A few years ago I was given an ice cream machine for Christmas. It
sat largely dormant in a kitchen cupboard then unexpectedly sprang into action
this summer, like an evil robot that eats nothing but custard.
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| Thanks Wayne! |
A willing lackey, I cast about the internet for recipes and have
listed my favourites here. My frosty overlord is a Magimix Gelato Chef 2200 and
I recommend it – it soft freezes ice cream in 20 minutes and sorbet in 40
minutes. If you’ve neither the money nor the cupboard space for an ice cream
machine, you can just put the mix in a Tupperware box in the freezer and stir
it every couple of hours.
There are lots of variations on a traditional custard base for an
ice cream. I’ve found that the following works well:
4 egg yolks, 100g
caster sugar, 300ml full fat milk, 300ml double cream
- Slowly heat the milk to boiling point in a small saucepan and beat
the egg yolks and sugar.
- While still beating, pour the milk into the egg
mixture. Return the mixture to the pan and stir constantly until the custard
thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Don’t let it boil or the mixture
will separate (if this happens and it starts to look like scrambled eggs, press
it through a sieve).
- Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the cream and
flavouring, then freeze in the ice cream maker. When the mixture starts to
solidify, transfer it to a plastic container. Now is the time to add any pieces
like chopped nuts or chocolate chips. Put it in the freezer to firm completely.
This base works well for any number of flavourings. Add about 2
teaspoons of a good quality extract – I’ve made vanilla, violet, rose and
liquorice ice creams.
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| Violet ice cream with chocolate chips. See previous blog for this obsession |
It also works well with about 4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter and a
handful of crushed peanuts, or my new favourite confectionery, Speculoos. If you'd like chocolate ice cream, sift 2 or 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the sugar, or for a richer version allow 200g dark chocolate chips to melt into the custard while it is still hot. You can stir in peanut butter too and you won't be sorry (unless you hate peanuts).
The above recipe is also a good base for adding a nut paste. I got these 100% nut
pastes from Why Nut and they’re well worth the price, making a delicious ice
cream.
I read about them in a lovely blog called The Little Loaf – its author has a good
recipe for pistachio choc ices here; I also made her delicious treacle tart ice cream (she’s right- if you leave the ice cream for a couple of days the pieces
of treacle tart go chewy).
I particularly recommend the pistachio paste
for its taste and beautiful colour. The amount needed varies according to
taste – I used 100g of the hazelnut and pistachio pastes in the quantity of custard mentioned above, but only 50g of the
almond paste. You need to mix in the paste thoroughly before churning in the ice cream machine,
Once the ice cream is soft frozen, you can add a handful of crushed
pistachios, almonds or hazelnuts with some chocolate chips. Or if the fat
content is still not high enough for you, you could make some almond roca (recipe here),
break it into small pieces and add that to the almond ice cream. I also did the
same with hazelnuts for the hazelnut ice cream. Both were so delicious I
wondered why nobody will marry me (I know, I know, it's my personality).
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| Almond roca ice cream |
If you’d like to get one of your five a day through the medium of
ice cream, I like these recipes for banana ice cream (quick, easy, and surprisingly delicious, even if my nephew did spit it out); strawberry ice cream (I recommend halving the quantities) and – oh Delia,
you know a trick or two – rhubarb crumble ice cream. I also found a good recipe
for plum ice cream in a friend’s extensive collection of Olive magazines; as
it’s old school hard copy I’ve had to type it with my fingers:
350g ripe plums, stoned and quartered
100g soft light brown sugar
3 egg yolks
100g icing sugar
200ml double cream
- Put the plums in a pan with the light brown sugar and 225ml water.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the plums are tender.
Blend and press the stewed fruit through a sieve. Allow to cool.
- Put the egg yolks and icing sugar in a bowl over gently simmering
water. Whisk until the mixture is just warmed through. Take the bowl of the
heat and whisk some more. Chill.
- Whip the cream until it just holds its shape. Whisk in the plum
puree and egg mixture, then churn in an ice cream maker
There was also a good recipe for double honey ice cream:
225g runny honey
600ml double cream
250ml full fat milk
6 egg yolks
Honeycomb:
125g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp runny honey
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Warm the honey in a small pan over a low heat. In another pan, heat
the cream and milk to just below boiling point.
- Whisk the eggs yolks in a
bowl, then pour the hot cream and milk over the eggs, whisking constantly.
Return the mixture to the pan and stir over a low heat until the custard
thickens.
- Add the warmed honey; cool and churn in the ice cream machine.
- To make the honeycomb, put the caster sugar and honey in a pan with
5 tbsp water. Bring slowly to the boil and continue to boil steadily until the
caramel becomes honey coloured. Add the bicarbonate of soda, quickly swirl the pan to
mix and pour onto a greased baking tray.
- Once the honeycomb is cold and
brittle, break it into small pieces and mix through the ice cream while it is
soft-frozen.
Mini choc ices
Another top tip from Delia Smith - make little scoops of ice cream
with a melon baller, stick
cocktail sticks in them , refreeze then dip in chocolate. Delia says they're
'ideal for dinner parties' so I ate all nine chatting with my imaginary friends
about house prices.
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| Peanut butter ice cream dipped in milk chocolate with crushed peanuts |
These have a high chocolate to ice cream ratio that can overpower the flavour of the ice cream, though the honey-flavoured chocolate on double honey ice cream with a piece of honeycomb on top helped combat this issue.
Using white chocolate also helps as it doesn't overpower the flavour of the ice cream.
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| Pistachio and strawberry. Thanks to Hanna Miettinen for the photo |
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| Raspberry mini choc ices for an engagement party (not mine, fellas, don't panic) |
For a healthier option (note that I’ve listed far fewer of these options) you can make a frozen yoghurt – this lemon curd frozen yoghurt was
like a citrusy smack in the chops. You could also make a sorbet with just about
any fruit. I made this raspberry sorbet which went down a treat; I also tried
these alcoholic sorbets and, while I’m not a big fan of alcohol in puddings,
enjoyed both the gin & tonic sorbet and the Pimms sorbet. Remember to follow the
recipe when adding alcohol – too much and it won’t freeze, just like that
bottle of vodka you’ve got hidden inside a bag of peas.
Some sorbet recipes
add egg white but as I wanted these to be vegan I left it out and
it worked fine. The addition of egg white (or even gelatine) helps to stop
crystals forming after a couple of days, but I find eating all the sorbet
within the space of a couple of days is equally effective
Once you have made all the ice creams
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| Yes, ALL of them |
make sure
there are lots of biscuits, cake, sprinkles, fruit and sauce. In the north east
we call red sauce for ice cream 'monkey blood', but be careful of using this phrase outside the area. Now invite
some friends around for an ice cream party.
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With any luck there will be some leftover fruit the next day and you
won’t be able to think of anything else to do with it apart from make more ice
cream. Here is a good recipe for blueberry, coconut and lime ice cream and another for blackberry ice cream.
You are
now trapped in a loop of making ice cream. This was the machine's plan all along. It just has to figure out what to do with 50 leftover egg whites.
Top tips:
If you're putting ice cream in a tupperware box, make sure it doesn't still smell of last week's chilli or else the ice cream will absorb the flavour. Wipe the insides of the container with white alcohol such as vodka to remove any residue.
Speaking of containers: if you make a lot of ice cream and give it away, you'll probably be kissing goodbye to a lot of expensive tupperware. I found these containers in Poundland that hold half a litre. Eight for a quid. I can happily kiss goodbye to those.
Lastly, a lot of recipes tell you to boil fruit then chill it in the fridge. Rather than put it in the fridge while still hot, cool it first in a sink full of cold water. Just watch the tap.....
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| <<<YES! NO!>>>> |
Post script. It's winter now and the ice cream machine has more or less gone into hibernation. There are, however, two winter flavours that are worth mentioning. Firstly, treacle toffee ice cream, inspired by a trip to The Feathers Inn in Hedley On the Hill. Simply make some treacle toffee (recipe here), break half of it into small pieces and melt it into the milk when making a traditional custard base. You can hide the leftover pieces of toffee in the bottom, like the bubblegum in a Two Ball Screwball only even better.
There is Christmas pudding ice cream (recipe here) that I've made for my family next week, claiming it's a "light alternative". I won't mention there's 600 ml of double cream in there...
And gingerbread ice cream, a recipe that took some working on to get the level of spices right. I find this works:
300 ml whipping cream
300 ml whole milk
3 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon ground ginger
4 whole cloves
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
50g light brown sugar
30g black treacle
50g golden syrup
Put the milk, cream, salt and all the spices in a pan. Bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat to let the flavours infuse for an hour. Strain the mixture to remove the spices and stir in the vanilla extract.
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, syrup and treacle, reheat the cream mixture and add little by little. Return the mixture to the pan and stir until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cool, then churn in an ice cream maker.
