, add the cream cheese and stir till melted and blended. This part can take a while. Don’t be tempted to jack the heat up to move it along (so says the experienced one…). Then add the vanilla bean caviar.

Remove from heat and while constantly stirring slowly add the half & half mixture. When it is all combined, return to heat and bring to a low boil. Do not burn! OMG DON’T BURN!! Low and slow is your friend. Heat till the mixture coats the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate over night.

Now just follow the instructions on your ice cream maker. Adding in chopped bits of brownie at the final 5 minutes of mixing to get your Black and Tan Ice Cream!

You do HAVE an ice cream maker right?

Wait. You followed all these steps and you DO NOT EVEN HAVE AN ICE CREAM MAKER? The HORROR! Well let’s remedy that then shall we.

I made my fabulous ice cream in one Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker. Wow that is a mouth full. A TWO QUART mouthful! Trust me when I say that is a LOT of ice cream! You can make less but really… why? Anyway, this ice cream maker was given to me by the good folks over at Cuisinart to test out and see what I think. And I think it ROCKS. This thing is FAST! And unlike my other maker does not heat up during spinning causing ice crystals in my cream. I love that I can make enough for visiting friends on the fly and clean up is a breeze. Which I like because you know after you make the ice cream, really, the fun is over. Till it is time to eat.

But let’s get back to YOUR problem. No ice cream maker. You can BUY ONE, or you can win one RIGHT HERE! My new best friends at Cuisinart have provided me with ANOTHER Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker (Suggest retail value $145.00) to give away to one lucky reader. (which is good coz we HAVE only one reader – yay you!)

The rules are simple.

Leave us a comment here telling us If you could make any ice cream flavor at all – what would it be? No answer is too weird. (You know you want that taco ice cream.)

For additional, completely optional entries:

1. Tweet about this contest: “Win a Cuisinart 2qt ice cream maker from @mycuisinart & HeCooksSheCooks.com / @bodaciousgirl http://bit.ly/BeerIceCream” Then come back and leave an additional comment telling us you tweeted.
2. Share this giveaway on Facebook (feel free to use the social love links below). Come back and leave an additional comment.
3. Stumble this page with a thumbs up (feel free to use the social love links below) and you’ll get one more entry. Be sure to comment and let me know that you did!
4. Like Cuisinart on Facebook, and leave yet another comment here.

SO that would give you a total of FIVE entries to win this AHMAZING ice cream maker. Be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you. The winner will be chosen randomly at the end of Friday, June 22nd, and will have two days to respond before we choose another winner. Open to US residents only.

Oh and by the way… one of my bestest friends Elle over at Elle’s New England Kitchen has YET ANOTHER Cuisinart Ice Cream maker to give away and likely an even better recipe then I just gave you to try. Ever summer we love to get our Scoopapalooza on and so should you! Have a ice cream or sherbet or sorbet or gelato recipe you wanna share? Head on over to the Scoopapalooza Facebook page and leave your links!

Disclaimer: Sponsored by Cuisinart. I was given one of the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker to review, at no charge.