Like many other people, I love Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Unfortunately, the premium taste also comes with a premium price, so many years ago my husband gifted me with this book.
It's fun to read about how it all began (two chubby little boys who liked eating more than gym- and who can blame them?) and how they fought off the evil Pilsbury Dough Boy to take a stand in the giant world of commercially delivered ice cream. But really, I'm here for the recipes. Sadly, they had some flaws.
While I realize this was written over ten years ago, I think it's almost inexcusable that nowhere do the authors mention cooking the eggs before you use them. Even if you aren't concerned with salmonella (and if you're using egg yolks, you should be), the difference between a raw and cooked egg base is immense- no matter how much chocolate you throw at it, raw eggs just aren't going to be as delicious. Reams of dessert recipes later, I've figured out how to do it (beat the eggs and sugar, scald the milk, slowly add to egg mixture then carefully cook over low heat until you have something resembling a custard sauce NOT scrambled eggs; chill, then add your cream- THEN use the ice cream maker). Was that so hard?
Also, while I appreciate that they are ice cream makers and not bakers, the recipes they give for their ice cream cakes are off as far as amounts given. For instance, for their brownie ice cream cake, they advise baking their Superfudge brownies in two six inch cake pans and then covering the confection with 1 quart of beaten whipping cream. Having made this recipe several times, I can say without any doubt that their proportions are all wrong- you'll end up with enough left over batter for more than a few cupcakes and possibly another layer. And having doubled this recipe and successfully frosted it with the whippings of two cups of cream, either they whipped their cream to butter or they miscalculated (and didn't test) this recipe.
Still, once you have the technique down (Nigella Lawson's books are good for that), the ingredients and amounts they list work pretty well (again, if you're not baking). I'll never part with this, but I wouldn't give this to anyone just starting out on their homemade ice cream adventure.
