My apologies for the extra-long hiatus. I'll blame baseball season and just leave it at that. Besides, I don't usually go out of control with cooking in the summer. I'm not fond of the heat and quite frankly, I don't want to be chained to my stove when it's that hot out. (I suspect this would be quite different if my kitchen was air-conditioned …) Anyway, with that in mind, I decided we'd start Season 2 with an ice cream recipe I discovered this summer in a complimentary issue of Cook's Country. And it's not just any ice cream recipe…it's a 10 minute ice cream recipe!! Seriously!!! Ten minutes worth of work and the end result is a rich, creamy, velvety ice cream!
Now, I *do* have an ice cream maker. A lot of people do, I suppose. And sure, it's fun to use sometimes (made egg nog ice cream for Christmas a number of years ago…that was beyond yummy!) But there are problems with using ice cream makers, at least in my book. First of all, they use rock salt and the season when rock salt is around the house & the season when I want ice cream are several calendar pages apart. Secondly, most of ice cream recipes I've seen contain raw eggs or a cooked egg custard that you need to strain and cool then chill before using. (Side note: I've since learned that if you use pasteurized eggs in a recipe, it's ok to not cook them.) And the insert takes up waaaaay too much room in my freezer. None of this really matters, I suppose. I mean, it's delicious and takes 10 minutes of your time (not counting freeze time, of course.) That's excuse enough to try it, as far as I'm concerned
I did it their way the first time, then did my own thing after that. I'll give you both versions and you can decide which you want to do. Mine is pretty much theirs doubled, except I just use 1 full can of sweetened condensed milk. It's a little less than 1 cup but seriously, what am I supposed to do with just under ½ can of the stuff?? I also tried it with milk chocolate chips instead of chopped bittersweet chocolate…and one time with white chocolate chips (leave out the coffee/water for the white chocolate). I think any kind of chip would work fine…I want to try butterscotch and peanut butter eventually…just adjust the flavorings to go with whatever you decide to use. Just remember that you need that little bit of salt to balance all the sweet that's going on. And since coffee brings out the flavor of chocolate, make sure you use the coffee mixture regardless of whether you're using dark or milk chocolate. Vanilla is always good, but mint extract (and maybe some broken up candy canes!!), or some Grand Marnier or other liqueur would work really well too, I'm sure.
Magic Ice Cream – their way
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
Combine coffee (or espresso) powder in a small bowl. Let stand until coffee dissolves, about 5 minutes. Microwave sweetened condensed milk, chocolate & coffee mixture in a large bowl, stirring every 10-15 seconds, until chocolate is melted, about 1 minute. Stir in vanilla and salt. Let cool.
With electric mixer, on medium speed, whip cream to soft peaks (that's when the peaks hold their shape but the tips bow over when you lift the beaters.) Whisk one-third of whipped cream into the chocolate mixture, to loosen it up a little. Gently fold in remaining whipped cream, in 2 or 3 batches, until incorporated. Make sure you do it gently, so you don't lose all the air you've whipped into the cream. Freeze in an air tight container until firm, at least 6 hours.
Keeps up to 2 weeks. Makes 1 quart.
Make sure you holla back if you try it! Let me know what you think!
No comments:
Post a Comment