Quinn's Perfect Scoop!

Chestnut Ice Cream

2011-01-12T14:00:00.000+10:30

I found a can of chesnut puree from my local supermarket and it is really rare sight because you could hardly get it anywhere else unless you buy them online or buy them in selected deli store. I've decided to make a chesnut ice cream out of it. From where I come from, chestnut are roasted in coffee beans and served as it is. I wish I could get roasted chestnut puree to add a deep flavour into the ice cream but bummer, this would have to do while I try finding whole chestnuts myself to roast and puree.

The ice cream is made with a whole egg as base custard and is nto too rich but very creamy. You could thin it down with milk if it is too thick for your liking. The sugar content could be up by a tablespoon or two because the ice cream is not sweet at all, allowing the strong chestnut flavour to come through. You could also choose to infuse vanilla bean into it or just simply add a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste upon churning the ice cream. I really wanted the chestnut flavour to be prominent and have thus omitted the vanilla and chocolates. I serve it lightly dusted with dutch cocoa powder and love it!

Chestnut Ice Cream

1 cup double cream (normal single heavy cream is fine)
3/4 cup milk
4 tbsp castor sugar
1 whole egg, beaten
3/4 cup chestnut puree

In a smallish saucepan, heat the cream, milk and sugar in a sauce pan until it almost boils. Remove it from heat and temper it with the egg mixture, slowly dribbling in the cream mixture into the beaten egg while whisking vigorously. Return the homogeneous mixture back into the saucepan and back on he stove on lowest heat. Cook it until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

When thickened, remove from the stove top and add in the chestnut puree. I am a little paranoid, they look a little grainy so I blitz them with my stick blender and strain them once more to make sure all I get is a perfectly smooth velvety chestnut custard.

Chill them overnight and churn in your ice cream maker accordingly. Serve dusted with cocoa or poured with chocolate fudge sauce.

Ginger Ice Cream

2010-10-16T19:42:00.005+10:30

It has been a while since I last made ice cream. We are in the middle of Spring now and it is still all very wintery in Adelaide...This simple ginger ice cream recipe, gingerly adapted from Helen@Tartelette will warm you up a bit. It is a great ice cream, very easy to make and a good alternative if you are getting bored with vanilla ice cream.... I halved the recipe and made 5 scoops, enough to last myself and top top off a couple of desserts, obviously with dark chocolate brownies and also the Italian Plum CoffeeCake with Sour-Cream-Cheese Topping.

I cut down the sugar a fair bit since I always like topping it on desserts and do not like the overall thing to be too sweet. Using a microplane will give you fine grates of ginger. Make sure you squeeze every last bit of the ginger goodness out of the steeped milk-cream mixture as the flavour tend to mellow out a little after being churned and being served frozen. It could be a me thing because I love everything ginger-y. Just try it...

I am submitting this recipe to Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays, hosted by Swee San.

Ginger Ice Cream
(makes 5 scoops)

1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
5 tbsp castor sugar (Original one used 8 tbsp)
1 heaping tablespoon of freshly and finely grated ginger

In a large saucepan, pour in the milk, cream and add the sugar. With a microplane grater, zest ginger into the pot directly, really as much or as little as you like. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium low heat, whisking occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and let it steep as it cools down to room temperature. Refrigerate it, preferably overnight and strain it, pressing out all the ginger goodness out of the pulp. Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Done!

Strawberries and Goat's Cheese Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

2010-09-24T16:22:00.009+09:30

When I first made this, I was contemplating on how it would taste like. I sometimes have very weird palate for ice creams...But I am totally digging the flavours and I figured I should post this, just in case some of you might like what I enjoy eating...Goat's cheese taste so good with strawberries and vanilla, can you please believe me? After making the goat's cheese custard base, I drizzle a little of it over semi-dried tomatoes and I love it! If you do not want to use strawberries, try roasted tomatoes, I kid you not. It is A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Just make sure you use your favourite goat's cheese that you really enjoy eating, the flavour does come across strongly in the ice cream so make sure you use the mildest, good quality stuff!

We all know how strawberries and balsamic vinegar are best friends but have any of you all tried dark chocolate balsamic vinegar and drizzle that on strawberries? I was in David Jones one day and happen to chance upon a bottle of Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar. I have not seen anything like that and bought a bottle home and I am absolutely loving it in place of chocolate sauce, drizzled over almost anything! I am not sure where you can get this but if you desperately want this, buying online is not too hard, here.

While I was plating up the ice cream (I know, how can anyone actually plate ice cream??), I saw some peaches sitting in the fridge. Peaches and cream are best friend so I've incorporated them in here as well. I then quickly make a peach coulis, plain as it is sweetened with a dash of icing sugar, no other flavouring. The peaches were really sweet and peaches and strawberries are amazing together...Seriously, you all have to make this ice cream...enough said.

I am submitting this recipe to Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays, hosted by Swee San.

Strawberries and Goat's Cheese Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
(makes approximately 4 cups of ice cream)

Macerated Vanilla-Strawberries
One punnet scant of strawberries (150g-200g)
3 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Wash, pat dry and hull strawberries, making sure you reserve some for garnishing later on. Dice the remaining and place them in a bowl. Toss in the sugar and vanilla paste and stir to coat and mix well. Let it sit in the fridge until needed, stirring once in a while.

Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
1/2 cup dark chocolate balsamic vinegar

Place the dark chocolate balsamic vinegar in a nonreactive pot and heat it until reduced and syrupy on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes, watching as you are doing it as it might burnt. Cool and set aside.

Goat's Cheese Ice Cream Base
125g goat's cheese, crumbled
3 egg yolks
6 tbsp castor sugar
1 cup milk (I use 2% stuff)
2/3 cup cream (I use light cream), softly whipped and chilled in fridge

Make sure you use one of the mildest tasting goat's cheese and one that you enjoy eating because the flavour does come across strongly. Scald the milk in a small pot. While that is happening, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Ladle 1/4 cup of the milk into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously, mixing to combine as you go. Repeat until finished and pour the whole lot back into the pot. Starting with medium-high heat, whisk the custard so it thickens. Whisk nonstop and when it is slightly thicken, turn the heat to medium-low and continue thickening further. Remove from heat and strain to catch any scrambled egg bits that might have curdled at the bottom of the pot. Stir in the goat's cheese and stir until it is all melted. Chill that until very very cold.

Combine the macerated strawberries, the goat's cheese base and the softly whipped cream together and either churn or chill overnight in an air-tight container in the fridge for flavours to mingle. Serve drizzled with dark chocolate balsamic vinegar reduction, more strawberries, peach coulis and a quenelle of vanilla whipped cream to pull everything together.

Tessa Kiros's Vanilla Ice Cream ( whole egg used)

2010-07-15T10:56:00.002+09:30

I know it's winter now here Down Under and you must be crazy to think I am still churning ice cream. I am not crazy, I just feel everyone should have a good tub of quality luscious vanilla ice cream in their freezer at all times. You reckon so?

See, my logic is that vanilla ice cream is fairly essential for serving with a whole range of desserts and is definitely more than just a garnish. Use it over flourless cake or fruit tart and even with chocolate pudding, they just seem to taste better. I love how my comfort desserts are warm and is served with a generous scoop of ice cream, just like my apple crumble. Vanilla flavoured ones are the best because it is classical, not overpowering and ended up being the star of your dessert instead.

This recipe uses whole eggs and I like it that way because sometimes I have too much leftover egg whites that I almost don't know what to make with it! Including this one, I will have 3 types of vanilla ice cream in my repertoire, eggless (this is known as Philadelphia Style Ice Cream), with whole eggs(which is this Tessa Kiros's recipe) and just egg yolks (this is known as French Vanilla Ice Cream and I will post it later).

I am submitting this recipe to Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays, hosted by Swee San.

Vanilla Ice Cream

3 eggs
1/2 cup superfine sugar (I use just 6 tbsp and it is perfect if you wanna use it to pair desserts)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Put the milk in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a teaspoon, and throw the bean in, too. Heat gently so that the vanilla bean and seeds flavor the milk. Just before the milk comes to a boil, remove it from the heat, and whisk a ladleful into the eggs to acclimatize them. Whisk in another ladleful and then tip the whole lot back into the saucepan with the milk. Put it over the lowest possible heat and cook for a minute or so, whisking all the time, just so that the eggs cooked through.Remove from the heat, whisk in the cream, and pour into a bowl or container that has a lid. Leave to cool completely, whisking now and then while it cools so you get the maximum flavour from the vanilla bean.

Remove the vanilla bean and rinse and dry it for another use. I always pop it into my sugar jar. It smells beautiful and you just need to keep topping it up with more sugar and shake it before scooping out the sugar to use.

Put the lid on the bowl and put it in the freezer.After an hour give the mixture an energetic whisk with a hand whisk or an electric mixer. Put it back in the freezer and whisk again after another couple of hours. When the ice cream is nearly firm, give one last whisk and put it back in
the freezer to set.

Alternatively, pour into your ice cream machine and churn, following the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes 5 cups

Nashi Pear and Sake Sorbet

2010-07-08T11:45:00.002+09:30

It's the beginning of winter now. It's getting colder nowadays but you wouldn't believe it. This ice cream keeps you warm. Yes you hear me, it's the sake that keeps you warm. After every mouthful of this rich in pear sorbet, it just gets warmer.

I've added a touch of cream and cookie crumbs just to give it more different texture and I just love how dairy cream sweeten things up a little.

I am submitting this recipe to Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays, hosted by Swee San to show my support for her.

Nashi Pear and Sake Sorbet

One recipe of Roasted Pear with Vanilla Bean and Lemon
1/2 cup good-quality sake
1/2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
Sugar Cookie Tart Crumbles to sprinkle
Nashi pear, thinly sliced, soaked in Sake
Softly whipped chantilly cream to serve

Pulse the roasted pear with ginger until very very fine. Push it through a fine sieve and add in the sake. Transfer to an ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

To serve, scatter some cookie crumbs on a serving plate and scoop a quenelle of the sorbet in the middle. Smear some cream around the plate and serve with an extra drizzle of the sake along with the Nashi pear slices.

Inspired but very loosely adapted from Iced: 180 very cool concoctions.

Baklava Ice Cream

2010-05-19T12:23:00.000+09:30

I made this because I bought filo pastry to make Spanakopita that I craved so much. Didn't know what to do with the very little leftover filo and didn't want them to dry up in the fridge. Didn't wanna make baklava because the are always too sweet to my liking. It strikes across me about eating cool and creamy baklava. Yes, an ice cream with the spirit of baklava!

I look up some ice cream books and flip Tessa Kiros collection as usual. I'm sure she has something for me, as always. Tessa Kiros has a very good milk, honey and cinnamon ice cream in her Falling Cloudberries. Iced: 180 very cool concoctions has a baklava ice cream in it. I mix both the recipe and add in what I like and came up with this and they are so so good.

The sweetness is just right for me, feel free to add more sugar. Remember, you can add more sugar if it's not sweet but salt can't fix an overly sweet custard, unless you thin it down with more milk. Also remember you will be drizzling more honey and dusting icing sugar upon serving. The ice cream never freeze completely due to the honey content. Feel free to reduce it and top up with more sugar instead but I love how creamy the honey makes it!

Baklava Ice Cream
(Makes approximately 5 cups and serves 6-8 people)

1.5 cups milk (approximate including the good splash when my custard was too thick)
1 cup plus 3/4 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup honey (If you add too much, your ice cream will never completely solidify, instead it will be creamy, depending on your choice of honey)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
One dried mandarin orange peel
Pinch of salt

2 tbsp castor sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
6-8 sheets of filo pastry
Melted butter
Icing sugar for dusting

Put the milk, cream, honey, cinnamon, orange zest and salt in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, or until everything is combined and the mixture is just about to boil. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks with the 2 tbsp sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture, whisking as you pour it in. Whisk until smooth and repeat. When the temperature is about the same, pour everything back into the saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat for 8-10 mins. If you're brave and daring and crazy like me, crank up the heat to high and whisk nonstop like mad. You can stop when they mixture coats he back of the spoon but I overdo mine and it was thick. Very thick I can eat it with a spoon, drizzled over figs. Yummy! I thin it down with more milk later. Just a generous splash or two, I didn't measure.

Cool them over ice bath and refrigerate them until very cold, preferably overnight. Remove the orange zest. Transfer to an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Reserved some pistachios for decorations later and stir in the remaining towards the end of churning. Freeze for a few hours before scooping.

Brush a sheet of filo pastry with the butter and scrunch it up like a ball. Place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with the remaining filo and butter, brushing any leftover butter over the top gently. Bkae them for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

Serve scoops of ice cream topped with filo balls, drizzled with extra honey, sprinkled with nuts and finish off with a dust of icing sugar.

Baklava ice cream! Nuts, honey, citrus and spice....dreaming of an ice infused with the spirit of baklava? It's all here, even the filo pastry.....No reason to not make it if you're a baklava lover!

Maple Syrup and Vanilla Ice Cream

2010-04-17T18:49:00.001+09:30

I made this before many many times and blogged about it before here once. This is so yummy and easy. Seriously, no ice cream recipe can get easier than this. This requires zero sugar, just a touch of maple syrup. I use a top quality one and it was so decadent and sinfully delicious.

If your ice cream maker is already in the freezer the night before and all your ingredients are cold, you can churn it straight away and have soft serve ice cream with butter shortbread crumbled through your fingers. It taste very yummy on its own too.

The maple syrup taste is very aromatic. I'm sniffing my empty ice cream glass now and it smell so so so good! I haven't try with honey though. Might taste better, who knows but for now, I'm sticking to this because this is as good as it can be.

Maple Syrup & Vanilla Ice Cream
(makes approximately 4 large scoops)

1/2 cup single pouring cream
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Pour everything into a spouted jug and whisk it well to combine. Pour it into an ice cream maker and churn until done. Serve with crumbled shortbread or pecan butter cookies.

Done!

Very Strawberry Ice Cream

2010-04-02T16:02:00.000+10:30

Unlike the Nigella's Strawberry Ice cream that I have made before, this one is creamy but not as creamy as Lawson's one but the difference is, this one packs a punch, makes little but use double the strawberry amount of that. And I'm glad to say after making ice cream so many times, I can come up with a recipe of my own and it is still very yummy. They're not sweet, totally meant for Aaron. I've also tried using roasted strawberries before and they tasted heavenly. There is a nice roasted flavour in the ice cream, not too subtle and the flavour deepens with time.

If you happen to go to supermarket, pick up a punnet of strawberries for this, they will not let you down. You'll know it's worth it.

Recipe time:

Buy a punnet of strawberries (it's usually 250g), wash them and reserve a few beautiful ones for garnish. Hull the rest and roughly chop them up a bit. Macerate them with 2 tbsp of vanilla castor sugar. Maceration allows it to release its natural juice, you musn't skip this step. It makes a lot of difference rather than just mixing everything and blending them together.

Pour 1 cup of half-and-half in a small milk pot and bring it to a simmer. You wanna scald it, not boil it. As soon as you see steam profusely appearing on the surface of the half-and-half, remove it from the heat.

While that is happening, whisk together 2 to 3 yolks with 5 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 tsp of vanilla bean paste. I like vanilla bean paste, they are a good buy and a good addition in anything. You can omit it if you like but I'd rather not. Whisk until pale and the sugar is dissolved. I always use vanilla castor sugar. They dissolve faster and are very aromatic.

Temper the yolk mixture with the half-and-half. Did I mention, you can substitute this with one part of thickened cream to one part of milk. You don't get half-and-half easily in some places. You can also try substituting thickened cream with buttermilk or creme fraiche. They totally taste wonderful too but Aaron doesn't like fancy stuffs, so milk and cream will do.

Once tempered, pour the combined mixture back into the milk pot and whisk it nonstop over medium heat until it thickens. This happen at a blink of an eye so watch out. Use lower heat towards the end and cook until it can coat the back of your wooden spoon. That is when you draw a line across it like this, the line remains. Now, is this idiot proof enough???

Cool the custard down by whisking it over an ice bath. Chill it further in the fridge until it is completely cold. Puree the macerated berries, as fine or as rough as you like. I like mine fine. Throw in 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice. Combine all that with the chilled custard and churn them in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

I like serving them with white chocolate love letters. Garnish with remaining reserved strawberries and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream, because you're worth it.

Now, indulge!

P/S: You can see the step-by-step here, real similar but different recipe.

And before I sign off, here is an award that have been given to me by Petite Nyonya of Nyonya Pendek Melaka. Thank you so much for thinking I am worth it and PerfectScoops is so flattered and seriously touched. And as always, I can be very disappointing sometimes, I do know if you read here, here or here. Petite Nyonya, I think I'll make this a leaf node in the tags spanning across the blogosphere. In a quick 5 mins Google, it looks like most bloggers that I have known and those that I have not already known have already been tagged, and I'm not going to spread the contagion outside the organization further :)

Matcha Ice Cream with Banana Tempura

2010-03-13T16:17:00.008+10:30

This is my contribution to St. Patrick's Day. I figure something green would be good and I've come up with Matcha or green tea ice cream. I brought the Matcha powder all the way from Malaysia form a store that sells Japanese specialty. Boy were they expensuve but having churned my very first bath of Matcha ice cream, I knew they were worth it and you only use them sparingly. So a good 100g can last me sometime.

I don't like eating my ice cream plain. I always have to pair it with something. If you know me well enough, I hve many times raved about my love for cooked fruits. I've paired the Matcha ice cream with banana fritters. I've also used tempura flour to pair the Japanese themed ice cream. In terms of colour, presentation and taste, these are good to make and dress to kill.

Try it!

Eggless Matcha Ice Cream:

1/2 cup full cream milk
1-2 tbsp of Matcha powder, depending on how green and how string you want them to be
1/4 cup (use 1/3 cup if you're not making the banana tempura to pair with)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
One small tub of thickened cream (I used 300ml tub)

Pour out all the cream into a chilled bowl and whip it with a chilled beater until it reaches soft, firm peak. Set it aside. Measure out 1/2 cup milk and pour it into the cream tub. Shake it well to combined the remaining cream. Pour out the milk into a tall beaker. Add in the Matcha powder, vanilla sugar and vanilla bean paste. Using an immersion blender, blend into submission until you obtain a uniform green mixture. Pour it over the cream and fold it gently to roughly combine.

Churn it in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction. Pour it into a container and freeze it until ready to use.

Banana Tempura:

4 medium sized bananas, peeled and split lengthwise
1 egg white
2-3 tbsp cold water
1/4 cup tempura flour
Canola oil

Beat the egg white with the water and slowly add in the tempura flour with a fork. Do not whisk it. Batter should remain thick but not lumpy. Heat up canola oil until it is hot enough. Dip the banana halves into the batter, one at each time, draining it well and fry until golden brown. Repeat until finish.

Garnish:

Good honey
Icing sugar

Squeeze honey on a serving plate decoratively. Arrange 2 warm banana halves on the honey. Top it off with a large scoop of Matcha ice cream. Dust liberally with sifted icing sugar and serve immediately.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you. I'm getting way more busy and I might not update so often anymore but do check back once in a while, I might surprise you with a thing or two.

Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia

2010-01-16T19:02:00.000+10:30

If you Google up 'Cherry Garcia Recipe', the first page that pop up are all Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia recipe. Named after Grateful Dead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, Cherry Garcia is just ice cream with cherries and chocolate flakes in it .

I first found out about Cherry Garcia from Ellie of Almost Bourdain. In fact, I've not even heard of Ben & Jerry's until she mentioned it. I don't know about you, but I don't think we have it here in Australia. Maybe in tubs from supermarkets but I've never bother to glance through any ever since I got myself an ice cream maker and have the luxury of controlling what goes into my churned cream.

This ice cream is incredibly easy and delicious. If you're paranoid about raw eggs, you could perhaps omit it and make it Philadelphia style. If you use fresh eggs, these doesn't even need to be cooked over stove even once. All in all, I spent 30mins including churning time and these are ready to serve, if you like soft and pliable. Else, you need to freeze it for at least 3 hours for it to be scoopable.

I like these. They are so good tasting. I use Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips and pulse it in the food processor until almost fine flakes. I still like some bites in my ice cream. And I definitely cut my cherries up small. I quartered them nicely and slowly. They were so ripe and juicy.

Maybe it's just me but I find the 1/4 cup of chocolate flakes and 1/4 cup of chopped, pitted cherries to be insufficient for me. I think I definitely added in another 2 tbsp or so of chopped cherries, I stick to the chocolate flakes amount since I couldn't be bothered to pulse another 2 tbsp of chocolate chips.

So, be generous if you want cherry bits in every mouthful of your ice cream. I enjoy serving this with more fresh cherries alongside. Since, the one in the ice cream is frozen, I couldn't really taste it.

The recipe below is adapted from Almost Bourdain though you can find this recipe easily with Google and Internet. I like how quirky the quotes that she quoted from the book are. They are so witty and funny. Thanks Ellie for sharing this and made Ben & Jerry known to me! Gotta agree these are pretty good stuffs yeah!

Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream Recipe

(Makes grateful 1 quart)

Ben & Jerry - "A couple of Dead Heads in Maine sent us a postcard with a name for a new flavor. They left the recipe up to us. We got to work with some fresh bing cherries and threw in the chocolate flakes as a last minute inspiration. At last report, both Jerry Garcia and his wife Carolyn are crazy about it."

1/4 cup heaped dark Hershey's chocolate chips, pulsed in food processor until almost flaky

1/4 cup heaped fresh cherries, pitted and diced smallish (Don't use canned stuffs, those are no good)

2 large fresh eggs

3/4 cup vanilla castor sugar

2 cups cold whipping cream

1 cup cold whole milk

Place the shaved chocolate flakes and the cherries in separate bowls. Cover and refrigerate. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy with an electric mixer for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended and foamy, mine almost doubled in volume. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend well. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions. Add the chocolate and cherries in the final minute of churning. Churn until done and freeze until ready to serve.

Extra tip, when I was scooping the ice cream into the sugar cone to take a photo, I let it stand on an egg cup holder in the freezer to hold it while I fiddle with my camera setting. Might or might nor help, just in case some of you don't already know.

Cheers!

Lucky with ice cream? Yey or Ney?

2010-01-08T00:52:00.005+10:30

Some of you all email me and ask me how do I manage to snap ice cream so decently. I don't wanna use the word perfectly but the fact is, I do not always get lucky with ice cream shots. These are some shots I took previously from my Burnt Sugar Ice Cream. These are my first batch and the weather was a freaking 41°C.

After all the melon balling, drizzling of warm caramel cream and piping of whipped cream, they look so ugly I have to churn another batch. My pictures here, they do no justice and in fact insulted Tessa Kiros's beautiful caramel ice cream.

If you're going for good looking photos, cheat your way through. When I mention in my post to drizzle warm caramel sauce, I've actually drizzled cold caramel. I scooped the ice cream and place them in the serving glass and freeze it again. An hour later, I drizzle the cold caramel cream and chill it in the freezer again for 10 minutes. I then think of how and where I want to shoot it, looking at the sun, shadow and maybe some simple props, just to bring out the ice cream look.

When I'm all set, snap snap and pop it back in the freezer. If I'm not satisfied, I'll snap snap again and eat only when I'm happy with my shots. Aaron can happily take a spoon and dig in the remaining so we don't really exactly have to wait to eat.

Photoshooting can be fun and upsetting at times so play around and have fun. If it comes out ugly and all melted, laugh it away and start all over again!

Hope this helps. Good night!

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

2009-12-29T20:30:00.001+10:30

For something that starts life as burnt sugar, caramel adds a sticky allure to oh-so-creamy ice cream. This caramel ice cream is beautiful, buttery toffee-brown; looks and tastes absolutely wonderful!

I adapted this from Tess's Falling Cloudberries. You can practically use any plain vanilla ice cream and adapt it to a caramel ice cream. It's the method that differentiates it rather than the recipe. I've also added just half a vanilla bean simply because I love them in all sorts of ice creams. Tessa didn't put it in. I also modified the steps a bit to suit my liking so what you see below is what works best for me.

Try it and let me know whether you like it or hate it, though you probably cannot hate such divine-tasting scoops.

And the caramel sauce is absolutely optional but adds a good kick and boost to the already very caramelized ice cream!

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
serves 2

6 tbsp vanilla castor sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup thickened cream
2 large egg yolks
1/2 a vanilla bean (optional)

Put the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and let it melt away and burnt itself into a luscious golden, dark, deep colour of caramel. Don't stir, just tilt the pan from time to time.

Meanwhile, in another milk pot, pour in all the milk. Scrap the vanilla bean into the milk pot and throw in the pods as well. Bring it to simmer until it is warm to touch. Let it infuse until needed. When the caramel is a dark golden colour, slowly and carefully add the warm milk, standing back as it will splash up. Add the cream and mix well.

Whip the egg yolks in a small cup with a hand whisk until fluffy or you could use an electri cmixer which I find totally unnecessary. It's just two yolks anyway. Temper the yolks with the mixture. It basically means add the caramel cream mixture, tablespoon by tablespoon into the egg yolk whilst the other hand of yours is whisking it vigorously so they don't curdle. When they are about the same temperature, pour them in, in a steady stream whilst still whisking constantly.

At this stage, you can choose to return them back to the pan and cook them on the lowest heat setting until they are slightly thickened but why bother really. The egg yolks are cooked when tempering. Maybe not cooked through but I'm always using fresh eggs so I'll be fine. I still live here to tell the tales. I used to be really paranoid but yeah, I couldn't care less now.

Cool them by stirring from time to time in the fridge. When completely cool, transfer to a bowl and cover and chill it overnight or until very very cold.

Churn it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Serve scoops of these drizzled with warm caramel sauce.

Quinn's Easy Peasy Caramel Sauce
Doesn't make much but enough for drizzling purpose

1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp cream

This is simple but divine. You can use Dulce De Leche anytime for drizzling if that's what you have in hand. Thin it down with a dash of milk and ad a pinch of salt to it. Mad heaven!!!! Caramelize the sugar with the water in a small pan. When it turns dark golden brown, add in the cream and whisk until combined. Pour into a cup and cool it a while before pouring over. It will thickened as it cools down. I like pouring them over warm.

Philadelphia Style Ice Cream (Eggless)

2009-12-22T00:04:00.007+10:30

Here is the Philadelphia style ice cream as promised. This is the base to a lot of good flavoured ice cream such as chocolate chips and chocolate mint and Hokey Pokey. I manage to churn some of these plain old-fashioned ones to pair with my Flourless Chocolate Cake.

I've made this so many times and 9 out of 10 times they are fine (well maybe not 10 but definitely a lot of times!) however the only time when I wanna take a picture of them, they are grainy. You really gotta stand there and be patient and whisk the sugar until they all dissolved, can't skip that! Note: they look really rainy but taste exceptionally smooth!!!! I don't know why and don't know what's the problem. You can't see the graininess when they are frozen and scooped into rounds. No pictures sorry. I'll try get some shots next time!

From my previous post of Hokey Pokey, I have described them to be light tasting, perfect as an accompaniment alongside tarts and flourless chocolate cakes. They could be rock hard when freezed since it is purely sugar, cream and sometimes milk. Just thaw it in the fridge like 20minutes before serving and it'll be as good as freshly churned.

Philadelphia Style Ice Cream (Eggless)

There are tonnes of recipe for Philadelphia based ice ream out there but if you have observe close enough, they are proportions rather than recipe. It is always 1 cup of liquid, let it be milk or cream to 1/4 cup of sugar so stick to that and add flavourings; usually vanilla is the case according to liking.

1.5 cups thickened cream (Substitute with milk but no more than half of it.)
6 tbsp castor sugar (I use 1-2 tablespoon less because I am eating this with cakes and tarts)
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

Many say it'll be grainy if the sugar is not dissolved properly over the stove but there is really no such need. I always whisk my sugar, cream and vanilla paste together until I feel that the sugars are all dissolved. Just make sure you use superfine or castor sugar. If you are using normal white sugar, pulse them in the food processor for 5 seconds and you'll get superfine sugar. Churn them in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction.

Hokey Pokey

2009-12-16T20:14:00.004+10:30

Who could ever resist saying okey dokey to a second helping of Hokey Pokey? Hokey Pokey, according to Wikipedia is New Zealand's second best favourite ice cream flavour after vanilla ice cream. At its core, Hokey Pokey is plain vanilla ice cream with honeycomb flecked in it.

Yes, Hokey Pokey is a flavour of ice cream. It doesn't really matter if you're using French Style ice cream or Philadelphia style ice cream. French Style ice creams are ice cream with egg yolk custard base. They are rich, smoother and more to my liking. Egg yolks are natural emulsifier so it thickens the ice cream a fair bit. Philadelphia style ice cream s are eggless and doesn't require cooking. Philadelphia style ice creams are light tasting, perfect as an accompaniment alongside tarts and flourless chocolate cakes. They could be rock hard when frozen since it is purely sugar, cream and sometimes milk. Just thaw it in the fridge like 20 minutes before serving and it'll be as good as freshly churned.

After all that rambling and sharing with you my knowledge of ice cream, I don't even have a proper post of vanilla ice cream (both styles!) in this blog! I will churn some soon. Because this summer and weather is driving me nuts and short tempered and I need some of these to cool myself down. And also to wash it off as my desserts in many upcoming Christmas parties! And the picture below, that's me holding on to the cone and thinking of how I should photograph it. It's 39°C today and if I only start styling when the cone is topped, there is a big chance it would have melted away before I could say Hokey Pokey!

I've used Philadelphia ice cream base in this recipe for my Hokey Pokey ice cream. I have also go to the extent of making my own honeycomb. You can obviously use store-bought ones and they are equally good but you probably know me by now, I try to make everything from scratch where possible. You can use any other vanilla ice creams, French or Philadelphia ones and add honeycomb flecks to it and call it Hokey Pokey. Usually served in double scoops so here it is, my homemade Hokey Pokey. Kids love these stuffs! Make a large batch of these!

Philadelphia Style Ice Cream (Eggless)

One recipe of Philadelphia Style Ice Cream

Make them as usual and churn them in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction. Halfway through churning, add in all (you can reserve some for topping) the honeycomb speckles and churn until done.

Honeycomb Speckles
makes enough for this batch of Hokey Pokey

3 tbsp heapead castor sugar
2 tbsp water
2 tsp honey
Pinch of baking soda

Line a cookie sheet with a baking paper and generously grease it with butter. Place the sugar, water and honey in a smallish pan and caramelize it until it reaches a deep dark golden amber. Working quickly, use your finger and sprinkle over a pinch of baking soda and swirl the pan around. Stir it briefly and quickly pat everything out onto the prepared sheet. Let it cool well and become brittle. Gently peel it off the paper and break them up a bit. Place them in a Ziploc bag and crush them to speckles with a rolling pin.

To serve, scoop them out onto sugar cones, two generous scoops, one on top of another. Dress them up with remaining speckles and serve immediately.

Aussie Halo Halo

2009-12-10T14:42:00.001+10:30

Halo Halo means mix-mix in Philippine. This shaved ice dessert is a cross of Malaysia Ice Kacang and Phillipine Halo Halo. I've used Thai Tub Tim Grob and lots of summer fruits to make up this glass of Halo Halo.

Tub Tim Grob is known as fake pomegranate seeds or little jewels or rubies. At its core, they are just diced and coloured water chestnut coated with tapioca starch and cooked to reveal its beautiful jewel/chestnut inside.

There is a lot of flavour going on in this glass of Halo Halo.Here, I've used Autralia summer fruits or practically any fruits that are in season now in Adelaide to make this. So, instead of papaya, jackfruit and other tropical fruits, I've used blueberries, grapes, mango, strawberry, pomegranate arils, red and green rubies.

I mixed all that together and layer them in a tall glass with shaved ice, mango sorbet and a coconut lime dressing. I top it off with more mango sorbet and serve this with a spoon. As the name says it all, mix it all up to eat it! The coconut lime dressing goes really well with my mango sorbet. Here, I could taste the fruits, the coconut, lime juice, mango and star anise all kept chilled by the layer of shaved ice.

This is really awesome and you don't need a recipe, just rough guidance really.

Ingredients: Serves 2

1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp castor sugar

Place all the above in a glass jar with lid and chill until needed.

Mango sorbets
Shaved ice
Tub Tim Grobs (Recipe below)
Diced mangoes
Handful of blueberries
Sliced strawberries
Handful of baby grapes
Handful of pomegranate arils

Mix all the above except for shaved ice and mango sorbets. In two tall glass, place half the mixture of fruits and rubies evenly into the glasses. Top with a large scoop of mango sorbet on each glass followed by enough shaved ice to the brim. Pack them a little and fill up the glasses with remaining fruit and rubies mixture. Take the glass jar filled with coconut lime mixture and give it a good shake until it's foamy and all the sugar has dissolved. Pour evenly over the two glasses and serve straight.

Tub Tim Grobs
(Colourful rubies or fake pomegranate seeds)

This is best made on the day it is needed and not overnight else it will expand and you'll get skin flating with water chestnut all over. The reason it is called fake pomegranate seeds is because it is red traditionally but feel free to substitute red with many other colours as you wish. You can also feel free to use food colouring however on days when I feel like I'm in the au naturale mood, I'll use pomegranate juice or beetroot juice to soak the chestnuts to make it red and freshly blended pandan juice to soak the chestnuts and make them green. I will leave some plain too for colour sake.

10 to 15 pieces of fresh water chestnuts, peeled and cubed smallish
Water in a spraying mist can
Tapioca starch placed in a Ziploc Bag
Beetroot juice or pomegranate juice
Freshly blended and strained pandan juice (10 pandan leaves to 1/2 cup water)

Divide the chestnuts into 3 handfuls. Drop one handful in the pomegranate juice, just enough to cover them. Drop the other one in pandan juice and the plain ones, set them aside or feel free to drop them in sugar syrup like I did. Soak them overnight for best results.

Working with one color at a time, drain the juice and retain the juice. Place the coloured chesnuts into the ziploc bag. Shake well to coat and run your fingers through them to breakup any larger clumps. Strain them into a clean baking tray and spray them liberally with water. Return the wet chestnut cubes into the ziploc bag and shake well again. Run fingers through to break smaller lumps. Repeat the water spraying sequence twice or thrice depending on how big you like the rubies to be. Repeat with remaining two colours.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil and drop the rubies in. They will cook and float and reveal its beautiful shades of colour when cooked. Drain and drop them in cold icy water for a while to prevent sticking and then drop them back into its respective coloured juice again.

When about to assemble, drain all the rubies and toss them around with all the diced fruits mixture.

Serve this on a hot summer day. They are so ever refreshing!

Mango and Star Anise Sorbet

2009-12-01T15:01:00.001+10:30

On days when I make custard base ice cream frequently, I'm left with a lot of egg whites. I could have make pavlova and macaroons (Never attempted even once!) but I chose to make sorbets instead simply because I like frozen treats and there's no cream or milk involved! I always cut down the sugar a fair bit.

Mangoes are in season now in Australia so I've churned some of these. Star anise adds star quality to luscious mango in this beautifully refreshing sorbet. I serve this with white chocolate wafer instead of honey macadamia wafers as provided with the recipe. Did I say I adapted this from Iced: 180 very cool concoctions?

And did I also mention that this recipe is a disaster? It's more like I cause the disaster, the recipe is fine. I bet you never know you can actually over churn ice creams do you? Didn't you wonder why my sorbet looks like mango ice cream with cream in it rather than a bright orange colour? I over churn it people!

The colour probably comes from the egg white when it's over churned and the air incorporated. It quadrupled its supposed volume and ended up tasting like soft serve mango ice cream with some sort of fake mango essence, where in actual fact, I've used real sweet good quality mangoes!

Oh well, if anyone pointed it out about the colour and texture, just give them a weird stare and point to the sorbet and say 'I meant to do just that!'

Mango and Star Anise Sorbet (Serves 4 to 6)

3/4 cup castor sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
1 1/4 cups water
2 star anise
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 large ripe mangoes, chopped
2 egg whites

Put the sugar, water and star anise in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Stir in the lemon juice. Puree the mango with the egg whites until smooth. Strain the sugar syrup into the mango and process until combined. Strain again to remove fibres from mango.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. I chill them overnight first before churning.

Serve with white chocolate wafers and spoons of course!

Coffee Gelato

2009-11-26T12:22:00.006+10:30

I don't know why I always hear people commenting on homemade sorbet or gelato being grainy without the cream masking it. I am always into frozen treats, let it be low fat or dense, heavy type. And at the rate of my consumption of cool concoctions, I think we could do with a low fat mood for the mean time.

This coffee gelato uses only milk and just one yolk. It is not sweet and you could churn this out in less than an hour. I cooked the custard, chill it and churn it all under an hour. Try it some day!

Coffee Gelato (Pretty low fat)
Adapted from DailyDelicious

1 egg yolk
3 tbsp castor sugar
1 cup skinny milk
1 tsp good quality instant coffee powder

Scald the milk until nearing to boil. Add in the coffee powder and whisk into submission. Turn off heat and keep warm.

Whisk the egg yolk and sugar together until sugar dissolved and mixture is pale, doubled in volume and fluffy looking with ribbony trails. Temper in the coffee milk mixture and return it back to the stove to thicken just a while. It won't thicken much since there's really not much yolk and no cream in there. We just wanna make sure the yolk is thoroughly warmed through and cooked.

A couple of minutes later, transfer them to a large bowl and whisk nonstop over ice bath until it reaches room temperature. You can pop it straight into the fridge too at this point of you don't wanns bring down the temperature. Chill well and churn in an ice cream maker until tripled in volume.

Scoop all out into a freezer safe container and serve straight. I like mine scoopable. Chill for 30mins and serve straight in tiny little shot glasses.

Done! Your homemade creamy and smooth coffee gelato, minus the guilt and cream!

Chai Ice Cream

2009-11-22T22:59:00.008+10:30

Tea and sugar and spice is very, very nice...the Indians were onto a wonderful thing when they first dreamed up Chai! This ice cream is lusciously smooth I could almost reach orgasm!!!! Well, that also depends on how much you like Chai. If you're a Chai freak like me. You'll find this great and tantalising to your tastebud. I do know of some people who really really hates Chai. Weirdos!

Chai Ice Cream (loosely adapted from Iced: 180 very cool concoctions)

1 cup pouring cream
1 cup milk
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp black tea leaves
4 whole cardamom pods, crushed to reveal seeds
3 whole cloves
20g old ginger, peeled and sliced
3cm strip of orange zest, remove as much pith as possible with a vegetable peeler

Place all the above into a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is just about to boil. Remove form the heat, cover and set aside to infuse for 15 mins. Pour through a muslin-lined fine sieve into a saucepan. Let it cool until your hands are able to handle them. Gather the ends of the muslin cloth and give it one final squeeze so every drop of the essence drip into the saucepan.

2 tbsp castor sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

Whisk the above together while you're bringing the Chai tea mixture to boil until well combined and pale. Pour the Chai tea mixture in now. You need not temper as the temperature is probably right now since it's okay to your hand, it probably won't curdle your egg yolks. If you wanna play safe, temper!

You can choose to cook the mixture a while over the stove until it thickens and coats the back of teh spoon or just be like me. The warmth left from Chai will cook your egg yolks nicely when you combine them so there's really no need to return them to the stove really.

Chill them overnight or until they are really cold and churn them in the ice cream maker. When done, scoop them out into a freezer safe container and pop them into the freezer for 30mins or so until firm enough to scoop.

Serve on sugar cone or alongside French Apple Tart. I hope I've make you drool just by looking at the photos.

Enjoy!

Bailey's Ice Cream

2009-11-21T18:58:00.006+10:30

These are strictly for adults only. Creamy, rich and smooth. Smother your lips in some of these today. I've cut down the sugar by a tablespoon so it's not overly sweet.

They are not very easy to scoop after coming out from the freezer so you really have to stand it a while to soften it. But once it's softened, you gotta eat it rther quickly because it melst pretty fast due to the liqueur content in it.

Will I make this again? Yes, because it doesn't even require any stove top cooking! Another quick fix for me!

Bailey's Ice Cream (adapted from Iced: 180 very cool concoctions)

Line a 3 cup freezer-proof container with plastic wrap.

1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp castor sugar
3 tbsp Baileys or any other Irish Cream liqueur

Whisk together the yolk and sugar in a bowl until pale. Then whisk in the Bailey's.

1 large egg white
1/4 cup castor sugar

Beat the egg white in a clean dry bowl until stiff peaks form, then gradually beat in the 1/4 cup of sugar and beat in until glossy.

125g Mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup whipped thickened cream

Fold the Mascarpone into the egg yolk mixture followed by the whipped cream. Gently fold through the egg whites.

Pour into the prepared container and freeze for 5 hours or overnight. To serve, turn out the container and stand for 5 mins. Cut into slices.

For me, I chilled it overnight and churn them in my ice cream maker. Refreeze it for 30 mins and serve it scooped into sugar cones.

Vanilla Bean Gelato

2009-11-15T16:46:00.001+10:30

I hope you've chilled your ice cream container and its paddle well ahead because if you have done that, you are almost done making your gelato.

Turn on your ice cream maker and pour in 2 cups of whole milk into it followed by 1/2 cup vanilla castor sugar and 1/2 tsp full of vanilla bean paste. Let it churn according to your manufacturer's instruction and freeze at least 30mins before serving.

Done! And no, you do not need any egg yolks, egg whites or whole egg in this. And obviously no cream since it's gelato and nope, no cooking over stove required and yes, all the sugar dissolved and what you get is a smooth mass of rich vanilla gelato. No creaminess from cream but just pure refreshing texture of the milk.

As you could see, there are really just 3 ingredients here so do not skimp on them and use Splenda or low fat milk. The recipe says 3/4 tsp vanilla extract but I have always use vanilla bean paste ever since my first time trying it a year ago. They're awesome, something essence and extract lack.

Recipe adapted from Iced: 180 Very Cool Concoction s.

Have fun and it's hot like summer here now in Adelaide, Australia!

Cappuccino Ice Cream Cakes

2009-11-11T20:08:00.000+10:30

I must confess....I'm falling in love with coffee after making these...They look stunning but really not that tough to make if you spread the workloads into 2 days....This is supposed to look like a cup of cappuccino where the chocolate cake is the cup with coffee ice cream as the cappuccino in the cup. The whipped cream represents cappuccino froth. Finally, a dust of cocoa and serve with a chocolate spoon tucked into the cream completes it all....

I cannot tell you enough how much I love the ice cream. It's from a real good quality vanilla bean ice cream base and anyone would tell you it is such a waste to throw in some Moccona and call it a coffee ice cream. But the fact is, I've used a classic medium roast Moccona granules and they really lifted up the whole ice cream flavour. This is not your usual homebrand, this is Moccona people. I don't know about you but it was a rather expensive you can buy off the shelf in supermarkets here in Australia but Aaron is drinking coffee almost on a daily basis so we bought a better one rather than the cheap homebrand instant coffee powder. Trust me, we've both procrastinated long enough to buy this....it's worth it, I could proudly say so now.

Frankly, I don't quite like the chocolate cake base. I baked it the night before and store them in anair tight container but this morning when I wanted to assemble them, the chocolate cake is dry, rather on the crumbly side. I tried microwaving it a while but it didn't work, it's just dry but not the tough rock type, just plain dry. Flavour wise is really good I would say. It comes together with the recipe and is meant to be not to compliment the ice cream.

Though crumbly, I have no problem scooping the centre out to make room for the ice cream. A melon baller is really, really and I stress again, really very helpful here. I scoop out the centre of the chocolate cake really nicely and ake plenty space then I could for the ice cream so they could compliment the dry cake better. And I again use the melon baller to scoop these really cute mini size ice cream balls. Aren't they cute in mini scoops???? How can anyone resist cute stuffs really!

Again, the recipe for the chocolate cake makes way to many muffins than I wanted. I cut down the initial recipe by two-third but it still yield 12 or more muffins. And it's supposed to make only 6! How stupid can that be???

Anyway, recipe is adapted from my new book too! It's not Tess, it's Iced: 180 very cool concoctions given to me by my lovely housemate, Samantha (click click!!! she has a food blog too!). I found the recipe here but I strongly suggest using your favourite chocolate muffin recipe or if you insist to make these, use just one-third of the recipe and bake them on the same day you're going to assemble them.

Anyway, below is what I've done and the recipe proportion I'll use in future. I'll definitely make these again! and again!

Cappucinno Ice Cream Cakes
makes 6 but I yielded about 8 medium size cakelettes

Chocolate spoons
80g good-quality dark chocolate, melted

I use the microwave because I couldn't be bothered with bain-marie and because I know my microwave too well. Place them in greaseproof handmade piping bag and snip off the pointy tip. Place the teaspoon template underneath a sheet greaseproof paper. You need not grease the paper. I use the template below that Aaron made for me and start off by piping the outline for about 10 teaspoons. Then snip a larger hole and fill up the teaspoons, rather thickly else it'll be too fragile for you to tuck into the cream later. Freeze that well. The spoons should come off nicely when it's well freeze. Keep that in an air tight container and forget about it for the mean time.

Real Good Coffee Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
(makes 2 cups)

3/4 milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1'3 cup vanilla castor sugar

Place all the above in a saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring for a few minutes until sugar has dissolved and the milk mixture is just about to boil.

4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Whisk the vanilla paste with the yolks until pale and creamy in a large ceramic bowl. Whisk in 2 tbsp of the milk mixture, whisking as you go. Keep doing the tempering process until you eventually could feel the saucepan and the ceramic bowl are about the same temperature. When you are there, you could actually pour the milk mixture into the yolk in a steady stream (the other hand keep whisking vigorously and do not stop) and your mixture will not scramble or curdle. Return all the mixture back on the stove and add in 1/2 tbsp heaped of good quality coffee granules and whisk into submission. I always start off the thickening process on medium heat with a whisk, whisking nonstop. When I see that it's a little thicker, I use a silicone spatula and keep scraping the bottom and sides and use low heat. It's a fine line between scrambled eggs and smooth custard so use your instinct and when the custard are able to coat your spatula and cling on to it rather well, turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a large shallow tray to completely cool down before transferring it into an airtight container to chill overnight.

You might wanna pop the ice cream maker into the freezer now too!

Chocolate Cakelettes
(Makes 12 medium sized cakelettes)

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a 12-hole medium sized muffin pan with butter generously.

125g unsalted butter softened
1 cup vanilla castor sugar

Whisk the butter and egg until really creamy and fluffy. Add in 2 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in 1.5 tsp vanilla extract and beat again (I omitted this as I was using vanilla sugar).

In a spouted jar, measure 180ml of buttermilk OR in my case, I measured 4 tsp of lemon juice into the jar and top up with enough milk until it reaches 180ml. Let it stand for 10mins or so before using but my mixture curdled almost instantly.

In a large bowl, place the sifter on top of it and throw in:

150g plain flour
50g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
60g good quality cocoa powder

Alternate the flour mixture into the egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin holes and bake them in a preheated oven for 25 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.Cool them in tin briefly before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Assemblage

1/2 cup double cream
1/2 tbsp icing sugar (I use vanilla castor sugar)

I think this works best for me when I'm whipping cream in small quantity so do try it. Measure the cream into a one-cup capacity ceramic cup. Place one beater of the mixer into the cup and freeze that for 5 mins or so. Take it out and connect the beater to the mixer body and with one hand holding the cup and the other one holding the mixer, beat the cream on highest speed possible until it reaches stiff peak. It usually took me less than 3 mins. When it's almost there, turn the speed to low and let it run a while more before you stop. Cling wrap it until needed and your cream remains whipped, stiff, no yellow skin/crust on the surface and remain smooth until needed.

When serving, use a melon baller and remove the centre of each cakelettes, leaving approximately a 1 cm shell. The leftover could be used for something else. A cheesecake base sounds good or just mix it with ganache to form cake pops. Scoop the ice cream again with a wet melon baller and pile 3-4 mini scoops into each cavity and let it come slightly above the top. Dollop each with some whipped cream mixture to represent cappuccino froth. Finish off with a dusting of good quality cocoa powder (tea strainer is awesome as a sifter here!!!) and serve with a chocolate spoon tucked into the cream.

Now present to your crowd and wow them! There is little you can do in the kitchen that has the same 'look-what-I-made' satisfaction than to serve up scoops of very own ce cream to salivating family and friends, and watch them marvel at the difference to the stor-bought flavours they are used to!

Dark Chocolate Sorbets & Frozen Blood Orange Yoghurt

2009-10-29T23:45:00.000+10:30

Orange Frozen Yoghurt + Dark Chocolate Sorbet = Perfect Halloween Treat!

And yes, I intentionally make these for Halloween! Partly because it's been a long time I did not make frozen treats. They're sinful and often makes me feel guilty because I can finish them so quickly if no one is looking!

Can you see the blood orange zest? I like blood orange because their juice is pink in colour and of course, blood orange really taste citrusy and zesty, though it sometimes could be a lil' sourish. And yes, you can actually just churn frozen greek yoghurt with vanilla sugar and probably a couple of vanilla pods. It not only taste good, because only very few ingredients are used and no egg yolks or cream here masked the creamy taste. So, the frozen yoghurt flavour really come through. Hard to describe, easier for tongue to do the interpretation!

For the blood orange frozen yoghurt, I used the recipe of my Greek Yoghurt with Condensed Milk by Tessa Kiros and for the dark chocolate sorbet, I used David Lebovitz recipe from his famous book, The Perfect Scoop.

adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, page 120

Chocolate Sorbet
(adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

Quote from David:

This is the perfect chocolate sorbet-very rich and full of bittersweet chocolate flavor. Use a top-quality cocoa powder; it will make a huge difference. And be sure to use a large saucepan. since the mixture will bubble up as it boils.

Ingredients

2 1/4 Cups (555 ml) Water
1 Cup (200 g) Sugar
3/4 Cup (75 g) Unsweetened Dutch-process Cocoa Powder
Pinch of salt
6 oz (170 g) Bittersweet or Semisweet Chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.

Makes about 1 quart (1 litre)

POM Sorbet

2009-09-15T13:20:00.000+09:30

I adapted Tessa Kiros, Pomegranate Sorbet from her book, Apples for Jam. I really don't know why I've made this because in reality, I don't like pomegranate.

However, I bought a bottle of POM Wonderful Juice from Woolies, having read this post from Chow Times. I still don't like it because to me, it taste like some cheap, low class red wine with a tart, sourish aftertaste.

Being a good, do-not-want-to-waste (it's a whooping AUD5 for a bottle of 473ml!), I churned them in the ice cream maker.
If you ask me, I do not like pomegranate and neither do I like POM Wonderful Juice, but I have a love-hate relationship with this POM Sorbet. Miraculous isn't it sometimes the wonders that sugar and lemon juice does to you?

Tessa Kiros uses 4 ripe pomegranate to extract 435ml of the pomegranate juice, minus the seeds. She used a levered juice extractor or a citurs juicer to extract and strain them.

I substituted with equal amount of the POM Wonderful juice and 'discard' the rest into Aaron's little tummy. He thinks it tasted alright by itself, just like drinking red wines.

Here comes the complete recipe:

435ml pomegranate juice
Juice of 1 lemon
120g castor sugar

Put the lemon juice in a small saucepan with all the sugar and 2-3 tablespoon of the pomegranate juice. Heat, stirring over medium-low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, to cool a little and then stir in the rest of the pomegranate juice.

Pour the mixture into a bowl or container that has a lid. Chill it until very cold before churning them in an ice cream maker according to your manufacturer's instruction. I always churn them for 30minutes and that's it.

You have to like pomegranate to like this sorbet.

Maple Syrup and Vanilla Ice Cream with Walnut Butter Biscuits

2009-08-10T11:46:00.002+09:30

This is best serve with walnut butter biscuits. Yes, it's again from Tessa Kiros. I am so putting 'Apples For Jam' to turbo use. It is halfway through winter and I've been posting so many sorbets and ice creams. I know it's really inapproriate but I can't help myself from making them. Another batch just went into the fridge, waiting to be churn. Call me crazy, but I am simply enjoying my holiday and I find it fun to do things in the kitchen all day long! This is so simple that you wouldn't believe how simple they are. No stove top require. All you need is 3 mins!

Maple Syrup & Vanilla Ice Cream
(serves 6-8)

1 cup single pouring cream
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together cream and maple syrup in a container that has a lid. Whisk in the milk and vanilla. Put the lid on and pop it into the fridge until ready for churning.

If your ice cream maker is already in the freezer the night before and all your ingredients are cold, you can churn it straight away and have soft serve ice cream with golden sand (the golden sand recipe below)

Walnut Butter Biscuits (makes 4)

1.5 tbsp softened butter
1 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a small tray with a small square of baking paper.
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the flour, one tablespoon at a time, kneading until a crumbly dough is formed. When you're able to form a buttery dough, stop kneading. Add in the walnuts and incorporate. Divide into 4 cherry tomato size balls and place it on the tray. Bake them at 190°C for 15mins or until golden brown.

Here comes the evil part, cool them completely and roughl pulse them until you get golden sand and spoon these over your scoop of ice cream. I left some chunks larger so I would be able to taste the bits of buttery biscuits.This recipe could be easily decupled to get 40 biscuits. Just add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to it when you cream the butter and sugar. You could also make an indentation when they are all placed on baking trays and fill up the indentations with coloured icings of your choice if you are serving this for a kid's party.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Sorbet

2009-08-08T10:56:00.001+09:30

It might not look appetizing but it is very refreshing, lemony and very strawberry according to my housemates. I know it is winter now but I couldn't stop myself from pulling out the ice cream maker and churn these. Strawberries are everywhere now and I can't help but buy punnets of these little red babies.

I've enclosed Tessa's recipe here but I made this by looking at it once and do it by what I feel is right in a sorbet. A splash of water here, a dash of milk there and I used up whatever strawberries I had in hand. I don't remember putting in that much sugar because my strawberries was rather sweet so here goes the recipe if you're a newbie in making sorbets.

Strawberry Sorbet (Adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros)

5oog fresh strawberries, hulled
About 180g sugar
Juice of half a lemon
One longish strip of lemon peel with no pith
1/4 cup of milk

Puree the strawberries in a blender or a processor until they are completely smooth, then tip them into a medium-sized bowl that has a lid.

Put the sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel in a pan with 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of cold water. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring for just long enough to dissolve the sugar. Remove from teh heat and leave to cool for 10 mins or so.

Fish out the lemon peel and pour the syrup into the strawberry puree. Add the milk and mix well, then put the lid on and out in the fridge until completely cooled. Now put the bowl in the freezer. After an hour give the mixture an energetic whisk with a hand whisk or electric mixer. Put it back in the freezer and whisk again after another couple of hours. When the ice cream is nearly firm, give one last whisk and put it back in the freezer to set.

Alternatively, pour into your ice cream machine and churn, following the manufacturer's instructions. If you do use this, you'll get a particularly smooth sorbet with no icy granules. This is best served with a small dollop of fresh cream or totally alone.

Serves 5-6

Vanilla Yogurt Ice-Cream

2009-07-25T10:36:00.000+09:30

It is winter in Adelaide now. Each passing day is getting nothing but colder. I'm bundling up just to run a round to the supermarket to get ingredients for this yogurt ice creams.

Melts pretty quickly in my warm room, wasn't quick enough to take decent shots. However, this does not affect the taste. They were so good on their own I refuse to pair them with biscuits nor dribble anything over.

See the vanilla specks all over the little scoops. My new found baby, vanilla paste. Way more convenient than vanilla pods and way better than vanilla essence. And way more expensive too. I've been procrastinating to buy them for ages...very steep price indeed. It's approximately AUD9.30 after special discounts for a 65ml bottle.

This recipe is generously included in the book, Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros. She's awesome. She's like my next favorite after Nigella, the way she writes and all. This book is sectioned into 10 different color sections and a final multicolor section. I like this very much and hope you like it as much as I do!

Vanilla Yogurt Ice-Cream (adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros)

250ml (1 cup) pouring or single cream
200g castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I've substituted this with thick vanilla paste)
500g (2 cups) real good thick Greek-style natural yogurt

I love the way Tessa writes so this is an exact form of this recipe from her book, page 280

This is lovely-not too sweet-as it just really tastes like frozen yoghurt.
It's beautiful served with poached fruit or with a fresh fruit sauce, like
apricot or raspberry (pages 107 and 54), dribbled over the top. You could
even add a couple of biscuits to the side of the plate, or sprinkle a fistful
of granola over the top.

Whisk the cream with the sugar and vanilla until all the sugar has dissolved and
the cream starts to thicken. Add the yogurt, whisking it in to incorporate and
then pour into a bowl or container that has a lid. Put the lid on and put in the
freezer. After an hour give the mixture an energetic whisk with a hand whisk or
electric mixer. Put it back in the freezer and whisk again after another couple
of hours. When the ice cream is nearly firm, give one last whisk and put it back in
the freezer to set.
Alternatively, pour into your ice cream machine and churn, following the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes 1.5 litres (6 cups)

Sometimes I watch them and see that they are counting between each bite to make their ice cream or chips last as long as possible. And they separate the food up into groups on their plates and save, just like I did, the best for last.

Strawberry Ice Cream

2009-04-08T09:00:00.009+09:30

April 7 is a date worth celebrating because today is my younger sister, Angie's birthday. Today is also the date where my blog turned 1! How time flies. What started off as a diary to compile and look back at my baking turned out to be a passion I enjoy.

I like describing my success and failure with others. I like the idea of telling others what to watch out for on their first attempt on anything. In fact, I don't mind failing as long as I am the first few to be able to try out a new cool stuff! My sis is exactly 21-years-old today but it's just to bad that I couldn't be there to celebrate it with her. But it's alright for she'll be coming to Australia in 2 months time. By then, I can fly to Queensland to meet up with her!

Apart from the stick blender, I have a new addition to my kitchen. I just love gadgets! I bought a 1.4L ice cream maker for just under AUD40 (including postage)! Small capacity but I like it because there's just four of us here and this ice cream maker only makes a small batch at one go. Just perfect!It also occupy very little space and is now sitting on my kitchen pantry waiting to be used again. I swear if I were to keep it in the drawer or somewhere out of my sight, I would not use it as frequent. Also, many thinks that ice cream maker usage is too specific unlike food processor and other gadgets but that fact doesn't apply to me. How can anyone say no to ice creams and gelati?

I made my very first ice cream using the ice cream maker last week. I chose strawberry because I have a fresh punnet sitting in the fridge which I initially bought to make smoothie. I choose to use Nigella Lawson's Strawberry Ice Cream from her book Forever Summer. You could get the recipe in written form from Kitchen Corner and you could see how it's done by Nigella herself on YouTube here. But I strongly suggest you get a copy of the book yourself.

Here comes our journey!

A cup full of fresh strawberries, cleaned and dried well.

All of them nicely hulled. To hull strawberries, position a small sharp knife on the top leafy part of the berry and cut, in a circular manner, heading inwards into the pale flesh directly underneath. Gently tug to pull it out and discard.

A couple of teaspoons of castor sugar added to the chopped strawberries. Set this in the fridge to let flavour infuse. Call this macerated berries now.

Place the vanilla pod, slitted lengthwise into the half-and-half mixture. This is gonna be heated to near boil (I did Bain-Marie to avoid overscalding of milk). Once done, the bowl is covered to let it steep for 30mins.

Just look at how beautiful the vanilla pod is.

The vanilla beans all burst out from the pod and added speckles to the pure white mixture.

Check out my Mickey looking yolks. Round and orangey. Mix them with some sugar and beat till thick and pale yellow. Then temper them with the warm milk mixture and form a uniform mixture.

This is my version of Bain-Marie. The uniform mixture is now reheated again until thick and custard-like. It will coat the back of your spoon and you'll know it's ready.

I fish the vanilla pod out earlier as I am only making a small batch of this. The vanilla pod can be kept for future use again. I store it in an air-tight container. STRAIN (I forgotten this step and I swear it's important that you strain out all the scrambled eggs, if any out of the mixture!) and Chill the custard mixture in the refrigerator. We are almost there.

The macerated strawberries looks like it's ready to be blended into a smooth puree.

My stick blender in action, working wonders in less than 10seconds.

Here comes the beautiful thing. Pour the strawberry puree into the custard mixture. Both are well chillled at this stage.

Slowly mix the puree into submission.

You'll get lotsa beautiful swirls like this when mixing. Mix lightly till you get a uniform pinky mixture.Pour in a tablespoon full of freshly squeezed lemon juice and mix well. Now, we are just a step away from savouring over yummy homemade strawberry ice cream! I chose to chill the mixture for a couple of hours before churning it in the ice cream maker. Nigella skipped that. In fact, she didn't even use an ice cream maker in the video! Nigella I am not and I don't have a food processor either.

Get your ice cream maker started and pour the mixture through the opening on top. Let it work for 30mins or so.

When it doubled in volume and looks like the picture above, you know you can stop. Serve it straight if you like soft serve ice cream. I like mine scoopable so I freeze it in a container for an hour or so before serving.

Nothing beats homemade!

Watermelon Sorbet

2009-04-05T08:47:00.001+09:30

This is my very first homemade melon sorbet. This will be the only one made without an ice cream maker. I've just ordered one online and it arrived yesterday. I made this watermelon sorbet a couple of days back.

I've adapted Alton Brown's recipe for this and made half batch to try out. I also substituted vodka for Chivas Regal. I thought this would never work but it turns out great. Very adultery and the taste of Chivas weren't too subtle either.

I simply garnish it with a slice of watermelon and a hint of mint.

Recipe that I have used is as below:

300g of watermelon, roughly chopped (I would love to try with cantaloupe and honeydew next time!)
1 tbsp of Chivas Regal
1.5 tbsp lemon juice (preferably freshly squeezed but I couldn't be bothered!)
1/2 cup of sugar (original one uses 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)

As for directions, I would recommend you all watch Alton in action. His episode of Melondrama was hilarious, educational and easy to follow.

Really can't wait for my ice cream maker to come.

Please expect to see lotsa ice cream and gelato even though it's gonna be winter very very soon!