Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream

I bought this several years ago and have waited until I made enough recipes to give a fair review. The orange flower water and pistachio cookie ice cream is deliciously exotic. The shortbread cookies (of which you’ll only use a handful) are wonderful and are worth making by themselves. The blueberry and sour cream ice cream is like the best blintz or danish filling you’ll ever have, though you may want to use more blueberry compote than the recipe states. My favorite so far is the palm sugar ice cream which will remind you of a ‘better’ maple walnut ice cream. I’ve added toasted pecans and walnuts to this (probably unnecessarily) for crunch one of the times I’ve made it.

Say what you will about this book being too chatty, too this, too that but I can tell you that every recipe I've tried has been superb. Their passion fruit ice cream is one of the single best things I've eaten in my entire life. I've had the book less than a year and I've made that particular recipe at least 5 or 6 times. Yes, I had to order puree (from Amazon) but passion fruit is not native to the US and when imported the fruits are always of poor quality. Do you want a book that reads well or do you want a trove of delicious ice cream varieties that never miss the mark?

Chatty cookbook with outstanding ice cream recipes. The chocolate is to die for. Unfortunately if you buy organic ingredients, it's just as expensive as buying their ice cream from the shop or by the pint. But honestly, the chocolate tastes even better fresh from your ice cream maker than it does from when you come into their shoppie for it. Also, the vegan ice cream is unbelievable. The only thing is that they call for cocoa butter, and it's impossible to get food grade cocoa butter in Brooklyn grocery stores and natural groceries. I just use extra coconut oil to keep the fat ratio the same.

It ain't easy to make real ice cream, but this book makes it entirely doable.Well written and easy to follow an otherwise complex process to make rally great ice cream. Never again the store-bought variety!

Overall, I like the book, but I bought it only for its vegan recipes. The non-vegan section has so many delicious ice creams - it would have been great if the book had a few more vegan versions of these delicious recipes. Also, I find the vegan ice cream base (coconut milk, cashew milk, coconut oil, and coca butter) too overpowering...the proportion of the base and the ingredients that provide the main flavors in the ice cream (e.g. the sugar in the salted caramel) seems a bit off to me. I will try to reduce the proportion of the base, to see if I can get a stronger flavor. Most of the ice creams I have made all taste the same because the base flavors are too strong.

Although I haven't had a chance to make any ice cream, I love the story and the company's philosophy and commitment to excellence, from sourced ingredients to commitment, and the little extra stories from each of the owners. I look forward to stopping by one of their stores or ice cream trucks during my travels!

This book will take your ice-cream skills to the next level. Delicious recipes and practical advise for perfecting ice cream. Your family and friends will be amazed by your creations. Be brave and try the goat cheese ice cream recipe. It’s amazing.

It was a bonus to learn how the company was formed and what their production standards are. Even though summer is officially over I will be making ice cream at home over the next few months knowing that the quality ingredients I use will exclude any of the items used in commercial ice cream I'd like to avoid. You will be inspired to do the same.