Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream: The Art and Science of the Scoop: A Cookbook Hardcover – March 28, 2017

Great book for those wanting to make homemade ice cream, sorbet, etc! My oldest moved out and appropriated my original book. This one is good enough that I bought another. Easy instruction with great results!

I absolutely freaking LOVE this book! If you love ice cream and plan to make ice cream BUY THIS BOOK.Quick Background: I work as a professional baker but have a degree in a science field. This book totally meshed with both sides of my personality. I had just recently gotten the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid stand mixer and had made a few batches of ice cream but, (1) they came out good but not mindblowingly good and I wanted to learn how to make really good ice cream, and (2) I like understanding the science and theory behind the things I make so I can adapt recipes to fit my tastes better and this book looked like the perfect reference. I read the entire things cover to cover in an afternoon. I don't think I've ever read a cookbook cover to cover, never mind in one sitting.I've made two flavors in the book, created one flavor from a "blank slate" recipe, and made three of the mix-ins so far. All of them came out amazing.PROS:- Even though this book can be used to go very much into the nitty gritty and details of ice cream making, it's extremely simple to follow and understand and make recipes from even if you don't want to take the dive into the details.- The entire first third of the book describe the "how" and "why" of ice cream making. It breaks the science down in a way that's easily understandable even if you don't have a science background, but also doesn't dumb it down to the point that it feels patronizing. It also goes over things you should know for churning ice cream at home, in small batches professionally, and commercially.- The middle third is composed of ice cream recipes. However, it's split up into four sections (a) custard-style ice cream, (b) Philadelphia-style ice cream, (c) sherbets, and (d) frozen yogurt. The beginning of each section has a "blank slate" recipe that has the standard ratio for the style that can be adapted to whatever flavor you're trying to make.- Before the final third (the final third is composed of recipes for combining flavors and mix-ins together which I haven't used much since I've been mixing and matching to my own tastes) is a section with recipes for mix-ins. This is the section that truly blew me away. Dana has put together recipes for everything to have the perfect consistency when frozen -- even things like chocolate ripples and cookie dough. This was an AMAZING reference, as most recipes online just suggest the usual room-temperature optimal recipes.- At the end of the book, there is a final section that really goes into the nitty gritty of ratios even down to breaking the ingredients down into their protein, fat, and sugar contents, and then gives you ranges for both optimal texture and where it'll cause the ice cream to become, well, not ice cream.CONS (really there are very few and can't even really be considered cons):- The only thing I wish had been added to the book is explanations on how the recipes came about for the mix-ins. I would love to know how she altered recipes so that things like cookie dough wouldn't freeze rock hard so that I could adapt the technique to other things I might like to mix in that she didn't have room to include in the book. For example, I really like to have baked chocolate chip cookies mixed into my ice cream, but "chocolate chip cookies" are not explicitly included in the book as a recipe. It would've been cool to know how she changed, for example, the chocolate wafer recipe so that perhaps I could use it as a quick reference on how to change my chocolate chip cookie recipe. However, as I said, it's not really a con, it's just that the rest of the book focuses so much on how the recipes were developed and having adaptable recipes that I was a bit surprised when the mix-in section wasn't as flexible.

I am new to making ice cream and loved the science behind it explained in plain English plus the recipes work great and so easy to understand.

THE book for anyone who makes ice cream and similar frozen desserts. It's the ice cream bible.We're especially grateful to the author for sharing her ice cream university training in terms of the science. Because we're both whole food plant based vegan and develop recipes, this information alone will mean that we'll be able to create balanced plant based frozen desserts that resemble ice cream. Who knows, we might even fool the naysayers who think that a vegan meal is only salads...sigh.This book will help you never again have crunchy or rock hard ice cream. By following the science and the recipes, you'll always end up with creamy, dreamy and smooth ice cream. With this foundation as the jumping off point, you'll also be able to develop your own take on what constitutes the best ice cream.Thank you, Dana Cree! Happy learning...

So this book was recommended by a comment for the book by Salt & Straw. It was on sale, down from $13 to $2.97. For that price, I bought it.Overall, it is poorly written especially compare to David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop". But again for 3 bucks, you may find it a worthwhile addition to your ice cream book collection.Update 6/17/2020 - Changed from 2 stars to 4 stars. The reason to buy this book is not for the recipes but the clear and concise explanation of the science of ice cream.

I bought this book with the expectation that it’d be the standard very-high-level overview about how ice cream works and then a selection of immutable recipes for ice cream.I couldn’t have been more wrong...and I’m totally OK with that.As a chemistry major and a materials science grad student, it was really nice to read about cross-linking in proteins and crystal structures in the constituent materials of ice cream in a way that didn’t gloss over some important things but that was also totally accessible even without a hardcore science background.It was also hugely helpful to have a set of blank slate recipes for various styles of ice cream. The blank slate recipes give ingredients in sample amounts but also as percentages for easy scaling up/down. Additionally, the blank slate recipes are infinitely customizable: you can make something that is known to be amazing (e.g, a salted caramel vanilla Philadelphia-style ice cream) or something totally off-the-wall (e.g., a V8 sherbet with extra celery...which my wife might enjoy). I really like that the author teaches readers how to make their own unique creations; she gives you enough rope for you to make some awesome stuff, but that’s also enough rope to potentially hang yourself (V8 sherbet, anyone?).There’s also lots of info about making add-ins; her cookie dough is amazing because, like other add-ins in this section, it doesn’t turn into a tooth-breaking rock when it’s frozen. Being from the South (Alabama, to be precise), I was very appreciative for her simple recipe for a sorghum syrup for adding to ice cream to make a ribbon/swirl.Definitely a 5-star ice cream textbook, and you’ll walk away with an expanded toolbox for creating better ice cream!