Chocolate Gelato

We make ice cream at home quite a lot and I've posted several ice cream recipes in the past.  But I get asked enough about how to make gelato that I thought it was time for a post.

The big question for people is what is the difference between American ice cream and Italian gelato? When people taste gelato, they comment on the intensity of flavor and the different texture it has.  Gelato is very dense and this is because there is not the amount of air whipped into it like American ice cream.  Ice cream has a lot of air whipped into it and it makes for a lighter texture. Ice cream is also made from cream and sometimes eggs and has quite a bit of butterfat.  Gelato has much less butterfat and is made from milk. 

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Hazelnut Semifreddo with Caramel Sauce

 

When Brian and I were on our great food and wine adventure to Oregon last summer, we saw lots of orchards that we could not identify.  As it turns out they were hazelnut trees.  I love hazelnuts.  Some people call them filberts.  They are the nutty goodness in Nutella.  Turns out Oregon is the major producer of hazelnuts here in the United States.  It was nice to see them used on so many of the restaurant menus in that area, especially in their wine country.  I wanted to cook more with them when I got home.

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Lemon Blueberry Cake with Blueberry Cream

 

I usually make this delicious cake/bread in a couple of 9x5 loaf pans.  It's a great breakfast/brunch bread. But I was supposed to bring dessert to an evening get together with some of my friends and I had some great blueberries from a local farm and way too many lemons in my fridge, so I immediately thought of this cake.  When you make it in the loaf pans, the slices are very pretty, really showing off the blueberries.  But I wanted to try something different, so I made it in my little individual bundt cakes pan.  They came out cute, but I think I still like it best just in the loaf pans.

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