One of the first foods that come to mind warm season is ice cream. It is cold, it is creamy and it is fun. But then we remember other things about ice cream, such as the high-cholesterol content, its refined cane sugar, and its additives, we are not so sure we want to eat it after all.

Fortunately, we have a delicious alternative to conventional ice creams; an alternative that not only tastes good but is good. It is soy ice cream, and there are many brands on the market to choose from. And as the name implies, the soy ice cream are based on soybeans instead of dairy products, and there are lots of good reasons to choose soy ice cream over conventional ice cream.

First, there is the cholesterol content. Although high-butterfat content may enhance flavor in some specialty or gourmet ice cream, it is something our bodies are better off without. Regular ice cream has about 53 milligrams of cholesterol per cup. Another reason to choose soy ice cream is to avoid sugar. If you are trying to cut down on refined cane sugar or avoid it altogether, soy ice cream is a good choice. Check the label and you will see that it is sweetened with honey, maple syrup, natural fruit sugars, or fructose corn sweeteners.

If you are lactose intolerant, allergic to milk or milk products, or just want to cut down on your consumption of dairy products, soy ice creams are perfect for you, too. They are made with out dairy products. If you are dieting, you will want to check the calorie count on the brands and flavors you choose. There is a difference not just among brands, but also among flavors within the same brand. Some have as few as 120 calories per serving, while others have as many as 210.

They come in a side variety of flavors, too, including vanilla, strawberry, wild berry supreme, carob, toasted almond, vanilla almond, banana pecan, and chocolate supreme. They also come in ice cream sandwiches.
You can serve soy ice cream in the same way you would other ice creams. You might like to try them as a topping for fruit crisps, pies, and cobblers; packed into a whole grain pie shell and topped with a fruit sauce or home made pudding, and topped with chopped nuts or shredded, grated, or flaked coconut; in dessert glasses accompanied by whole-grain cookies; in sundaes; in shakes; in floats made with natural soda; as snowballs or nut balls made by shaping the ice cream into balls, rolling them in coconut or chopped nuts, and then returning them to the freezer to harden; or as a smoothie made by blending ice cream and fruit juice in the blender. Soy ice cream are widely available, more so than you might suspect. You can find them, as you would expect, in health food stores and gourmet food shops. You can also find them in many supermarkets.

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It is recalling the 5.5 fluid ounce items in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a statement from the Le Mars, Iowa, company on the FDA's website said. People with an allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat or with gluten sensitivities may be at risk from consuming the products, it said.

On a limited number of packages, the lid describes the product as Blue Bunny Super Chunky Cookie Dough ice cream, and the carton describes the product as Blue Bunny Peanut Butter Panic ice cream. The product inside the carton is Super Chunky Cookie Dough.

The ingredient statement on the carton does not declare wheat, an ingredient in the Cookie Dough ice cream product. The mispackaged product was distributed in cartons with Lot Number 10009 "Best Used By" date 10/1/2012, - UPC 0 70640 00463, and shipped to Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas.

No other Blue Bunny ice cream products are affected. No adverse reactions have been reported to date.  Consumers who have purchased the recalled products should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund.

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Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 full star of star anise
10 whole allspices
10 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
5 whole peppercorns
1/4 cup black tea leaves (NOT a 1/4 cup of brewed tea)
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 egg yolks

How to make Chai Ice Cream Recipe:

In a saucepan, stir together half of the cream (1 cup), all the milk, and the spices. Heat through until quite hot but not boiling. Lower the heat to keep the mixture warm, and let steep for about an hour. Put the pot back on the heat, and bring it back up to almost boiling. Stir in the black tea leaves, and remove from heat. Let it steep for another 10 minutes before straining out tea leaves and remaining other spices. Return to heat, and add the sugar. Stir to mix and dissolve.

Meanwhile put ice and water into a large mixing bowl, then place the remaining cup of cream in a smaller bowl. Set the cream bowl into the ice water bath. This is a good step to do while the tea leaves are steeping, so the cream is chilled.

In yet another small bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add a small amount of the warm milk mixture to the eggs while stirring. You don’t want to cook the eggs, so you need to heat them slowly. Once the egg mixture is thoroughly warmed up, pour it all back into the saucepan.

Back on low heat, warm up the custard until it starts to thicken. It should coat the back of a spoon, after about 10 minutes. Pour it quickly into the chilled cream in the ice bath, and stir to stop the cooking. Strain out any lumps. Once cooled, refrigerate for several hours. Use this in your ice cream maker, as per its instructions.

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Ingredients:

4 eggs, beaten
2 cup sugar
5 cup milk
Dash of salt
2  cans evaporated milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1  jar maraschino cherries, chopped and drained

How to make Cherry Nut Ice Cream:

Combine eggs, sugar and salt; blend well.
Add evaporated milk, milk and vanilla.
Stir in pecans and cherries.
Pour mixture into freezer can of a 5 quart hand-turned or electric freezer.
Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Allow ice cream to ripen at least one hour.
Cherry Nut Ice Cream is ready to eat.
Enjoy!

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Ingredients

3 cups pitted fresh cherries
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet the cherries and how sweet you want your frozen yogurt to be)
1/4 cup whole milk (can substitute half-and-half or cream for creamier version)
1 1/2 cups full fat yogurt (if you are using non or low-fat yogurt, add 2 Tbsp heavy cream)
2 Tbsp almond liqueuer such as Amaretto (optional)

How to make Cherry Frozen Yogurt Recipe:

Place the pitted cherries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until  the sugar is completely dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the berries in the pot which will release some of their moisture. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Place contents in a blender and pulse until smooth. Mix cherry purée, milk, and yogurt together in a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour; the longer the mixture chills the better (can chill overnight). Right before processing in an ice cream maker, add the almond liqueur if using. The alcohol in the liqueur will help keep the frozen yogurt smooth, but it is not necessary. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes. You can eat it right away (it will be rather soft) or put it in the freezer for a few hours to harden up a bit.

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Ingredients:

568ml carton double cream
300ml whole milk
½ vanilla pod, split
6 large egg yolks
50g caster sugar
300g raspberries
Icing sugar to taste

Put the cream, milk and vanilla pod in a heavy-based pan and heat until just below boiling point. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy. Remove the vanilla pod from the hot cream mixture. Pour the cream mixture on to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and heat very gently, stirring, until the custard thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon – this should take 10-12 minutes. Strain the custard into a clean bowl and leave to cool. At this stage, you can chill the custard for a few hours before continuing.

You can now process the custard in an ice cream maker until thick and holding its shape. Transfer to a freezer container. Alternatively, pour the custard into a freezer container, cover and place in the freezer. Remove after 2 hours and whisk well to break up the ice crystals. Return to the freezer. Repeat the process twice more or until the ice cream is extremely thick and holds its shape.

Meanwhile, purée the raspberries in a blender. Sieve to remove the pips. If the purée tastes tart, sweeten with a little icing sugar (it will taste even less sweet when frozen).

Spoon the raspberry purée through the thick ice cream, making a ‘ripple’ effect. Cover and freeze overnight or until firm. Remove the ice cream from the freezer 5 minutes before serving. Scoop into balls and serve.

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Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls ice cream is too hot to handle for some supermarket chains. While the new limited-edition flavor has brought chuckles from fans of the "Saturday Night Live" skit on which it's based, some supermarket chains aren't laughing and have been giving it a cold shoulder.

The flavor featuring fudge-covered rum balls has been absent from some grocery freezers since it was unveiled. The title was inspired by an innuendo-laced 1998 skit featuring Alec Baldwin as baker Pete Schweddy, who promises, "No one can resist my Schweddy balls."But apparently some grocery store chains can, and so can supporters and members of the One Million Moms group.

That Mississippi-based moms organization has been putting the heat on retailers to keep Schweddy Balls out of their freezers and encouraging parents to ask the Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's to stop production of the item, saying the name is nothing but locker room humor that's not appropriate for young children.

Store chains that have decided not to carry the flavor are not saying whether their decisions were influenced by the One Million Moms group, their own reservations about the name or other factors.
Suzi Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop chain, said that for proprietary reasons, the company does not disclose the reasons behind decisions about what the stores do and don't carry. She said they have a very strong relationship with Ben & Jerry's, though, and its products are generally strong sellers.

"We haven't received any complaints that we're not carrying that flavor. However, if we do get feedback from customers that they want it, we'll certainly revisit the decision," she said. Messages were left Thursday for spokespeople from the Roche Bros. and Big Y grocery chains, both based in Massachusetts; and Publix, which has scores of locations in the southeastern U.S., about whether they had decided to stock the flavor.

Even with limited availability, though, Ben & Jerry's spokesman Sean Greenwood said Thursday that Schweddy Balls has quickly become the most popular limited-edition flavor the company has produced.
Greenwood said about one-third of the retailers that carry its other products are offering Schweddy Balls, about the same as any other specialty flavor it has produced - though this one has outpaced those in sales at the stores and the company's "Scoop Shops."

"We've heard from lots of folks who are fans of the flavor," he said. "Yes, some supermarket chains decided not to carry Schweddy Balls. That is true, possibly because they found the name too irreverent. We respect their decision."Ben & Jerry's, a division of consumer products giant Unilever, has toyed with language in some other products, too, such as its widely stocked Karamel Sutra ice cream and the peanut butter-laden What a Cluster, formerly known as Clusterfluff.

But it was Schweddy Balls that raised the ire of the conservative One Million Moms group. Monica Cole, director of the Tupelo, Miss.-based organization, said Thursday they hesita ed to call out Ben & Jerry's publicly about the name because they did not want to give it publicity. She said they felt obligated, though, especially given that they did not step forward with their concerns about its "Hubby Hubby" flavor, a play on its "Chubby Hubby" flavor and created to recognize same-sex marriages.

"We don't want the envelope to continue to be pushed," Cole said of the Schweddy Balls name. "I realize it could be a lot worse, but are they going to progressively get worse if we don't say something? Maybe they'll think twice before they come up with another inappropriate name for ice cream."The company's website encourages members and supporters to warn the company they will stop buying its products if more Schweddy Balls or other products with offense names are produced. "The vulgar new flavor has turned something as innocent as ice cream into something repulsive. Not exactly what you want a child asking for at the supermarket," the organization's website says. But some are - including Gina Ragusa's 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, whose mother said Thursday they all eagerly await the day when they can find Schweddy Balls in a supermarket near their home in Davie, Fla.

Ragusa, 44, said they find the name and the skit itself to be just harmless humor, and she checks for the item almost every time she stops at her nearby Publix store. "I get it, I know 'Saturday Night Live' isn't geared toward a 10-year-old, but they know when Justin Timberlake is on," said Ragusa, whose family has the "Schweddy balls" skit on a DVD of Baldwin's greatest SNL appearances. "We just think it's funny, that's all," she said of the ice cream name, "and honestly we all really want to try it."

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Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of Salt
4 teaspoons instant coffee (get decaf)
6 egg yolks
10 oreo cookies, crushed
1 ounce (2 Tbsp) Mount Gay rum, or other golden rum
How to make Coffee Oreo Cookie Mount Gay Ice Cream Recipe:

Heat 1 cup of the cream, 1 cup of milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan on medium heat until steaming, but not boiling. Stir in the instant coffee until it is dissolved. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set in an ice water bath in a larger bowl. Set a mesh seive on top of the bowls. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the heated milk, cream, coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm milk, but not cooked by it. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof, flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. Be patient. This step can take 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the custard through the seive and stir it into the chilled cream. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.

When thoroughly chilled and ready to put into your ice cream maker, add the rum and the crushed oreo cookies. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a plastic storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

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Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of Salt
4 teaspoons instant coffee (get decaf)
6 egg yolks
10 oreo cookies, crushed
1 ounce (2 Tbsp) Mount Gay rum, or other golden rum

Heat 1 cup of the cream, 1 cup of milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan on medium heat until steaming, but not boiling. Stir in the instant coffee until it is dissolved. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set in an ice water bath in a larger bowl. Set a mesh seive on top of the bowls. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the heated milk, cream, coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm milk, but not cooked by it. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof, flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. Be patient. This step can take 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the custard through the seive and stir it into the chilled cream. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.

When thoroughly chilled and ready to put into your ice cream maker, add the rum and the crushed oreo cookies. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a plastic storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

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Ice cream lovers are probably the kind who duck into the cold comfort of blazing air-conditioners, rather than brave 20-minute waits in the sweltering heat in queues. But the 50 or so standing in line for Cold Stone Creamery do so willingly.

This is the first store of this American franchise to open in Singapore and it entices you with whiffs of freshly made waffles, creamy wonders and delightful crushed toppings such as Graham crackers, peanut butter cups and apple pie filling.

Others may be drawn by the server, who occasionally bursts into a quick song; a trademark of the franchise. That explains why the sign at the end of the queue at level 1 of Orchard Central (OC) reads “The fun begins here”.

Outside, one can see the creamer whipping out tins of rich vanilla ice cream, and Cold Stone promises fresh batches daily. Apart from Cotton Candy and Cheesecake, most of the ice cream are traditional flavours. With 18 – 20 of them, you could spend several minutes deciding what to pick.

Known in America for being a fun premium ice cream parlor, it has the capacity to seat up to 52 customers at one time.

Not only is the concept of being able to “make your own ice cream” fun, LeRoy Chan, PR Consultant from FoodNews tells UrbanWire that any customer who walks in can request to play game of toss-and-catch, where they try to catch their own ice cream.If you miss, you get a second chance, and Cold Stone won’t charge you extra. Don’t worry, you still get to eat your ice cream.

Here’s a typical day at Cold Stone Creamery:

Cold Stone actually isn’t the first creamery adopting the mix-in approach. However, they have a long heritage of 23 years from America, and now boasts more than 1,500 outlets in the world. LeRoy also explains that at Cold Stone, they don’t use low-fat ingredients simply because they pride themselves on being a company that focuses on taste. While your waistline won’t thank you for their ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies and cakes, your taste buds certainly will.

Signature creations such as Banana Caramel Crunch, Cookie Mintster, Mud Pie Mojo go for only $5.50 for the ‘Like It’ size of their smallest 4 oz serving. Add $1 if you fancy a freshly made waffle bowl and top another 50 cents for the chocolate-dipped one. Signature shakes are available in 1 size only at $8.50 (Warning: this is rich and filling enough to replace lunch). Pricing is considerably reasonable for the ice cream and entertainment is a delight.

1. Founder’s Favourite
One of the flavours most in demand, this creation is a classic combination of Sweet Cream Ice Cream with toppings such as pecans, fudge and caramel that appeal to the young and young at heart.

Our favourite part of this velvety sensation? The chewy brownie bits that are evenly distributed in the entire cup. Flavours are rich yet not too overpowering and it’s definitely worth giving a try if you are a fan of the classic chocolate/vanilla palate.

Much thought was put into this creation as the amount of caramel and fudge added into the ice cream is perfect – neither too sweet not too insubtantial. Word has it that Cold Stone creators remain particular about the quality and variety of ingredients and amount (although not to the clinical precision of weighing each addition) added to each cup sold to customers.

It’s no wonder that every cup of Founder’s Favourite remains consistent and it is also one of the 3 favorites in their menu.

Also try: Chocolate Devotion and Strawberry Banana Rendezvous. These 2 other flavours complete the top 3 products in their signature menu.

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