Customer Reviews

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Since buying this book, I've tried four of Jeni's recipes: Goat Cheese and Roasted Cherries, Salty Caramel, Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World, and Buckeye State. Perfect results with all of them! Just follow the recipe, and you really will get Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home.

Before getting started, I'd recommend reading the first chapter of the book with Jeni's notes, tips, and explanation of the science behind making a great ice cream. As far as equipment goes, you'll need an electric ice cream machine (Jeni uses the Cuisinart Ice-20), whisk, 4-quart or larger pot, 2-3 mixing bowls, gallon size ziploc bags, ice cream storage container, parchment paper, and a big bowl for creating an ice bath. Other tools that comes in handy: a knife for chopping up larger ingredients, cherry pitter if you plan on making anything with cherries in it, digital kitchen scale, and double boiler for melting chocolate. You'll want an extra freezing canister if you plan on making more than one batch a day. For cooking the ice cream mixture, Jeni recommends a 4 quart pot, but I've been using a 6-quart stock pot and couldn't imagine anything smaller. When boiling your cream mixture, it could easily boil over, if your pot isn't big enough.

Basic Ice Cream Ingredients: you'll need heavy cream, whole milk, cornstarch or tapioca starch, sugar, salt, cream cheese, and light corn syrup/glucose syrup. Each recipe will also call for different additional ingredients like vanilla extract or beans, chocolate, natural peanut butter, spices, honey, nuts, liquor, etc. As with all cooking, the better the ingredients: the better the product. Buy organic ingredients and non-homogenized dairy products if you can, and splurge on the "good" chocolate...all this effort deserves the good chocolate!

Ice Cream Storage: I have tried three different storage methods. Reusable gladware/tupperware containers are ok, but I had a couple crack and shatter after freezing, leaving all the ice cream exposed to air. Specialty containers like the ones sold at designer kitchen supply stores are good, but I didn't want to spend $35 on a container, especially when I like to keep several flavors on hand. My favorite containers have been the disposable cardboard containers by Sweet Bliss. The Plain White Quart Size Frozen Dessert Containers fit one Jeni's recipe, or you can divide it between 2-3 Pint sized containers. Great for home storage and transporting (in an iced cooler).

It's been a blast to make all these great recipes, and I fully intend on cooking my way through this whole book! The recipes are well written and easy to follow. The photography is beautiful, and you get a good feel of what the finished ice cream is supposed to look like. Jeni lists her preferred suppliers if you want to use the exact same ingredients (I've found similar replacements at Whole Foods or the local farmers market).

One note: the "Salty Caramel" recipe has one small typo. The ingredient list calls for vanilla, but it's not listed in the recipe instructions. I added it at the end before mixing the cream mixture with the cream cheese mixture.

7/9/11 - One more note: there is another typo in The Milkiest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World recipe. It should read 1.25 cups of heavy cream instead of just 0.25 cups of heavy cream. I've heard that these typos will be fixed in the second edition which will be printing soon!

I've had my Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home cookbook for almost a week, and after several ice cream experiments, I thought I should post a review.

First, let's talk about the book, and then we'll talk about the finished products.

The book is such a great read - easy to understand, yet complex enough to give my inner nerd all the details I need. I'm the type of home-cook who likes to know the science behind the recipes so that I can branch out and be as creative with the flavors as I want. And Jeni doesn't miss the mark here! She teaches the "why?" behind every technique, but she says it as if she were your next-door neighbor - not the insanely smart food scientist she's become.

Next, the stories. Oh, the heart-felt personal stories about her business! Jeni gives refreshingly honest recollections of how her business began, why she uses certain products, and how she chose many of her suppliers. If these stories don't warm you up, then your heart must be even colder than the ice cream.

And then there's the photos in the book. These are not only beautiful, but also super-helpful! I know I wouldn't have been as successful in my ice cream-making ventures if I hadn't seen the photos to help me along the way.

So, I loved the book, but I loved the ice cream even more. Seriously, this is some amazing stuff. I can only recall eating homemade ice cream right after it was made; nobody ever dared try to actually put it in the freezer and eat it later! But Jeni's recipes are instead intended to be frozen solid and scooped! After a few hours in the freezer, the ice cream scoops perfectly, is firm, and has the creamiest texture you've never before had from a home ice cream maker. The finished ice cream actually tastes like and has the same texture as the Jeni's ice cream I buy down the street at one of her Scoop Shops.

Get this book today!

As a former Columbus resident, I am a huge fan of Jeni's, to the point where my sister sent me 4 pints of ice cream as a Christmas present last year. I was excited when I heard about this book, but was somewhat skeptical as to whether I could recreate Jeni's fabulous ice cream at home, especially since I haven't had much luck making ice cream with other recipes. This is where the genius of Jeni's book comes in. Her instructions are so clear they're virtually foolproof, and she has tested the recipes multiple times in home ice cream makers. This is the first ice cream recipe I tried that actually fit my ice cream maker instead of making way too much. Also, while she created a bunch of new flavors for the book, she did not skimp on sharing the recipes for most (if not all) of the tried and true favorites from her ice cream shop. We made the Salty Caramel ice cream last night, which is a staple in her shops, and it was, hands down, the best ice cream I've ever made.

In addition to the 100+ recipes she includes in the book, she also details the steps in a clear, concise manner, with base recipes for ice cream and frozen yogurt and encourages you to experiment at home with your own flavor ideas. I really feel that this book is more than just a recipe book, and more like a course in ice cream making, where you can learn the basic technique and are inspired to create your own flavors based on what is seasonal and tastes good to your palate.

I encourage you to buy this book, not just because I'm a fan of Jeni's, but because this is one of the best homemade ice cream books I've ever seen.

Adding to the raves already. THe book is nicely laid out (although not as spectacular as others say). THe recipes ARE that spectacular.

Two warnings:

1. The ingredients lists are done in pastel colors, not black. This is probably to make the pages "pretty" or "appealing" (see other reviewers who get off on that), but for anyone trying to follow them with the slightest eyesight problems, or with less than optimal lighting, it's difficult to distinguish 1/2 from 1/3 and so on.

2. She tells you that as soon as you're done cooking the base, pour it into a plastic baggie. Really? 200+ degree liquid in a flimsy bag? The first time i did this, it melted through my bag and made a mess of my cabinet. Maybe i shouldnt buy the generic bags? Regardless, just be careful.

ALso, i hate coffee and anything that even has a hint of it. So if you make the Dark Chocolate recipe, just replace the coffee with water and it turns out delicious!

If you'v ever been to one of Jeni's shops, you know how addicting (and expensive) it can be. We've found ourselves going once a week last summer! She has quality and all natural ingredient (for the most part), and I know I'm not eating a bunch of over sugared, high fructose, art. food dyed ice cream. She supports local farmers, so the price doesn't bother me too bad.

I am quite good at making ice cream, and before this book, I mastered some of Jeni's recipes just by reading the ingredients. When I heard about this book, I thought she was crazy for giving away her staple recipes! When I got my book, I read through most of the ingredients of some of my favorites and most were pretty accurate. I made the milkiest chocolate in the world, first. It's not the same as the shops, much darker (use milk chocolate instead of bittersweet), but delicious none the less. It had a thick smooth, frosting like texture. Next I made bangkok peanut, it was dead on. And just today I made our favorite, Savannah Butter mint. This was the recipe I was hoping would be in there, because I've tried to replicate it in the past. It was everything we hoped it would be, smooth, creamy, buttery, minty!

You can't go wrong with this book! A couple things to note: if you want to skip corn ingredients, use tapioca starch and organic tapioca syrup. This is what she uses in her shop and it's more accurate this way. You can find these at a health food store or here on amazon. Also, I tried the pastic bag cooling method. Don't take chances and don't waste plastic. Make your base and chill it in the fridge over night to insure it's totally chilled. This is where a lot of ice cream recipes go wrong.

It's a lovely book and I'm so grateful she wrote it and shared her recipes! Now I can save a little money! But there is still nothing like going to her shops and enjoying the tastings and fresh sundae's!

*I use a kitchenaid ice cream bowl attachment. Make sure it is frozen over night and use the slowest speed.

I consider this the best ice cream book on the market, and I've been making ice cream at home for almost ten years. The author, Jeni Britton Bauer, proprietor of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, made 75 versions of her ice cream base until she perfected it. Much of her introduction details the science of ice cream making. Eggless confections tend to be icy, but with custards the flavor of egg yolks often influences color and flavor. Her idea is to skip the eggs and to let the base flavors shine by utilizing milk proteins and corn starch to create a perfect texture.

This all sounds a bit technical, but the final product isn't difficult to make and will be the best ice cream you've ever churned at home. I served her vanilla ice cream at a family gathering, and my brother-in-law requested a double batch for his birthday.

She starts off the book with strawberry ice cream, a flavor that I've found over the years nearly impossible to pull off at home because of iciness, tartness and even coloring issues. Her version is perfect: creamy but not too rich, deeply flavored with real strawberries, beautifully pink and still scoopable after a few days in the freezer.

But these are just the basics. The book includes such innovative flavors as Cherry Lambic Sorbet, Lemon Frozen Yogurt with Blueberry Swirl, Macaroon Ice Cream Sandwiches, Queen City Cayenne ("Hot" Chocolate Ice Cream), Riesling-Poached Pear Sorbet and Bangkok Peanut (Curried Peanut Ice Cream w/Coconut). While I've only churned the first two of these, I've tried the others at her scoop shops. All of them have been excellent. She also includes recipes for sundaes, toppings and cocktails. Her Disco Melon Fizz (using Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet as a base) gives mojitos a run for their money as a hot weather drink.

I look forward to delving further into the book.

I really have enjoyed creating Jeni's ice cream in my kitchen. Obviously my first recipe was salty caramel and I was totally disappointed when I didn't know where to add the vanilla. I kept rereading hoping I missed the direction. I emailed customer comments at Jeni's a few weeks ago and didn't hear anything. I would recommend waiting for the next addition. Hopefully they will correct all the mistakes and even rewrite the directions to be a little less wordy and easier to follow. If you can't wait - get it and enjoy. The first time you make a batch the directions may seem hard to follow but after one time you will be a pro and won't need the poorly written directions.

Received the book a few weeks ago for Christmas. I read over the reviews on this site first and took the advice others gave of reading all the informational chapters before the recipes. I'm glad I did because it explains a lot of the science and why things need to be done in the order they're done etc. I also learned why the hand crank wooden ice cream maker of my childhood made great soft serve but terrible ice cream once fully frozen! Spoiler alert: it's the rogue ice crystals' fault and not the ice cream maker. Always wondered about that. Also, despite the publishing page of the book not clearly indicating which edition it is, I believe this must be a 2nd edition as many of the typos discussed in the Amazon comments have been fixed. For example, the chocolate ice cream now correctly calls for 1 1/4 cups heavy cream. Like others, I wish they would make the recipe lists easier to read. Either a larger font or putting it in bold would be a big improvement.

Now on to whether the ice cream is worth making! The first ice cream I made was the pistachio ice cream. If you have a Kitchenaid stand maker, don't follow their bone-headed suggestion in the instruction manual of adding the nuts during the last minute of freezing. That caused the dasher to instantly seize from the nuts getting in the way. Despite that mishap I was still able to incorporate the whole nuts using a rubber spatula before transferring to the freezing container. The ice cream was extremely sweet straight from the maker, but as the book and the instruction manual pointed out, the sweetness mellowed once fully frozen. Since then I've gone on to experimenting with the base recipe, making flavors like green tea ginger and mint mocha. So far none of them have been gritty or crumbly, all of them being nice and smooth like store bought ice cream.

Other than the recipe lists being difficult to read, the only other con I can give to this book is her method of using plastic bags to cool the batter. Between being an extremely messy venture and issues with heating plastic and releasing chemicals into the batter I'm not sure why that's the method she suggests. Instead I recommend pouring the batter into a metal bowl with a spout and placing that in the ice bath. It cools in the same amount of time as the bag method, much less messy, and the spout makes it super easy to pour into your ice cream maker. You can find such bowls on Amazon for pretty cheap.

EDIT: Just wanted to share some more recipes I've tried. The cranberry sorbet was wonderful. The goat cheese was very decadent. We could only eat a few spoonfuls at a time. The star anise had a more subtle flavor than I expected and was very good. Reminded me of Christmas cookies my German grandmother used to make.

I'm lucky enough to live in Columbus, Ohio, so I can visit Jeni's anytime I want. But when I saw this on a food blog, I had to get it. I bought an ice cream maker last year, but like most of my kitchen gadgets, it went largely unused. I received my copy of the book last night and read most of it already.

I knew the first recipe I wanted to try was the Savannah Buttermint. It's a toss-up between this and Salty Caramel for my favorite ice cream, but the Salty Caramel seemed a bit more involved than I wanted to start with.

I was able to purchase all the ingredients at the grocery store for this recipe, since they are pretty common. For some of the more obscure things, there is a good source list in the back of the book on where you can find some of the hard to find flavorings and ingredients.

I just pulled the ice cream out of the ice cream maker and put it in the freezer, but not before licking off the spatula. Let me just say, the ice cream maker is now going to have to work overtime because the ice cream was amazing. Silky smooth and full of flavor. I am so glad that I was able to replicate the flavor at home that I am able to get at Jeni's.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to absolutely anybody that loves Jeni's ice cream, or any ice cream for that matter. Now I just need to work my way through the rest of the 100 recipes.

Just like Jeni's actual ice cream, this book is thoughtfully created and presented. It's beautiful and inviting, readable and usable. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give ice cream making a try but has a palette beyond just vanilla and chocolate. Everything tastes amazing!