Meet the new Queen of Ice Cream

Unlike the recent spate of ice cream cookbooks, Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree isn’t a book from an iconic local shop or specialty label ice cream manufacturer. As indexed magazine Saveur explains in its interview with Dana, the cookbook is more of “a single-subject edition of Modernist Cuisine, or a biochem textbook where the at-home exercises reward you with incredible dessert.”  

Dana believes that with a basic understanding of the science behind ice cream, people who want to make the frozen treat at home can vastly improve their product. Knowing how the sugars, proteins, and fats interact allows you to overcome obstacles presented by the equipment available to home cooks. 

While other authors avoid most stablizers, Dana thinks their negative reputation is undeserved, and she discusses several natural stabilizers that home cooks can use to make their ice cream creamier. One of those is locust bean gum. Dana explains it “sounds like a Biblical plague, but it comes from the carob plant. If we put carob in our cookies as a substitute for chocolate, we’re super-healthy hippies. So I’m not sure why using another part of the plant makes us big evil stabilizer people.”

You can learn more about the book in Jenny’s write-up, where you will also find a sample recipe for the Donut ice cream pictured above. And don’t forget to enter our contest, which ends May 4th, for a chance to win a copy of Hello, My Name is Ice Cream. We’re giving away three copies to US Members.