Milk Street Digital Class: Ambitious Approaches to Ice Cream with Rose Wilde

What’s on the Menu: 
Fresh Berry Sorbet
Classic Mint Chip Ice Cream
Fleur de Lait (Sweet Cream) Gelato 
Mix-Ins: Honeycomb, Cookie Crumbles, Chocolate, Sprinkles & More

Join guest teacher Rose Wilde, one of the most boldly creative bakers out there, at two pre-recorded sessions that cover sorbet, gelato and ice cream. Over the course of these two 90-minute sessions, you’ll learn the differences between these beloved frozen confections and will come to understand how fat, sugar, protein and air interact to produce different flavors and textures. You’ll use seasonal fruit, fresh herbs and creative mix-ins to create flavors that you’ll never find anywhere else. 

In the first session, we focus on the bases for all three frozen confections: sorbet, ice cream and gelato. You’ll learn to make one eggless version of sorbet and one that uses only egg whites for remarkably different textures. You’ll wrap your head around the key differences between ice cream and gelato—hint: eggs, fat content and temperature will be important here—and become familiar with the essential ratios you need to know for each. We discuss the pros and cons of hot vs. cold infusions, both of which can be used to achieve the kinds of bold, fresh flavors that Rose seeks in all of her desserts. You’ll draw on her library of botanical knowledge to dream up original combinations of herbs, fruits, liquors and more to experiment with in your base recipes. 

At the second session, we churn the bases and give you guidance on the visual signals to look for in perfectly mixed bases. While they spin, we turn to the wide world of mix-ins. Not just any old thing makes a good mix-in, and some ingredients need to be prepared in counterintuitive ways to work well in ice cream. You’ll learn how to execute a perfect jam ribbon, achieve clusters of buttery cookie crumble and incorporate nuts, jam, chocolate and nut butters successfully. Plus, Rose shows you how to make honeycomb candy—one of her all-time favorite mix-ins—and a final no-churn ice cream that is a gift to kitchen minimalists everywhere. We wrap up with some deliciously extravagant ice cream sandwiches.