[Welcome to Frozen Friday! In honor of National Ice Cream Month, I am sharing a new ice cream recipe each Friday morning. In case you missed it, be sure to check out last week’s s’mores ice cream too!]

With week two we step away from the kid stuff and delve into a more adult palate. And by that I mean we’re adding alcohol. Liquor and beer have already played a key role in past flavors like Baileys, chocolate Kahlúa, and chocolate Guinness, but this will be the first foray into using a wine.

A brunch favorite, and one of the few ways I actually enjoy orange juice (outside of creamsicle ice cream, of course), the mimosa is a go-to beverage for both classy and casual affairs, and somehow avoids the morning drinking taboo. As someone who doesn’t do much drinking, it’s pretty unlikely I’d have one to start the day, but I think it’s a fabulous addition to brinner (that’s breakfast for dinner, if you’re among the uninitiated), especially for ladies nights.

Today we take the orange juice and champagne combo into dessert territory: mimosa ice cream. A fairly complex flavor for ice cream, it starts out solely orange on the tongue but you’ll quickly notice there’s something else there. It’s not fizzy, obviously, but the champagne lightens the flavor and plays perfectly with the bright citrus of the orange juice.

I used one part orange juice to two parts champagne, but you can easily adjust the ratios to suit your preferences, just make sure you have 1.5 cups of liquid total. This is one of the few flavors that I felt was perfect on the first try, but I do tend to prefer a somewhat subtle alcohol flavor in my desserts. The liquid is reduced to a half cup (or slightly less) to maintain the wonderful flavor but remove most of the excess water, resulting in a much creamier texture. Likely I’ll use this method even for my orange creamsicle flavor in the future.

For extra fun (and easy portion control), serve in champagne flutes. You could even scoop ahead of time and store in the freezer if you’re planning to serve it at a party. If you’re missing the carbonation, top each flute with a little extra champagne to make a mimosa float. Delicious and fun and sure to impress anyone you feel like impressing.

This flavor is much less decadent than last week’s, and is great for a small portion. Give it a try for your next party, and definitely let me know how it goes!

Mimosa Ice Cream (Floats!)

Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup pulp-free orange juice¹
1 cup sweet champagne or prosecco¹

2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup sugar

yellow and red food coloring (optional)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine orange juice and champagne. Simmer gently over medium heat until volume is reduced to 1/2 cup (or slightly less.) Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes on the counter.
2. Whisk together all remaining ingredients until completely combined. Slowly stream in reduced orange mixture, whisking constantly.
3. If desired, add food coloring. I used 4 drops yellow and 1 drop red for photography purposes, but add more or less to suit your preferences. It does lighten fairly considerably after it’s frozen.
4. Cover bowl and chill in the refrigerator at least 4 hours, or overnight.
5. Place a freezer-safe bowl in your freezer to chill.
6. Meanwhile, freeze ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s directions. Transfer to chilled bowl and return to freezer for at least 3 hours, or until ready to serve.
7. For floats, scoop small balls of ice cream (I used a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop) into champagne flutes. Carefully pour in champagne and serve immediately.

Notes

¹ If you only have pulpy juice on hand, just use a mesh strainer to remove the pulp. You can use any ratio of orange juice and champagne as long as it adds to 1.5 cups total. It certainly does not have to be an expensive champagne (Barefoot certainly isn’t), but I do recommend using one you would willingly drink plain or in a normal mimosa.