Nectarine & Cardamon Ice Cream

The stonefruit is in abundance in NZ, the weather is beautiful and surf is just fine! It brings to mind the song lyrics “summertime and the living is easy, fish are jumping and the cotton is high”. With a few shoop…shoop..doobie doos in there for good measure, I always was better at the musical accompaniments than the singing. I think it has something to do with growing up in brass band country where it is common practice to pretend you are playing a trumpet with you hands it time to the melody. I blame you for that one Pop!

This is an easy recipe made from a base of yoghurt and whipped cream and as I leave you with it I am about to put my feet up in the hammock in the shade with another scoop! Apologies to my family who are freezing their behinds off in the UK but I do keep telling them to come out here.

• 200ml cream, whipped
• 200ml Greek yoghurt
• 200g nectarines (or peaches), quartered and stoned
• 1 tbsp honey
• seeds from 2 cardamom pod

Method

1. Place the honey, nectarines and cardamon in a pan and cook gently for 20 minutes. You want all the fruit to be soft so you can blend it into a puree. Allow to cool
2. Once cooled add to the yoghurt.
3. Add whipped cream to the yoghurt and gently fold together retaining as much air and volume as possible.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker as per manufacturer’s instructions.
5. If you do not have an ice cream maker place into a container as it is and freeze, the whipped cream will keep the texture light but not a creamy as with an ice cream maker. But it still taste good! For this method remove from the freeze 10 minutes before serving to allow the mixture to soften slightly.

Gingerbread Ice Cream

With a huge batch of gingerbread biscuits in a jar, including several on the Christmas tree, I thought I would turn some into a summer dessert of gingerbread ice cream, particulalry since our pre Christmas week promises to be a warm one. You never can tell at this time of the year in New Zealand, it could be glorious and warm or it could be wet and windy, sometimes we have spent it basking in the sun, other times huddled up in doors. Never as cold as my family back in the UK experience, particularly this year with the fresh snow that promises them a white Christmas. It is 10 years since I have experienced a white December and I would give anything to build a snowman in the garden around Christmas time, I’m sure the novelty would wear thin though as the snow turn to slush under foot. If we want to experience snow we have to drive four hours to the Volcano, Mt Rhupehu, in the middle of the North Island for our winter sports.

For P Christmas is his busiest time of the year so we have never travelled back to my home for Christmas with the family, although they have been here and love the fact that we have a BBQ on Christmas Day!

Ingredients for the Gingerbread is here on previous post. I only used a quarter of the biscuit dough for the ice cream but it is well worth making the full batch of biscuits as they last a couple of weeks.

Ingredients for the ice cream

• 200ml of cream
• 200ml of milk
• 100g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 drops of vanilla extract or beans from one pod
• 1/ tsp ground ginger

Method

1. Place milk & cream in a pan over a  very low heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl till combined.
3. Whisk hot milk & cream into yolk mixture.
4. Return to a clean saucepan over a very low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent mixture from ‘catching’ on base of pan.
5. Cook gently until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
6. Add the vanilla and ginger.
7. Transfer to a bowl and allow the custard to chill in fridge completely before putting into ice cream maker.
8. Put mixture into prepared ice cream maker as per instructions for that appliance.
9. Break up the ginger biscuits to crumbs and small pieces (like cookies & cream ice cream).
10. Once the ice cream if finished its process add the biscuits crumbs and mix by hand.
11. Freeze until ready to serve.

Mango Ice Cream & Cinnamon Biscuit Sandwiches

I had been meaning to post this along with the mango ice cream I made several weeks ago but I seem to cook and bake more than I can physically write and blog about these days. But I’m sure you will all agree, cooking & eating is far more rewarding than writing about it, although blogging is fun and you meet so many people out there! I have so many recipes and dishes I have photographed just waiting for me to sit down and write about them but there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get it all done.

I have also been a little pre occupied with a wedding cake project, which is due next week as well as preparing for cooking classes I am going to hold this weekend. I keep telling P I need to change down to a four day week with my employment so I can have more time for these things but he isn’t convinced, I’ll keep working on him.

I will post the wedding cake next week after the wedding and I will tell you all about my first cooking class too. Wish me look, it’s a long time since I have held a class.

Ingredients – Mango Ice Cream

• 400ml low fat Greek yoghurt (or regular of course!)
• 1 mango, blended to a pulp

Method

• Mix together the mango and yoghurt.
• Add to ice making machine and prepare as per manufacturers instructions.
• Remove from machine. How easy is that? Oh how I love my ice cream maker!

Recipe for cinnamon biscuits here

Assembly of sandwiches

1. Once the ice cream is finished in the maker, turn it out into a tray to set further. You want the ice cream in the tray to be about 2 cm thick.
2. Use the same biscuit cookie cutter to cut out the ice cream shapes, sandwich a biscuit on either side of the ice cream.
3. Serve immediately or you can refreeze them, although the biscuits will go a little soft once they have been in the freezer.

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream

I love my ice cream maker, the funny thing is I was never mad on ice cream before I was gifted the maker but I love the whole process of making it and I have become addicted to the yoghurt ice cream. It’s so simple to make and I love the subtle tanginess the Greek yoghurt gives the ice cream.

As you know I have been busy making lots of strawberry desserts since the supply is increasing as the weather warms up and P being in the trade can offer me a constant source. I have jam and ice cream coming out of my ears! I have also promised him some new recipes for their industry blog to help promote the strawberries so bear with me if over the next few months I keep repeatedly keep offering strawberry recipes, I have so many in my head I want to try.

Ingredients

• 200g strawberries
• 20g sugar
• 400ml Greek yoghurt

Method

1. Blend the strawberries & sugar together and put into a pan. Keep 2 large strawberries aside.
2. Bring strawberries to the boil and then turn the heat off, stir to ensure the sugar has dissolved.
3. Chill strawberry mix in fridge until completely cold.
4. Finely dice the two left over strawberries.
5. Mix together the yoghurt, strawberry sauce and finely diced strawberries and transfer into the ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers instructions.

Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream made with Rice Milk

Playing with new ingredients as well as a new lens!

A friend has someone visiting who is on a dairy, wheat, soy and egg free diet so it was a bit of a challenge to make a sweet treat for her. She knew I had been making ice cream lately from yoghurt and asked if it would be possible to make ice cream from rice milk. I said I would test run a recipe and then pass it along if it was successful. Of course I passed on the first batch of rice milk ice cream too! Since I couldn’t make a custard base with eggs I opted for a Gelato style ice cream, thickened with corn flour. The rice milk, which I had never tasted before, was quite sweet so there is very little sugar added to the recipe and the richness of the 70% chocolate over shadows the rice milk flavour.

It was a great success by everyone, not just the young lady on the special diet.

I have also been playing practising with my new macro lens and trying out new techniques, some are working well but other things I took for granted with a wider lens are proving frustrating but I suppose it is just a case of practise make perfect.

Ingredients

• 500ml rice milk
• 50g sugar
• 100g 70% cocoa chocolate, chopped
• 3 tsp corn flour/ corn starch

Method

1. Mix 50ml of rice milk and corn flour together till smooth.
2. Heat the rest of rice milk in a pan.
3. Just before the milk boils remove from the heat and stir in the corn flour.
4. Once thoroughly mixed return pan to the heat and cook on a low heat, stirring constantly for a few minutes until milk thickens. It is important to cook out the flavour of the corn flour otherwise the gelato will taste floury.
5. Remove from the heat and add the sugar.
6. Pour into a bowl and add the chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate has melted.
7. Chill in fridge overnight or until completely cold.
8. Transfer the mix into the ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers instructions.
9. Keeps well for a week (if you can keep it that long!) but after that I find it forms too many ice crystals in a domestic freezer.

Lemon Curd Yoghurt Ice Cream

This blog is donated  to LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow. LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow has been established to raise awareness of cancer issues world wide. It is a way for all food and wine bloggers to share their stories. The happy and the sad, the struggles and the triumphs. For the past three years, Barbara of winoandfoodies has gathered food bloggers around the world to create a yellow dish in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation to raise cancer awareness.

Although we have several months to go till it is summer again here in New Zealand we have just had a glorious week with blue skies and sunshine. It turned my thought to summertime and ice cream and within that split second it went from thought to action was my ice cream maker bowl was in the freezer compartment in preparation. I still have oodles of lemon curd in jars and I had just made a batch of Greek yoghurt the night before so what better ingredients to create a summer dessert, albeit still winter in NZ but there is no harm in encouraging the summer to approach earlier! I only prayed that the weather would hold long enough to get it made and eaten, I couldn’t imagine consuming it if our temperatures dropped back down to 4 degrees again!

I’ve not made ice cream from yoghurt before, and I’m not sure it is officially classed as ice cream since it is not made with a custard base, but what the heck. The end result was delicious, very citrusy, tart and light on the palette, I am converted to yoghurt ice cream and feel a little more virtuous since I made low fat Greek yoghurt!

Ingredients

• 600ml low fat Greek yoghurt (or regular of course!)
• 6 dessert spoons lemon curd (approx 1 small jar)
• zest of one small lemon

Method

• Whisk together the lemon curd, zest and yoghurt.
• Add to ice making machine and prepare as per manufacturers instructions.
• Remove from machine once done and eat! How easy is that? Oh how I love my ice cream maker!

Tiramisu Ice Cream

We were invited to a friends for dinner the other week and one of their favourite desserts is Tiramisu which I have made on several occasions amongst other desserts. It was also Js birthday so it would be only fair to make one of his favourite desserts  but instead of making a traditional Tiramisu I thought I would make a Tiramisu Ice cream. I had actually eaten Tiramisu ice cream for the first time a few weeks ago in Tokyo, of all places. I think it may have been Moevenpick brand but I can’t remember but I knew at the time I would certainly have a go at making it myself once back home. I have kept this recipe quite simple but you could make it a little more decadent by layering grated chocolate between the sponge and ice cream.

You can make this as easy as you like by buying the sponge and ice cream or you can make everything from scratch if you have the time. I chose to make sponge rather than sponge fingers as I felt it would freeze better. This recipe makes one large dish about 8 inch square. If you are making your own sponge use the same tin you bake the sponge in to assembly the cold dessert afterwards.

Ingredients

• 1 litre vanilla ice cream
• 8 inch square vanilla sponge cake
• 4 shots espresso coffee
• 4 tablespoons of coffee liquor
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Dessert Assembly

• Take the 4 espresso shots and double the quantity by adding water. Then add the coffee liquor to the mix.
• Slice the sponge cake into three or 4 layers and divide the ice cream also into 3 or 4 portions, preferably sliced so it can be layered over the sponge.
• Line the cake tin with Cling film up and over the sides so you can easily remove the dessert once frozen.
• Place one layer of sponge into the base of the cake tin.
• Pour over the sponge 1/3 of the espresso mix.
• Spread sliced cream over first layer of sponge and spread to cover all of the sponge. Repeat layers of sponge, coffee and ice cream, the last layer being ice cream.
• Sprinkle cocoa powder to cover the top layer of ice cream and freeze for several hours.
• Work quickly when layering the sponge and ice cream as you don’t want the ice cream to melt, only soften.
• To serve remove from the tin lifting the cling film.

Sponge recipe

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 125g sugar
• 125g SR flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk

Method

1. Grease & line cake tin
2. Heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
3. Place butter & sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk or good old fashioned wooded spoon until light and fluffy.
4. Add one egg at a time and whisk in between both additions.
5. Sift flour into mixture and fold gently through with a metal spoon so not to loose all the air that has been beaten in.
6. Spoon mixture into cake tin.
7. Bake in oven for 35- 40 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out of the sponge clean.
8. Allow to cool before removing from tin.

Vanilla Ice cream recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cup of cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 100g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 drops of vanilla essence

Method

1. Place milk & cream in a pan over a  very low heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl till combined.
3. Whisk hot milk, vanilla essence & cream into yolk mixture.
4. Return to a clean saucepan over a very low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent mixture from ‘catching’ on base of pan.
5. Cook gently until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
6. Transfer to a bowl and allow the custard to chill in fridge completely before putting into ice cream maker.
7. Put mixture into prepared ice cream maker as per instructions for that appliance.

Buzy Bee Nougat Parfait

I decided to make nougat this weekend, since what we can buy here in NZ is very expensive and I thought it should be fairly easy to make. I don’t have a sugar themometre but I had made many toffees with my Nan as a child and we had always used  method of dropping a bit of the toffee into chilled water to test what stage it was at. I knew I wanted to get it to ‘softcrack’ stage reading various recipe which should be straight forwards….famous last words!

I was all set to go, the nuts were roasted, the sugar, honey and sugar syrup where cooking on the pan, the egg whites had been whisked because the sugar was getting close…then I had a visitor. Not someone knocking on the door who I could say, “come in and sit down, I’m at a critical stage so don’t disturb”, oh no is was a friendly bee buzzing around me at my stove. “Ok, don’t be silly” I said to myself,” you can work with the bee in the kitchen it’s not going to harm you. So I quickly ran to the back door and opened it so the bee would see the light and and make an exit. That was not the case, instead a few of his friends popped in and within seconds there were 8 honey bees flying around. Well the kitchen scene was starting to look at bit like something off faulty towers, me running away from them, trying to catch them in a glass to put outside, drawing the curtains and trapping them behind, all the while my sugar is bubbling away…aaarggg! I pulled the sugar off a few times when too many bees got close which certaily would ot have helped the process. I was also getting paranoid now that the cooking honey was what had attracted them and they were coming back to claim it! Anyway, the nougat was a disaster, too soft, but all the bees survived to tell the story as I caught them one by one and dutifully put them outside.  So what i going to do with a huge tray of very soft nougat thatyou could only spoon out? I certainly wasn’t going to waste it and wondered whether I could turn it into nougat parfait. It made a delicious parfait so all was not wasted and here is my recipe. Just a word of warning…keep the windows and doors closed.

Ingredients for Buzy Bee Parfait

• 100g roasted almonds
• 100g roasted pistachios
• 2 egg whites 
• 100g castor sugar
• 100g honey
• 50ml water
• 300 ml cream

Method

1. Place sugar, honey and water in a large pan over a gentle heat until all the sugar has dissolved.
2. Once dissolved boil mixture until it reaches 120 degrees centigrade, or ‘soft boil’ consistency if you don’t have a thermometre (this is when dropped into chilled water it forms a soft toffee consistency).  
3. Put egg whites into a large bowl and whisk to form soft peaks. 
4. Gradually add the hot sugar mixture to egg whites, whisking continuously whilst adding. 
5. Fold roasted nuts into the meringue mixture and then chill mixture over night at room temperature (not in fridge).
6. The following day, whip cream to soft peaks in a large bowl.
7. Fold meringue nut mixture into the whipped cream and once completely mixed spoon into freezer container or freezer moulds. 
8. Freeze for several hours before serving.  
9. Keeps for about two weeks.

Pistachio Chocolate Ice Cream Bombe

I have only been blogging for a couple of months but like most things I do it has to be all or nothing! The baking & creating comes easy to me but the photography is something new and being the impatient type I was very disappointed with the results from my ‘point & shoot’ camera. I had no intention of spending money on a new camera and when my father inlaw said he wanted to sell his rather new SLR because it was too big & heavy I didn’t think for one minute I was going to buy it. Of course until I took a few photos! Even with a lot to learn about the camera, lighting etc I could see the difference instantly and was sold in a second! So now I have a new hobby to add to cooking, surfing & golf and just like the rest I will be obsessed with it until my photos look like those from a magazine…I see my boyfriends eyes role to the ceiling as he knows me so well. So here are my first attempt with the new camera.

Ingredients for Pistachio Ice Cream

• 2 cup of cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 2  cups pistachio butter (see previous recipe under preserves)
• 100g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 drops of almond essence (optional)

Further Ingredients

• 200g 70% cocoa chocolate
• 200g chocolate sponge, bought or home made (recipe below)

Method for ice cream

1. Place milk & cream in a pan over a  very low heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl till combined. 
3. Whisk hot milk & cream into yolk mixture. 
4. Return to a clean saucepan over a very low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent mixture from ‘catching’ on base of pan.
5. Cook gently until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. 
6. Transfer to a bowl and allow the custard to chill in fridge completely before putting into ice cream maker. 
7. Mix together pistachio butter & custard mix. 
8. Taste and add almond essence ,if you prefer a stronger nut flavour but add one drop at a time then taste in between each till you get the right flavour.
9. Put mixture into prepared ice cream maker as per instructions for that appliance.   
10. Line 4-6 small bowls/moulds with cling film and scoop ice cream from maker into the bowls.
11. Cut circles with a cookie cutter from the chocolate sponge and place on one on top of each bowl of ice cream and press down lightly, this forms the base of the bombe.
12. Freeze until set and then remove from bowl by pulling the cling film. If the ice cream doesn’t come out, run hot water briefly around outside of bowl to release the ice cream.
13. There are two ways of covering the bombe, you can either melt the chocolate and pour it over each bombe directly. Or you can line the bowls again with cling film, spoon melted chocolate into each one and spread chocolate up the sides of the cling film. Allow to set in the fridge for a few minutes and then insert the ice cream bombe into the chocolate case
14. Refreeze until ready to serve. You can hold the dessert like this for a week or two before using it.

The decoration on the plate is piped chocolate in a flower shape and then it is meant to be filled with a fruit coulis. I have to confess I didn’t have time to make coulis as well so I improvised by using some of my home made plum jam, thinning it down with water and then pushing it through a sift! Worked a treat and took two minutes to prepare. I served it as half a bombe because I wanted the contrast of colours on the photograph. If you are going to cut them in half a word of warning, allow the ice cream to sit for a few minutes and use a hot knife to cut them otherwise the chocolate might snap and not where you want to to! My first one did :0)

Ingredients for chocolate sponge

• 125g butter
• 125 sugar
• 125 SR flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
2. Line an 8 inch cake tin with greaseproof paper.
3. remove cinnamon stick and star anis and pour remaining juice over plums.
4. Place butter & sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric whisk or good old fashioned wooded spoon until light and fluffy.
5. Add one egg at a time and whisk in between both additions.
6. Sift in flour and cocoa into butter mixture and fold in with a metal spoon.
7. Add milk and fold together ingredients.
8. Spread sponge in cake tin, you only want a thin layer so if it looks like you have too much make a few cup cakes with the extra mixture!
9. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out of the sponge clean.
10. Once cooled remove from the tin.

Pistachio Ice cream

And here is the recipe for the Almond & Pistachio ice cream made from the nut paste recipe. 

Pistachio Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cup of cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 2  cups pistachio butter (see previous recipe under preserves)
• 100g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 drops of almond essence (optional)

Method

1. Place milk & cream in a pan over a  very low heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl till combined. 
3. Whisk hot milk & cream into yolk mixture. 
4. Return to a clean saucepan over a very low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent mixture from ‘catching’ on base of pan.
5. Cook gently until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. 
6. Transfer to a bowl and allow the custard to chill in fridge completely before putting into ice cream maker. 
7. Mix together pistachio butter & custard mix. 
8. Taste and add almond essence ,if you prefer a stronger nut flavour but add one drop at a time then taste in between each till you get the right flavour.
9. Put mixture into prepared ice cream maker as per instructions for that appliance.