Almost everybody loves ice cream, but most rely on the storebought variety. However, everyone knows that homemade ice cream is far superior, even to the expensive premium brands. However, two chefs from Chez Panisse, one of the most famous restaurants that has been around since Alice Waters (who writes the foreword) opened it over fifty years ago, Anthony Tassinello and Mary Jo Thoresen, have released a fabulous cookbook that will inspire everyone to make their own, Perfectly Simple Ice Cream: 100 Recipes Anyone Can Make. The cookbook includes the obligatory how-tos, which are simplified and straightforward, as well as dozens of recipes or mouthwatering flavors of ice cream, sherbet, and frozen yogurt from scratch. Also included are recipes for ice cream bombs, floats, and baked Alaska.

The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions, so anyone – both beginning and advanced cooks – can easily make great ice cream at home. There are also plenty of notes in the introduction of each recipe, explaining where the flavor came from or other information.

There are beautiful professional photographs of some of the recipes, but if there were a drawback to this book, it would be that many of the recipes aren’t pictured. Fortunately the recipes speak for themselves, and are tempting even though we may not know what our finished product will look like. The imagination of the chefs is apparent, and there are ice cream, granite, frozen yogurt, etc. flavors to please everyone.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

3.5 stars
After a chaper on ingredients and equipment, and another on techniques (with step-by-step drawings), the recipes are in chapters on Classic, Chocolaty, Fruity, Nostalgic, Surprising, Festive, and Boozy. A final chapter called "and to top it off..." was unfortunately omitted from my ARC. Only a handful of the recipes have color photos.
I did like that there were a variety of end results beyond ice cream, including granitas, sorbets, frozen yogurts, and frozen desserts.
This is an interesting ice cream book. Lots of the recipes feature flavors I would refer to as more exotic or gourmet than usual. This is not a book for kids wanting ice cream. For instance, in the fruity chapter - passion fruit, candied kumquat, and plum. The surprising and festive chapters feature spices and other ingredients that aren't as common in ice creams.
While the recipes may be simple, I don't feel that the ingredients are, and the title is somewhat misleading.

This book was pretty good, the recipes all sounded really good. My only complaint is that they all require an ice cream maker! I was hoping this book would teach you how to make ice cream without one, but it did not. Other than that, it was pretty good, and all the recipes I tried were delicious!

General Thoughts

Two former chefs from Chez Panisse, Alice Water’s Berkeley restaurant authored Perfectly Simple Ice Cream. Chez Panisse is known for great ingredients and tasty foods. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet, but I’m really hopeful I’ll get to go on future trip to the Bay Area.

Overall, the recipes seem straight-forward to make, assuming you have an ice cream machine. It goes over the basic techniques for ice cream, sherbet, and frozen yogurt and then goes into very many flavor profiles. There’s traditional flavors (Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, etc). There’s also some surprising recipes (rice, London Fog, Honey-Lavender, etc.), and even a section on boozy options (Apple Brandy, Late-Harvest Riesling, Rum-Raisin, etc.) It’s a really great starting point for trying new recipes and flavor combinations. I’m really excited to try some of these, especially since we don’t have a unique local shop like Molly Moon’s near us in the Midwest!

Weeknight Cooking?

I wouldn’t make ice cream for the first time on a weeknight after work. There’s a pretty decent amount of skill in tempering the eggs and making the custard that I would want to be clear-headed and have time to work through the recipe. However, I think once I learned the skill and made a few batches, these recipes seem to be quick enough to make that it would be easy to make on a weeknight. Maybe 30-40 minutes to make the custard and then whatever chilling time you have on your ice cream machine.

Basics or Advanced?

This book goes through the basic techniques of ice cream making, so it’s suitable for beginners. It might take some practice to make a great custard, but overall, definitely good for any levels. It’s called Perfectly Simple Ice Cream for a reason!

Picture Quality

Pictures and drawings of the instructions are beautiful. In the techniques section, the drawings are good to explain what you need to do. In the rest of the book, it’s pictures of ice cream sundaes, which is amazing. Definitely enough to help someone understand what they are doing.

Unique Tools and Ingredients?

So you definitely need an ice cream machine to make most of these recipes. There’s a variety of prices that they recommend at the beginning of the book, so maybe not a huge investment, but it’s a machine that is single use that will take up space. It might be right for you but not necessarily for everyone!

Ingredients are not very hard to find and most can be kept in the fridge for while before they go bad. For example, a basic ice cream only needs heavy cream, egg yolks, half-and-half, sugar and salt. Add some fresh fruits for flavors, but generally, the ingredients are very approachable and won’t require a lot of effort to find. Perhaps some of the more unique flavors have harder to find ingredients, but for most of the book, you don’t need anything very hard to find. Again, it’s really called Perfectly Simple Ice Cream for a reason!

Recipes I’ve Cooked From Perfectly Simple Ice Cream

None yet. I’m borrowing my brother’s ice cream maker to get started.

Recipes That I Have on my To-Make List From Perfectly Simple Ice Cream

London Fog. Honey Lavender. Rocky Road. Peanut Butter.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good book on how to make ice cream and suggestions for flavors to try, I would highly recommend Perfectly Simple Ice Cream!

Absolutely incredible ice cream book. It gives a very in-depth overview of everything to do with ice cream, and I was taken back by the detail and description of everything from the equipment, to the recipes. Very insightful and if you need ice cream recipes, this is the place to go.

I have been making no-churn gelato for several years. This book appealed to me because of the beautiful cover and the chance to learn new ice cream recipes. Very nice book to add to any cook's collection.

Perfectly simple ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbets, granitas, pops, and bombes anyone can make including over one hundred recipes. Of course, you must start at the beginning with essential supplies and knowledge around technique. Once the foundation is laid, it moves on to options. So many options! The classics, chocolate, fruity, nostalgic, surprising, festive, and spirited. Step by step directions are provided in addition to many colorful pictures to spark your own creativity. Most of these do require an ice cream maker, but there a few recipes that don’t call for one. All seasons, flavors, and consistencies are covered, making this a guaranteed win for all readers!
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

Perfectly Simple Ice Cream: 100 Recipes Anyone Can Make
Antony Tassinello, Mary Jo Thoresen
I love homemade ice cream! This book is chockful of recipes. There is no stopping the fun, you can make any flavor at home. There are tips and techniques to assist you in your ice-cold delicious endeavor, plus there are recipes for sauces/toppings. Homemade caramel sauce, whipped cream, hot fudge and chocolate sauce.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

Ice cream and make it simple....

But fancy. I love ice cream and I like it even better if it is made simple. This book does that, but it is still pretty fancy. Read the recipe thoroughly. The recipes are pretty simple, but definitely elevated and elegant. Lovely photos, a good layout and dozens of recipes. There is one no egg ice cream recipes, most use egg yolk. There are recipes for Baked Alaska and Cassata.
Recommend.

To be honest, I was given this book for review, but it was formatted in such a way that made it nearly impossible to read. I would love to try this again after it is published to give it a proper chance. As it is, I’m unable to read this.

Thank you NetGalley, for the review copy. This was my honest review.

The cookbook includes 100 recipes for ice cream and other frozen treats. The cookbook begins with ingredients and equipment you should have on hand, which is helpful for those who have not ventured into making their own ice cream before. The following chapter then includes techniques to make basic ice cream, sherbet, and frozen yogurt. Afterward are the Classic, Chocolaty, Fruity, Nostalgic, Surprising, Festive, and Boozy recipes.
Each recipe includes an introduction, ingredient list, and directions. However, each chapter only includes 2-3 pictures, which is less than a fourth of the recipes. It would have been helpful to have pictures of all the recipes so you would know what the ice cream looks like if you were unfamiliar with it. It would also help you decide if you want to make it.
That said, there are recipes I would like to try making, including Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (which is my favorite flavor), Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream with Churros, Pineapple Sherbet, Peaches and Cream, and Watermelon Ice Pops. Perfectly Simple Ice Cream is a good cookbook if you want to make your own ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or granita, but the lack of photos does bring the quality down.

One of the best things about cookbooks/recipe books are the photos, they get your mouth watering and help you decide what to make first. While the photographs in this book were beautiful, there just weren’t as many as I would have liked. I love the encouragement in the beginning to support farmers by purchasing quality ingredients locally, that’s the best way to impart the biggest depth of flavor in a recipe.

This book does offer a variety of flavor, from classic to flavor combinations we don’t see often in ice cream. There’s something for everyone that loves a cold summery treat and how much fun will it be to experiment all summer with the family. The first flavors that we will make, will most likely be mint chocolate chip, pear sherbet, and London fog.

Feel free follow my social media accounts, I will be sharing my review of this book prior to the publishing date.
https://linktr.ee/britneybarlow

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins P for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

I will always rail against cookbooks that recommend extra large eggs for their recipes. It's honestly a deal breaker for me on making a recipe, because I hate having ingredients that I can't keep using for other things. That said, only the ice cream recipes in this have the extra large eggs. The various egg-free frozen treats all look exceptional! Really great recipes for granitas and frozen ices. I appreciate how the sections are divided more by "what are you craving" than anything else. Instructions are clear and easy to follow, Pictures are beautiful, but I do wish the various treats in group shots were labeled. A fun one to try a few recipes out of, but you'll have to do a special purchase if you want anything that starts as a custard.

Great gourmet recipes. Most of them are fairly simple, though they do have you temper your eggs and some of the recipes are rather advanced. I wish there were pictures of every recipe. There are just a few full page photos, whereas I would much prefer a small photo on each recipe so I can see what it will look like. I would have liked some dairy free recipes too. There are granitas and such that are naturally, but I have made some really delicious vegan ice creams and would have liked a few of those kinds of recipes (keto and such would be great too) but this is not that kind of book. I did appreciate the recipes for frozen yogurt, ice pops and boozy ice creams though, and the ice cream flavors throughout the book were creative and sound delicious.

I read a digital version of this book for review via NetGalley.

I've been wanting to try making some of the things my family buys regularly (or at least on special occasions). This book is a straightforward guide to making various flavors of ice cream and sherbet. It does assume that you'll need an ice cream maker though, and preferably not a cheap manual one. I'm still shopping for that, especially since the more affordable brand the authors recommend, White Mountain, seems to be out of stock everywhere. So I haven't tested the recipes yet.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

there are so many ice cream recipes in here that look absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to try them

Perfectly Simple Ice Cream! Sounds wonderful to me. I like simple. They have the tag line recipes anyone can make. That's what I like, uncomplicated. Everyone enjoys a delicious ice cream on a hot summer day. This book goes into great detail about the ingredients needed and the equipment you will need to make delicious ice cream. I know some people like the old fashioned hand crank freezers so they have control the firmness of the ice cream. Others enjoy the plug in type freezers and now you have smaller countertop makers that will make small batches which are great to try small batches of different types. Then you have to decide if you want a cooked custard or an egg free custard. There are also churn free recipes that you mix and then put in a container to freeze in the freezer. There are traditional recipes that range from vanilla to coffee flavors. There's even some yogurt flavors. And a lot of chocolate flavors of all kinds. Perfect book for those hot summer evenings.

If you have an ice cream maker or are thinking of getting one, this is an excellent cookbook. When I first picked it up, I didn’t realize it was Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse pastry team. That only raised my expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed. The instructions are easy to follow, and the book has a wide range of flavors and ice cream styles. The pictures are fun and will make you want to bring out the ice cream maker ASAP. I’ll probably get this book for my dad, who loves making ice cream when my parent entertain.

Who doesn't enjoy some delicious ice cream. Especially on a warm day.
There's so many different flavors and types to pick from.
We will definitely be trying some of these flavors.
#netgalley

This has absolutely gorgeous photography! I loved looking at the pictures alone. This book comes courtesy of Anthony Tassinello and Mary Jo Thoresen, who have been chefs at Alice Waters's Chez Panisse restaurant (in Oakland, CA; not too far from me) for quite some time—and they know what they’re doing when it comes to making delicious ice cream.

You will find many different flavors here, from the classics to some novel concepts, as well as a few recipes you wouldn’t expect, like ice milk, freezer pops and my personal favorite, the ever-beloved milkshake. No one should expect the ice cream-making process to be easy, but every step is clearly laid out for you, so that even a beginner can be successful.

I do have one caveat: I wish that they would at least mention an ice cream maker that’s a tad more affordable than the $700 one they used for every recipe, but I understand that better quality equipment yields better results. I just wish I had a money tree in my backyard! 😄

Here’s to ice cream every day! I’ll eat to that. 🍦

Thank you to NetGalley and Callisto Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.