Thursday, May 5, 2011

An Adults-Only Treat: Easy Margarita Ice Cream...

It's Mother's Day weekend, so I'm headed to the Houston area tomorrow afternoon to visit my family overnight for an early celebration. Then it's back here to San Antonio Saturday evening so I can be back in time to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday on Sunday. I offered to make his birthday cake, and he requested the red velvet cake that I made for our Easter celebration. But this time? I'm going to make it a three-layer cake so it's a bit taller. With a cake this good? The more, the better!

It's been a hectic week, so I haven't gotten into my kitchen that much...but I wanted to leave you with a little something to tide you over while I'm gone. The recipe I'm going to share today is Easy Margarita Ice Cream. It's one of my favorite recipes that I've shared in here, but many of you likely haven't seen it since it was posted in the early days of my blog last summer. If you like margaritas, I PROMISE that you'll love this boozy ice cream that features tequila AND Grand Marnier. It's adapted from a recipe from my girl Nigella Lawson. I served it for dessert during a late-summer dinner party, and it was a huge hit! 

Easy Margarita Ice Cream
adapted from Nigella Lawson


Step 1:  Add 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice to a mixing bowl. For me, this took about four limes. Add the zest of two of the limes, 1/4 cup tequila, and 1/4 cup Grand Marnier. Stir to combine. I was surprised by how vibrant green this mixture was!


Step 2:  Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 2 cups whipping cream. Whisk this mixture for a few minutes to thoroughly combine everything and gently whip the cream.


Step 3:  The original recipe says that you can put this mixture into a plastic container and freeze overnight. This is convenient for those of you who don't own an ice cream machine but still want to make ice cream at home. I used my Cuisinart ice cream maker to speed up the freezing process since I was serving this for an after-dinner dessert that night. I let the machine do its thing for about 30 minutes....at which point the ice cream looked like soft serve.


Step 4:  I put the ice cream in a plastic container and let it set up in the freezer for about five hours before serving. It was very easy to scoop, but it did remain quite soft -- Nigella calls the texture voluptuous...which is the perfect description for this ice cream!! It does melt fairly quickly, so make sure to eat it as soon as it's scooped into your serving bowls.

I served the ice cream with some amazing salted margarita cookies that I found quite by accident while wandering around my beloved Central Market. The cookies are made by Dallas-based Wackym's Kitchen, and they were delicious! The tops of the crunchy cookies were sprinkled with sea salt, which paired vary well with the ice cream. That little bit of salt really gave it an authentic margarita flavor!


Now that the weather's getting warmer, I hope you'll give this ice cream a try. It's a real keeper...and the perfect ending to any Mexican dinner you might have planned. It's bursting with lime flavor...and the tequila and Grand Marnier really take it over the top! I can't wait to get my ice cream maker out of the cupboard for the upcoming summer ice cream-making season...and this will be the very first batch of ice cream that I make.

11 comments:

  1. This ice cream has got my name written all over it! It sounds fabulous and I can't wait to make it!

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  2. Time to dust off the ice cream maker! This sounds fabulous!

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  3. That looks so good. I don't have an ice cream machine, but my sister does, so I'll have to pass this along to her.

    Oh, and I LOVE Central Market. We lived in Texas for a year and that is the thing I miss most since we moved!

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  4. @Lesa: Thanks for stopping by...Central Market is one of the best things about living in Texas. Now if we could just get TJs here, I'd be set! You can make this without an ice cream machine -- put the mixture in a plastic container overnight to set up.

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  5. Can't wit to try this recipe out so that I can show off to my friends! Great for girls sleepover!

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  6. Oh, my, Wendy! My favorite cocktail in ice cream form???? I think I'm in love <3

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  7. Wow, that ice cream looks positively delicious! I just made ice cream today (Creme Fraiche flavor) and I think this will be my next recipe to try - love the tequila factor too! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I just signed up to follow you & I do think we are definitely related:) Looking forward to your next delicious post - Cheers!

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  8. Wow, this looks fantastic. Tequila anything is pure goodness in my world. I have bookmarked this and will definitely make this: we eat Mexican all the time. Thanks for sharing Wendy.

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  9. This ice cream is amazing, "voluptuous ice cream", I love it. Magaritas are my favorite drink, so i have to make this soon. thanks for sharing, and have a wonderful weekend!

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  10. I just got a new ice cream/yogurt maker and will give this a try...and I'm heading to my Alamo Heights CM to pick up some of those cookies!!

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  11. I can't think of a better way to enjoy a margarita. It's a two-in-one winner! Love making boozy ice creams and sorbets...this one is right up my alley. Yum!

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