Encore – A 50/50 Ice Cream Dream Come True

If you grew up in the Baby Boomer era you no doubt remember that consummate icon of summer ….the Good Humor Ice Cream truck.
As children, we could hear that truck, with it’s familiar music floating through the air, from blocks away. We would race into the house to get our ice cream money and then wait eagerly on the curb until the Good Humor man and his truck pulled into view. There were all kinds of flavors of ice cream in cups that you could eat with little wooden spoons. There were cones called Drumsticks that featured vanilla ice cream in a cookie cone dipped in chocolate and rolled with nuts. There were icy cold popsicles in every flavor you could name that we could break in half and share with a friend or sibling, and of course the ever popular Big Stick. But my personal favorite was the 50/50 bar. If you were born after the 1980’s you may not have a clue what I’m talking about so let me explain. Sometimes they were called Creamsicles, sometimes Dreamsicles but we always called them 50/50 bars. A 50/50 bar is an ice cream bar that is half vanilla ice cream at the center with another half on the outside that is orange popsicle….thus the name 50/50.

I rarely, if ever, see or hear the ice cream man and his truck anymore and only rarely do I find these bars in the market freezer. Yet as summer sets in, I dream about them and remember that cool, sweet, refreshing taste of orange popsicle and vanilla ice cream melting in my mouth. So I got to thinking…..wouldn’t vanilla and orange all mixed together make a delicious ice cream flavor? Soooooo …..off to the kitchen I went and after some experimentation…this is my version of 50/50 or Dreamsicle ice cream….

It’s a dream alright….this will make summer living much more abundant around here:)

50/50 Ice Cream

2 eggs
1 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice with pulp
Finely grate rind of 1 orange
1 cup agave syrup* or sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
Juice and finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 cups half & half (OR 1 cup half & half and 1 cup heavy cream)

Beat eggs with agave syrup* or sugar until pale yellow. Pour into sauce pan and add orange juice and salt.

Cook over medium flame, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to thicken about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in orange rind, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Cook for another couple of minutes stirring to be sure mixture doesn’t stick or burn on the bottom of the pan. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until cool and more thickened, about 1 hour.

Stir in cream or half and half.**

Add vanilla and mix well.

Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers directions.

When it’s ready place the ice cream in your freezer in a cold container to allow the ice cream to “ripen”…a couple of hours or overnight.

Serve it up in big bowls and prepare to hear in your head that little ditty the ice cream truck always played….smile….no matter how old you are now, summer is calling:)

* (Agave syrup is an all natural healthy sweetener derived from a cactus. It has a very neutral sweet taste. Because it is liquid (syrup) it will cause the finished ice cream to stay a little “thinner” or less hard when it is frozen…more like the consistency of soft serve ice cream)

** (Cream will make the ice cream a bit richer and thicker and more “sticky” while half & half will give you a firmer consistency….both are good it is simply a matter of preference.)