2018's Annual No-Machine Ice-Cream Experiments: We're Here Again!

 Once again it's time to experiment with ice-cream creations as July, which is International Ice Cream Month, rolls around.

This year's trials have been broad and involved a lot more research and experimentation that in previous years, because nowadays as the Internet grows and information is more widely and readily available, research is easy to conduct from the comfort of your own living room.

The biggest research resource these days is YouTube, where you can find a video on nearly anything you can imagine and there are hundreds of thousands of aspiring cooking-show hosts who have taken the brave step of setting up a camera in their kitchen for the whole world to see.

Unfortunately, pointing a camera at what you're doing is as good as useless if you don't thoroughly and adequately explain what you're doing, and this is something I've discovered on my educational travels around YouTube.

Here are a few things I tried from online videos, and what the results were like for me. Spoilers: only one of them worked, and I already knew it worked.

Homemade Salt and Ice Churn

I found this video by an Italian man and it was very convincing and I gave it a try, but when I actually did I found that there was a lot of missing information:

In the video, the presenter:

Makes a simple vanilla custard in the traditional way with cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla

Chills the custard to be frozen later.

Prepares a bowl full of ice and salt in a rough proportion of 1 part salt to 4 parts ice

Places a metal bowl on top of the ice and adds in the custard

Mixes the custard with a wooden spatula as it freezes from the coldness of the ice

Now, making ice-cream with ice and salt is nothing new—kids have been doing this for as long as I can remember, including when I was a kid myself—but there are several things missing from this video:

1. How long does the whole churning process take?
2. Does it have to be fine salt, or will any salt do?
3. Does the ice and salt mixture need refreshing at any point in the process?
4. Can this ice-cream be stored in the freezer in a tub, or must it be eaten immediately?

When I tried this myself, these are all problems I encountered and my ice-cream never actually froze and all the ice melted before anything happened. I used coarse salt, and maybe that was an issue, but it was all very disappointing.

Food Processor Trick

Another trick I see frequently online is using a food processor to make ice-cream in a similar way to an ice-cream churn. Most people have a food processor, and this means you don't need to buy another kitchen gadget when you already have one that'll do.

In this video, the presenter:

Takes an ice-cream base and freezes it into a thin sheet in a freezer bag

Breaks up the frozen sheet

Blitzes the frozen pieces into a smooth soft serve ice-cream

Pours it into a tin to freeze for 2 hours before eating

This one works quite well, however the ice-cream freezes into a solid lump the longer it stays in the freezer: not enough air is incorporated to keep it fluffy over long storage times. Also, I found that pouring the ice-cream base directly into the food processor bowl, popping that into the freezer, and taking it out and blitzing it every 30 minutes in the same way an old fashioned make-at-home ice-cream would be made worked a whole lot better. It was still a big frozen lump after 5 hours, though.

Semifreddo, not Ice-Cream

This one has no video, but I remember seeing Nigella Lawson do this kind of thing on one of her programmes once. In this recipe, you mix eggs and sugar into a fluffy sabayon before folding with softly whipped cream and freezing into a loaf. This loaf is then sliced up and served with fresh fruit and sauce.

I tried this and it was quite tasty, but definitely not ice-cream: it's mouthfeel was more like a frozen mousse, and as it thawed and melted it produced a thick bubbly mixture all over the plate. Like the food processor ice-cream, it too freezes completely solid if left for too long.

Cream and Condensed Milk Old Favourite

This method is the one I have used on here for about 4 years at this point, and it still works fabulously. My only tiny issue is that if you over whip the cream the resulting butter-fat can leave an oily film on the roof of your mouth that makes for quite an unpleasant mouthfeel. In comparison to the other methods, however, that's only a tiny gripe.

It has the richness of a luxury ice-cream, like Haagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry's, so if you're looking for something a little lighter like a French ice-cream or a gelato this really isn't the recipe to use. That's why I was experimenting with the other methods to see if I could make something a little lighter and a method that could be used to make sorbet too.

In conclusion, I really think if you want to make traditional ice-cream, you need a churn, or you've simply got to accept that no-churn ice-cream will be fiddly, time consuming, and hard to store longterm. Happy ice-creaming!

Ice-Cream Month: Proper Custard Ice-Cream, a Kitchen Experiment

This one is admittedly quite experimental, but I want to share with you my no-churn real vanilla ice-cream adventures.

No churn ice-cream made with condensed milk is very tasty, but it's got nothing on vanilla ice-cream made with a good custard. However, these kinds of custard ice-creams are almost impossible to make nicely without an ice-cream machine.

I decided to do some serious research, and this brought me to Serious Eat's own experimentations with no churn ice-cream. In their article on how best to make traditional ice-cream without a machine, they came up with this method: essentially, you make the custard without the cream, freeze it into cubes, then use the cream to blend the ice cubes into an ice-cream with the food processor.

It's a neat trick, but I wanted to try and get back to an even more basic method, without any machinery. I took inspiration from their recipe, and came up with something that's somewhere between a semifreddo and a traditional ice-cream.

So, read below how I did this experiment. I think it turned out surprisingly well: it was a little bit icy, but that'll always happen with no-churn traditional ice-creams.

INGREDIMENTS

• 2 medium eggs
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) sugar
• ½ UK pint (285 millilitres) whole milk
• ½ UK pint (285 millilitres) whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

• In a bowl over a pan of simmering water, beat together the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved and they have doubled in volume to make a pale, moussey mixture.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whip the cream to firm peaks. Fold in the egg mixture, being very careful to maintain the airiness.
• Gently fold in the milk to get a thin moussey mixture. Pour into a shallow glass or metal dish, and freeze in the coldest part of your freezer for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, take out of the freezer and beat vigorously with a balloon whisk to break up the frozen parts and mix them back into the unfrozen parts. Pop back into the freezer for another 30 minutes, and repeat the process 5 more times.
• After the sixth and final agitation, transfer to a plastic container with a lid and freeze solid, for about 2 hours.
• Before serving, allow it to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Ice-Cream Month: Tiramisù Ice-Cream (Wheat Free)

Ti piace il gelato? Hai un gelato tiramisico!

 

Granted, this isn't actually proper gelato, but I love me some tiramisù! I've made a few tiramisù inspired desserts on this blog, mostly involving cheesecakes, because it's one of my favourite muses: the combination of cheesecake-like cream, sponge cake, coffee and chocolate is just right for me. It's a decadent creamy treat, with a kick.

I first made tiramisù inspired ice-cream about four years ago for a Dutch friend, but it never made it to the blog because we ate it all. So, in honour of Ice-Cream Month, I thought I'd make it again.

This one went a bit pear shaped because the cream didn't whip up right for me this time: I think my ingredients were too warm. It still tasted amazing, but didn't layer and swirl as well as I might have liked. As such, I will reiterate that it's imperative that your ingredients are all cold! That way you'll get lovely fluffsome ice-cream that'll stay super soft in the freezer.

This also uses some yoghurt for sourness, and mixed in equal proportions with icing sugar it can replace some of the condensed milk in your recipe. Although, to maintain the silky texture, never replace more than half of the condensed milk.

INGREDIMENTS
Makes about 2 pints (about a litre) of ice-cream

For the ice-cream base

• 16 UK fluid ounces (455 millilitres) whipping cream
• 10 UK fluid ounces (285 millilitres) condensed milk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) Greek yoghurt
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) instant espresso powder
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

To assemble,

• 1 medium egg, separated
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) white spelt flour, sifted
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) sunflower oil
• Chocolate syrup, for assembly
• Optional: white rum, for sprinkling

Instead of making sponge cakes, you can just use shop-bought trifle sponges. I make my own because I can't buy wheat-free trifle sponges in Ireland.

METHOD

First, make the sponge cakes.

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, Gas Mk.7), and line a flat tray with non-stick baking paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add in the sugar while beating until you have a glossy meringue that holds stiff peaks.
• Beat in the yolk and oil, then switch to a metal spoon to fold in the flour. Be sure to fold it in completely.
• Spoon little blobs of cake mixture onto the baking paper, tap the tray on the work surface a few times, and then bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The cakes will be done when they are an even golden brown, and springy to the touch.
• Allow to cool completely before assembling the ice-cream. If you like, you can sprinkle them gently with some white rum, but this is completely optional.

Then, make the ice-cream base.

• In a measuring jug big enough to hold a UK pint (570 millilitres), mix together the Greek yoghurt and icing sugar until it becomes flowing and smooth. Top up the yoghurt mixture up to 12 UK fluid ounces (340 millilitres) with condensed milk. You might have some condensed milk leftover, so use that for another project.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream to soft peaks. Fold in the yoghurt and condensed milk mixture and the vanilla essence, then continue to beat until it hold medium peaks.
• Divide the mixture in two: leave one part plain, and into the other part fold the espresso powder.

Now, assemble the masterpiece.

• In a two-pint (1 litre) pudding basin, layer the ice-cream bases with crumbled cakes and chocolate syrup as you want. Once layered, swirl with a knife to marble the layers, and then decorate the top with more crumbled cake and chocolate syrup.
• Cover with the lid or some cling film and freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Ice-Cream Month: Mint Toffo Sundae

Happy Ice-Cream Month, everyone! July is recognised as the month where we celebrate his delicious frozen confection, which is what I plan to do, starting with this delectable offering: Mint Toffo sundae!

Ice cream has been eaten in one form or another in Europe since the 17th century, but its only since the end of the 19th century that it became available to the regular Joe Soap, both in Italy and England. Since then it has done nothing but expand in popularity, helped along by the introduction of the domestic freezer in the 1950s.

Nowadays, ice-cream contributes nearly $40 million to the US economy alone, and is easily commercially available in nearly every supermarket. And seeing as nearly everyone has a freezer these days, it's super easy to make at home.

Over the years I've run this blog, I've dabbled in ice-cream making, but this month will be taking it to the next level: from simple no-churn ideas, to designer ice-cream flavours, to sundaes, to cheating at "churned" ice-cream with a food processor, this month will be epic!

So, let's start with the aforementioned Mint Toffo Sundae.

The inspiration for this recipe lies in childhood nostalgia: when I was a little girl, you could buy a brand of chewy caramel sweets called "Toffo", produced by Mackintosh (and later Nestlé), and they came in plain vanilla and mint flavours. The sweets were individually wrapped in red or green waxed paper, then wrapped up in a roll of gold foil, then packaged in a paper label.

These are one of the things that made my childhood.

I absolutely love the combination of toffee and mint, and I thought it would translate well into an ice-cream sundae. I wasn't wrong! I also gold-dusted a wafer fan with some fondant dust, and it looked great! I make my own wafers with a new updated recipe, which I'll be sharing later in the week.

I'm really enjoying designing sundaes. I think I got the sundae bug last year when I went to the Creams ice-cream parlour in Maidstone.

INGREDIMENTS
Makes four sundaes, with one scoop of each flavour

For two-thirds of a pint (370 millilitres) caramel ice-cream,

• 8 fluid ounces (230 millilitres) whipping cream
• 3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres) condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter
• 1½ ounces (45 grammes) caster sugar

For two-thirds of a pint (370 millilitres) mint ice-cream,

• 8 fluid ounces (230 millilitres) whipping cream
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres) condensed
• Up to ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) natural peppermint essence
• ¼ teaspoon (2 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Two drops green food colouring

To serve

• Caramel ice-cream sauce
• Wafer fans, or follow the directions at the end of the article to make your own
• Gold dust fondant colouring

METHOD

The night before serving, prepare the ice-creams, starting with the caramel.

• To make the caramel ice-cream, mix the caster sugar with a teaspoon or two (5 to 10 millilitres) of water in a saucepan with a pale interior. Heat over medium heat, stirring consistently, until it begins to turn brown.
• When it browns, turn the heat down to low to continue cooking the sugar to a deep, dark brown. If it burns, don't worry: sugar is cheap, and burnt caramel comes off with hot water and soap.
• Once it comes to the right shade of brown, remove from the heat and mix in the butter and condensed milk. Return to the heat and cook gently until everything is dissolved together.
• Add in the cream, and stir until the mixture is smooth and consistent in colour. Remove from the heat, and cool completely to room temperature.
• Once it comes to room temperature, transfer to a mixing bowl big enough to whip the ice-cream, and then pop into the freezer for 20 minutes.
• After chilling, beat with an electric whisk until it reaches medium-firm peaks. Transfer it to a one-pint (580 millilitre) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film. Then, prepare the mint ice-cream.

For the mint ice-cream,

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except the peppermint essence, with a wooden spoon. Add a few drops of peppermint essence, give it a taste, then decide if you want a stronger flavour: peppermint essence is intense, and you can always add more, but you can't take it out once you've added it. 
• If the bowl fits into the freezer, chill in there for 20 minutes. If not, chill in the fridge for an hour.
• After chilling, whip with an electric whisk until it holds medium-firm peaks. Transfer to a one-pint (580 millilitres) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film, then pop into the freezer, along with the caramel ice-cream, and freeze overnight, or for a minimum of 6 hours.

Paint the wafers, then assemble the masterpieces,

• Using a nice soft paint brush, brush the wafers with the gold dust until to the gold-ness you like.
• Serve the sundaes with one scoop of each ice-cream flavour, a gold wafer fan, and some caramel sauce.

Success, at Last! Hazelnut Ice Cream (No Churn, Egg Free)

Mögen Sie Haselnuss-Eis? Ich mag!

I'm sure throughout the four years that I have been blogging, and you have all been reading and supporting, I have mentioned my trips to Germany often. In 2008 and 2012, I visited North and East Germany, travelling to Lübeck, Ratzeburg, Magdeburg, Hamburg, Leipzig, Berlin, Bernburg, and many other villages in the mountains whose names I never knew. Both times were to visit my good friend who I met in secondary school, whom I've known ever since.

I will admit it has been way, way, way too long since I was in Germany, and I often find myself missing it dearly. My companion and I hope to go over this year for the Christmas markets in Berlin, and I want to promise myself that from hereon in I'll go at least once every two years. Hell, if I could afford to, I'd divide my year between living in Ireland and living in Germany.

There are many flavours of Germany I miss—from their delicious meat dishes, like hamburgers and sausages, to their incredible doughnuts and cream cakes—but of all of them it's the ice cream I miss the most.

When I was last in Germany, I was in Berlin on what was possibly one of the worst holidays I've ever had: I went with my companion at the time, and our relationship was cracking. It wasn't long after we returned that our partnership dissolved. We both wanted very different things out of life, and we especially wanted very different things from that holiday!

The only thing that made that holiday bearable was the ice-cream: at pretty much every corner in Berlin was an ice-cream stand that sold scoopable ice-cream of many flavours. Not only was it delicious, but it was also very cheap: even in the capital, which was more expensive on the whole, a cone with a scoop of ice-cream was €1.50, and each additional scoop ranged between 80c and €1. Here in Ireland, ice-cream parlours charge a hefty €2.60 per scoop!

When I was there, I always got any nut flavoured ice-cream—hazelnut and pistachio are particularly tasty—or coconut; and also a German speciality, Waldmeister!

Since then, I have tried to recreate some of my favourite flavours, but to no avail. Nut flavoured ice-cream always alluded me, until now! This is my take on a no-churn hazelnut flavoured ice-cream, that isn't Nutella.

I still have to work on getting my Waldmeister ice-cream right. Keep your eye out for any upcoming attempts!

INGREDIMENTS

Makes about 2 UK pints (1 litre) of ice cream

• 16 UK fluid ounces (455 millilitres) whipping cream, about 35% fat, plus extra if needed
• 12 UK fluid ounces (340 millilitres) condensed milk, cold
• 3 to 6 ounces (85 to 170 grammes) hazelnuts, to taste
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Generous pinch of salt
• Roughly chopped hazelnuts, to decorate

METHOD

• In a food processor, or with a large plastic bag and a rolling pin, crush the hazelnuts to a fine powder. 3 ounces (85 grammes) will give you a mild nutty flavour, whereas the full 6 ounces (170 grammes) will produce an intense nutty flavour. Grind as much as you think you'd like.
• In a dry frying pan, gently toast the ground hazelnuts over medium heat. Cook only until the nuts become fragrant and take a little bit of colour. Be careful, because nuts burn easily.
• Pour the hazelnuts into a medium saucepan, and add the whipping cream and salt. Place the saucepan over medium low heat, and bring to boiling point. Once it begins to boil, remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before chilling for at least 2 hours to steep. The cream needs to be good and properly cold.
• Strain the cream through a fine sieve to remove the ground hazelnuts; discard the ground hazelnuts. In the process of straining, you may lose some cream, as such you might need to top the cream level back up to 16 fluid ounces (455 millilitres).
• In a large bowl, beat the infused cream, condensed milk, and vanilla essence together until it becomes light and moussey.
• Pour into a 2 pint (1 litre) container and decorate the top with hazelnuts, if you like. Freeze overnight.

THIS TIME IN 2013: Jammie Dodgers (or Linzer Biscuits) (Wheat Free)

No blogs on this day in 2014, 2015, nor 2016.

American Style Cookie Dough Ice-Cream (No Churn, No Cook, Egg Free)

It's May, which means in Ireland it's finally summer! And nothing says summer like some lovely, rich, ice-cream!

I was inspired to make some cookie dough ice-cream because I've been trying out some American style stuff recently, and also my brother and sister really like it. But, I had some challenges. (And also, I've been feeling quite sorry for myself over the past few days, as this time last year was a time where my companion and I were enjoying his birthday, so I wanted something to challenge me and take my mind off it.)

The thing is raw cookie dough is pretty, well, raw tasting. There is a very distinctive taste off raw flour: it's quite acidic, and burns a little bit; raw bicarbonate of soda tastes like soap; and raw egg is a bit of a no-no in frozen things. So, I did some research about how to make edible 'raw' cookie dough, that's actually been cooked.

After looking around a few blogs, I was particularly inspired by Ann Reardon's approach to making a roux-style cookie dough. So, I cooked the dough in a saucepan to get rid of the raw taste, but I used my own recipe, just scaling it down.

So here is the final thing! It's pretty much just my go-to ice-cream base with some 'raw' cookie dough in it. But it's pretty tasty!

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa (yes, I thought I'd contain it because I was allergic to cocoa for a time)

INGREDIMENTS

For the ice cream base.

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content, well chilled
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) condensed milk, well chilled
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt

For the cookie dough,

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) light brown sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 3½ ounces (100 grammes) milk chocolate chips, or milk chocolate cut into small pieces

HOW-TO
First, make the cookie dough:

• Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper, or use a silicone tray.
• Mix the milk, sugar, butter, and vanilla essence together in a small saucepan. Heat together over low heat until the butter and sugar have melted, but don't boil.
• Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir until completely mixed with no lumps of flour remaining.
• Return to medium heat and cook until it becomes a thick paste. While still hot, thinly spread out on the tray and allow to cool completely.
• When the dough is cool, mix with the chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) to make a cookie dough. Congratulations! You now have edible raw cookie dough.

Then, make the ice-cream:

• Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream and condensed milk together until light and a soft-peak consistency. It wants to look like a soft whipped cream. For best results, put the bowl and the beaters in the freezer for about 15 minutes beforehand.
• Pour a third of the mixture into a 2 pint (560 millilitre; 2½ US cup) container, then break up about a third of the cookie dough over the top. Mix a little to distribute the dough chunks.
• Repeat with the remaining two thirds of ice-cream and dough, finishing with a sprinkle of dough.
• Cover with the container's lid -- or clingfilm, directly touching the ice-cream's surface -- and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Battenberg Birthday Cake (Wheat and Dairy Free)
THIS TIME IN 2014: Minty Mint Brownies of Mintiness, with Marbled Glaze (Wheat Free)
THIS TIME IN 2013: How to Use and Abuse Royal Icing, and Wholemeal Gingerbread (Wheat Free)

Variation on a Theme: Malted Chocolate Ice-Cream with Caramel Swirl (Egg and Wheat Free)

As I'm sure you can imagine, this ice-cream was inspired by a very popular kind of chocolate bar made of malted chocolate nougat, topped with a layer of caramel, and enrobed in chocolate; you guessed it, a Mars bar.

Let me explain how I came to conceive of this ice-cream in my mind:

Over the course of my life I have come to learn that there are a few kinds of food products that are specifically enjoyed by English people, and it only dawned on my recently - being made more aware of my immigrant nature through talking to a Polish friend - that in Irish supermarkets you have the "English immigrant" foods. Examples of these products are crumpets, Marmite, Ovaltine, iced fingers and steak and kidney pies in tins, and I remember trying to explain to my peers why I was so excited when Cherry Coca Cola was eventually made available in Ireland. Now, generally speaking I consider myself and Irish person, but sometimes I get the little reminder that I also half belong to another race of people.

Within the last six months, however, one of these English interest products has vanished from Irish shelves: white Ovaltine. Ovaltine is a malted hot chocolate drink that is sold in powder form, which is mixed with hot milk and drunk as a bedtime drink. Due to my allergy to chocolate, I developed a taste for the white version, which is basically malt powder without the chocolate added. This version has sadly been discontinued here. Horlicks is similar, but nowhere near as nice, and also contains wheat. So, I went on the search for something that could replace my beloved white Ovaltine.

The other day I went to the local health food shop to get my usual spelt pasta and flour, and I spotted on the shelf a jar of pure barley malt extract, and my mind went BINGO! I had found the replacement for white Ovaltine. Barley malt extract is in syrup form, however, not powder. Since then, I've kind of been baking it into everything (including some really delicious malt granola that tastes just like Shreddies), and decided to make a flavour of ice-cream inspired by a malted milkshake, like the ones you can get in American style diners.

First I thought of making malted strawberry ice-cream, which would also be awesome, but I didn't have any strawberry jam. Instead, my mind wandered down the road of malted chocolate things, and finally it arrived at the doorstep of the Mars bar.

So, Mars bar: this is my ice-cream tribute to you!

I do understand that barley malt is unsuitable for coeliacs, but for those of you who can eat it, I recommend you give this a go.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa (yes, I thought I'd contain it because I was allergic to cocoa for a time)


INGREDIMENTS

For the ice-cream

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) condensed milk
• 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) cocoa powder (see notes below)
• 4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) barley malt extract
• You could also replace the cocoa and malt extract with 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) of original Ovaltine
• Pinch of salt

For the caramel swirl

• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) condensed milk
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) soft light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) cream

HOW-TO

• To make the caramel sauce, melt all the ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Once the caramel sauce has cooled, make the ice-cream following the instructions here, but adding the malt extract (if using) to the condensed milk and cocoa mixture.
• Pour a third of the ice-cream mixture into the freezing container, then drizzle over half the caramel sauce. Pour another third of the ice-cream mixture over it, then drizzle the remaining caramel sauce over that layer. Finish with the final third of the ice-cream mixture.
• Using a knife, gently swirl all the layers together by zigzagging the knife through the container once. Decorate the top with sprinkles, if you like, then freeze for a minimum of 6 hours of overnight.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Wheat-Free Chocolardiac Arrest Cake

Stracciatella Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

Here's the second half of my ice-cream adventures, started last week.

The few weeks ago Lidl was flogging off a load of vanilla pods because they didn't sell well. As such I was picking up double packs of vanilla pods for €1.75 each, as opposed to the usual €6-per-pod craic that Tesco and Dunnes subscribe to. Vanilla pods are very useful for making really natural tasting custard, ice-cream, homemade vanilla essence and spiced rum.

However, immediately after buying them I began packing to move house and baking was not high on my list of priorities. As such I forgot about them, until I unpacked last week.

I decided to make myself some nice proper vanilla ice-cream using vanilla pods instead of essence, and it was fantastic. In its raw form the flavour isn't very strong, but as it freezes overnight the flavour intensifies and in the morning I had SUPER VANILLA ice-cream. It was very tasty, 'was' being the operative word in the sentence.

I now have a load of vanilla sugar brewing away in the press, using the leftover pods when I scraped the seeds out, which is great way of using up the pods instead of throwing them out.

Expect a lot of vanilla themed recipes over the coming weeks.

But back to this recipe. Stracciatella is basically chocolate chip vanilla ice-cream in Italy, and it made by drizzling melted chocolate into the churn while it it running. On contact with the ice-cream, the chocolate freezes and shatters in the blades of the churn, leading to ice-cream that is packed full of tiny chocolate shards. In the absence of an ice-cream churn, I turn to what I refer to as StraCHEATella (smirk), where I basically smash a Flake bar and use the crumbled goodness to simulate the chips.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa (yes, I thought I'd contain it because I was allergic to cocoa for a time)

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) condensed milk
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt
• 1 Flake bar

HOW-TO

• On a chopping board, split the vanilla pod down the middle and scrape out the seeds with the blunt side of the knife.
• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk and stir in the salt and vanilla pod seeds (or the vanilla essence). Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like mousse, basically.
• Pour into a 2 pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 6 hours, preferably overnight.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

This would ice-cream is very tasty when used in making an affogato, an Italian dessert where a single scoop of (traditionally) vanilla ice-cream is put into a cappucino mug, a double shot of espresso is poured over, and the whole lot is dusted with a little cocoa powder.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

Coffee Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

Training and gallavanting, and back in business!!

I have returned to life from my little escape (as explained in my last post), I thought I'd return to making some ice-cream. It seems only right because the weather has been in excess of 18 degrees everyday for about a week and looks like it's not changing for a while! At the same time as I made this coffee ice-cream, I also made some really nice stracciatella ice-cream, which will be following this post.

This is a really, really simple dessert that only needs about 10 minutes of active preparation and an overnight sleep in the freezer. Minimal effort ice-cream, the best thing evar.

However, there is one very important thing to remember with this ice-cream: you must use coffee powder, not granules. The coffee powder is added directly to the mix and is not dissolved in water first, therefore the granules would just remain in big clumps and not mix into the ice-cream fully. That would be less than pleasant.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) instant coffee powder
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) ground cinnamon

HOW-TO

• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk and stir in the coffee powder and salt. Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like mousse, basically.
• Pour into a 2 pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 6 hours, preferably overnight.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Raspberry Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

A lesser known flavour outside of Germany: raspberry ice-cream (Eis Himbeer)

My next experimentation was with using jam instead of condensed milk to make a fruity flavour. I tried this before with my strawberry cheesecake ice-cream, but through further experimentation I have now realised I could've been waaaaay more generous with the jam. I was fearful of invoking a crystallised texture if I swapped too much of the condensed milk for jam, but once I realised that condensed milk and jam contain the same amount of sugar per 100 millilitres, I realised that they pretty much will serve the same function.

This ice-cream has a nice punchy raspberry flavour without compromising on texture.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres, ¼ US cup) condensed milk
• 3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres, ½ US cup) raspberry jam
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO

• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk. Add the jam and salt and mix well. 
• Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like a mousse, basically.
• Pour into a one-pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

NOTES:

• For even more tang, you can replace 2 fluid ounces (55 millilitres) of whipping cream with cream cheese. It makes it even denser, too.

Raspberry desserts don't tend to be as baby pink as their strawberry counterparts, their tone is more muted and purple-ish. If you want proper pinkness, you can add a few drops of food colouring.

Lemon Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

For my next trick: lemon ice-cream!

I've always been a big fan of creamy lemon desserts, there's something very satisfying about a rich, decadent creaminess being counteracted by a zest lemony tang. I also very much like creamy orange desserts too, like orange yoghurt, but I couldn't find orange curd (I could always make it myself, but that's another recipe for another time).

The consistency of this was nice and dense and thick, and truly rich. It's not to be consumed in large doses, or a sore tummy may follow.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS

• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 2 fluid ounces (55 millilitres, ¼ US cup) cream cheese
• 2 fluid ounces (55 millilitres, ¼ US cup) condensed milk
• 4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres, ½ US cup) lemon curd
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO

• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk. Add the cream cheese, lemon curd and salt and mix well. 
• Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like a mousse, basically.
• Pour into a 2 pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

I quite like the delicate yellow colour that it is naturally, but if you want it to be more obviously yellow lemon you could add a few drops of yellow food dye.

Caramel Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

I decided this week I would try my hand at a few different ice-cream flavours, just to see how much abuse the tried and trusted condensed milk and cream formula could actually take. I made three batches of ice-cream, each with a different flavour, using the same basic formula but substituting things and seeing what would happen. Each batch was quite a success!

The first recipe I'm sharing with you is the caramel one I made. This ice-cream was a tad soft, but I know that next time I make it to reduce the amount of syrup; I have amended the recipe and shared it with you here.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) condensed milk
• 4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO

• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk. Add the sugar, golden syrup, vanilla essence and salt and mix well. 
• Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like a mousse, basically.
• Pour into a 2 pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

NOTE

• You could also use maple syrup and mix in some chopped pecans for a nice American style maple pecan ice cream.

In the photos, it's quite a pale brown colour because I used light brown sugar. But, for a more caramelly, fudgy flavour, use dark brown; trust me.

No-Churn, No-Cook, Practically No-Effort Chocolate Ice-Cream (That's as good as Ben & Jerry's)

Yes, I promised it to some Facebookers and so I shall deliver a recipe for no-churn, no-machine, no-pulling-out-of-the-freezer-every-two-hours-to-mix, no-custard, no-cook, little-effort chocolate ice-cream that is soft and rich with no ice crystals!

I thought seeing as Valentine's day is around the corner it's time to begin the chocolate recipe fest! Also, this recipe will be updated with a video once I have edited it, so stay tuned!

This ice-cream is rich, chocolatey, and completely customisable, made mainly from two ingredients with anything else you want to add for frills. The great thing about this recipe is that the ingredients are cheap enough, it only uses one mixing bowl, and you just bung it in the freezer for 4 to 6 hours without having to do anything to it while it freezes.

Ice-cream that tastes as nice as the leading luxury brand for cheap, minimum effort and hardly any washing up. Every woman's dream I would have thought, except having to wait around for it to freeze. But you could always make it before you head to work so it'll be ready for your return...




FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Gluten
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Dairy
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa (yes, I thought I'd contain it because I was allergic to cocoa for a time)


INGREDIMENTS

• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres, 1 US cup) whipping cream, 35%-40% fat content
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) condensed milk
• 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) cocoa powder (see notes below)
• Pinch of salt
• Optional a
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) espresso powder

HOW-TO

• In a large mixing bowl, pour the condensed milk. Add the cocoa powder and salt and mix well. 
• If you like, you can also add the cinnamon and espresso powder for added taste interest. You can leave it out if you prefer.
• Pour in the cream, while stirring, then stir until it is all combined.
• Using an electric hand mixer, whisk until it is light and a soft-peak consistency. You want to to look and feel like chocolate mousse, basically.
• Pour into a 2 pint (560 millilitre, 2½ US cup) pudding mould with a lid (or you can use a loaf tin and cover with cling film) and smooth out the surface. Cover and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.
• Allow to temper for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve as a sundae with syrups, sprinkles and other nice things, on its own, or with cake.

NOTES

• You can adjust the amount of cocoa powder to your liking, but always have at least 3 tablespoons and no more than 7 tablespoons (105 millilitres, two-fifths US cup)
• If cocoa powder is too rich and dark for you, you could use drinking chocolate powder, or a combination.
• Before freezing, you can gently fold in sweets or sprinkles. You could also gently marble in some syrup.

The idea of making ice-cream by mixing whipping cream and condensed milk together is quite common. Every single brand of condensed milk with have a version of the recipe on their website, Nigella Lawson uses this technique to make coffee ice-cream and pomegranate ice-cream, and every food blogger ever has had their own twist on it. But I like to think that I've found the best ratio of milk to cream for the softest, least icy and most luxurious ice-cream ever. Don't quote me on that, mind.

This makes about 1½ pints (850 millilitres, 3½ US cups) of ice-cream, which is enough to feed about 6 people with a sensible scoop or two, 4 people with a generous scoop or three, or one woman recently bereaved of her romantic partner/suffering with her time of the month... so gentlemen if you want to keep her quiet when she's in pain just make her a batch of this. She will love you forever, if that's what you want of course.

The ingredients to make this amount of ice-cream is roughly €3. So, to put it in understandable terms, a tub of Ben and Jerry's costs around €6.50: for half of the price, you can make almost twice as much yourself... which in the long run makes it quarter of the price. You know it makes sense!