Happy June, friends! I can't believe how quickly spring as flown by! We are almost to the full heat of summer here in New England. Our finicky spring weather is starting to subside, and the heavy, sticky, humidity is starting to creep in. Of course I have a million things I want to tell you, and I have FOUR posts ready to share with you - but first things first. Hoodsie Cups. They have quickly been bumped to the front of the line because yesterday they were shared on Food52's Small Batch column! Adding "Food52 contributor" to my resume was one big huge goal of mine when I started this blog (almost!) a year ago. I am so excited to now say that I can cross that one off the bucket list! So, here is the recipe - and next time, I will provide that yummy blueberry and violet tea cake with honeysuckle milky tea I have been promising!
Here in New England, summer would not be summer with out Hoodsie cups. The little 3oz waxed paper cups filled with equal parts chocolate and vanilla ice cream have been enjoyed by New Englanders since 1947. These iconic cups are the perfect size for little hands, and they are the ideal treat for mothers and teachers, coaches and camp counselors. For decades, these ice cream cups have been used to entice children to come home for dinner, to end that last game of kick the can, or to finally come off of the beach.
When we were kids we ate these little treats everywhere. We ate them at school after a big end of the year pizza party, we ate them from the ice cream truck at the beach, we ate them after soccer games and we ate them at Captain Fishhook (remember that poem? I'll write more about the actual event later!), we even ate them on the ferry going over to Marthas Vineyard. They were packed in to coolers filled with ice when we were spending the day out on the lake in Maine, or eaten quickly at a pit stop on the bike path in Woods Hole.
I thought that making my own Hoodsie cups might be a fun idea to try for this summer, showing moms and teachers, coaches and camp counselors that if you are up for it – you can make your own treats right at home! They are perfect for June, as we approach the end of the school year and the beginning of summer activities. You can buy little 3oz paper cups here, and start making this favorite childhood treat!
They are a teeny bit tricky, only because unless you have two ice cream makers, you have to plan to make the chocolate and vanilla ice creams at different times. I also had to figure out how to separate the two flavors in the cups. Hood does it in a factory, with special equipment that fills the cups simultaneously with chocolate and vanilla ice cream which doesn't cause it to blend together, but I had to figure out an alternative at-home way to do it. I simply used folded up aluminum foil, folded quite thick so it gave a good barrier, placed in the cups so that the foil was placed in the center. I then squished a small ball of aluminum foil and placed it on one side of the cup, to give a little bit of resistance when I piped in the ice cream. Oh yeah, did I mention that I piped in the ice cream? I did. Best decision by far. Trying to spoon soft serve ice cream in to a small portion of a cup was such a mess. Using a piping bag was a much better idea. And it made it look so even!
I suggest making both the vanilla and the chocolate custards on the same day, just so that you can cut down on your cooking time. I attempted to make both at the exact same time in separate pans, but quickly realized that I am not in fact an octopus, and had to abandon one pan of simmering milk while I tended to the other. Its easy to forget how needy custard can be. If you are like me, and multitasking is a challenge, maybe just focus on one custard at a time.
Because I only have one ice cream maker, I first made my vanilla ice cream and let the chocolate custard cool for a day longer. I filled my cups with my vanilla soft serve and put them in the freezer, along with my clean ice cream bowl to chill for the next days chocolate ice cream. This actually worked very well, because I needed the vanilla ice cream to harden over night anyway. The next day, my ice cream bowl was sufficiently frozen again, and my vanilla cups were solid. I removed the aluminum foil that was still sticking to the ice cream, and churned my chocolate custard. Once that was churned to soft serve consistency, I could pipe it right in next to the vanilla. I then covered them with plastic wrap and popped them back in the freezer over night. The next day I could finally enjoy this creamy, nostalgic treat. They were definitely worth the three day wait - and the best news was that this recipe made 8 little cups, plenty to bring to the beach!
As I said, you can also find this recipe over on Food52, as my very first Small Batch contribution! A huge thank you to Leslie, who edited this crazy recipe and made it make sense over on the Food52 site. This has defiantly given me a greater knowledge of recipe developing and writing, and figuring out what makes sense to other readers. I have to remember that not everyones brain is as disorganized and crazy as mine!
• What You Will Need •
• an ice cream maker
• little 3oz waxed paper cups
• aluminum foil
• plastic wrap
• For the Vanilla Ice Cream •
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Add the milk, cream, and vanilla to a saucepan on medium heat. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat.
Vigorously whisk the yolks, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Slowly pour some of the hot cream mixture into the yolks while whisking.
Pour the egg and sugar mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk, and return to stove over medium-low heat.
Stir in a figure 8 motion with a wood spoon or rubber spatula for several minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. Pour in to a heat proof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap that’s pressed directly against the custard to prevent a skin from forming.
Chill in fridge until very cold, preferably overnight.
Meanwhile, prepare your paper cups. Using a large piece of aluminum foil, about one foot in diameter, I folded it upon itself until I had a small rectangle that would fit inside my paper cup. It should be short and thick, strong enough to hold back the ice cream. Take another smaller piece of aluminum foil and crumple it in to a ball that can be stuffed in to the other side of the paper cup, so that there is enough resistance when you fill the other side with ice cream.
Once the custard has been chilled overnight, churn in an ice cream maker until soft serve consistency.
After the ice cream has been churned, and it is "soft-serve" consistency, spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle. Pipe vanilla ice cream in to each paper cup, being sure to only fill one side. Cover each paper cup with a bit of plastic wrap and return to freezer. Allow to freeze until solid, six hours or up to over night.
• For the Chocolate Ice Cream •
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Add the milk, cream, vanilla and cocoa powder to a saucepan on medium heat. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat.
Vigorously whisk the yolks, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Slowly pour some of the hot cream mixture into the yolks while whisking.
Pour the egg and sugar mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk, and return to stove over medium-low heat. Stir in a figure 8 motion with a wood spoon or rubber spatula for several minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. Pour in to a heat proof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap that’s pressed directly against the liquid to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until very cold, preferably overnight.
Once the custard has been chilled overnight, churn in an ice cream maker until soft serve consistency.
Make sure at this point to remove the aluminum foil from your cups, leaving only the solid half of vanilla ice cream in the cups.
Once the ice cream has been churned, and it is "soft-serve" consistency, spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle. Pipe chocolate ice cream in to each paper cup, in the empty side, next to the solid vanilla ice cream. Cover each paper cup with a bit of plastic wrap and return to freezer. Allow to freeze until solid, six hours or up to over night.
Enjoy on the beach, at the park, on a boat or at the game!
listening to: MMMBop by Hanson…because, nostalgia.