We’re enjoying a lovely spell of dry, warm weather here in West Yorkshire – we hope you are too (if you like that sort of thing, of course!). So, what could be more perfect for this week’s Cakes & Bakes post than some fabulous home-made ice-cream?
Justin’s favourite flavour is coffee, so he’s getting that as a treat whilst he nurses his sore back for a few days in a low-slung deck chair. It’s well deserved as his injury was brought on while shifting piles of boxes – all in the H is for Home cause.
I kept it simple; some flavours don’t need messing about with too much. And I employed my trusty ice cream maker to do the hard work. It couldn’t be simpler – and the results were amazing. A few chocolate coated coffee beans was the only ‘extra’ deemed necessary.
The most delicious, cooling, refreshing, afternoon pick me up.
If you’d like to save this coffee ice cream recipe to Pinterest for later, just click here.
- 180ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup whole milk, well chilled
- 115g/4oz/½ cup caster sugar
- 2tbsp finely ground coffee (or 1tbsp instant dissolved in a tablespoon of boiling water)
- 300ml/10½ fl oz/1½ cups heavy (double) cream, well chilled
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 12 coffee beans
- 2 or 3 squares of dark chocolate
- In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk, caster sugar and coffee until the sugar is dissolved and the coffee well combined (about 1 to 2 minutes on a low speed)
- Stir in the cream and vanilla
- Turn the machine on, pour the mixture into the freezer bowl, and mix until thickened (about 20-25 minutes - or check your machine's manual for the recommended time). The ice cream will have a soft creamy texture
- Decant the contents into a freezer-safe lidded container and put it in the freezer for at least 2 hours to 'ripen' before serving
- Put the squares of chocolate into a small, microwave-safe bowl
- Zap in the microwave for 10 seconds a couple of times until just melted
- Drop the coffee beans into the bowl and cover completely with chocolate
- Using a fork (I have a little cocktail fork that's perfect for the job!), lift each coffee bean out of the bowl on to a small piece of parchment paper. Leave them to harden for at least 10 minutes
Guinness ice cream
We have an old friend coming over later to spend an overnight. We’ve not seen him for ages and are really looking forward to having a proper catch up.
Justin has prepared a roast chicken dinner with trimmings and the choice of dessert was left to me. I stored away this Guinness ice cream recipe a while ago and, as I know it’s one of Duncan’s favourite tipples, I decided it would be a perfect end to the meal. I hope he likes it!
There are only 4 simple ingredients and it’s the easiest of methods, so long as you have an ice cream churner.
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
- 240ml double cream
- 165g dark or cooking chocolate
- 75g caster sugar
- 330ml bottle of Guinness® or other stout
- Heat the cream in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat until it begins to bubble
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and sugar until melted and dissolved
- Slowly stir in the Guinness
- Cover and refrigerate until completely cooled
- Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches a soft consistency
- Transfer the ice cream to a 1-litre lidded plastic container; seal and freeze
- For best results, ice cream should ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight
Home-made blueberry ice cream
I always like to have a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer. I often use them in porridge, over pancakes and in smoothies. Today, I used them to make blueberry ice cream.
I used the basic vanilla ice cream recipe that I posted some time ago – simply adding a little blueberry sauce that I made beforehand.
The colourful blueberries made a pretty ‘ripple’ effect through the pale ice cream. That evening, we each had a couple of scoops topped with little Amaretti di Saronno biscuits – a perfect pairing!
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest
- 75g/2⅔oz/½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 25g/¾oz/⅛ cup caster sugar
- 180ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup whole milk, well chilled
- 140g/5oz/⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 300ml/10½ fl oz/1½ cups heavy (double) cream, well chilled
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract), to taste
- In a small saucepan warm the blueberries and caster sugar over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved, there's a little bit of syrup and the bluberries have just begun to pop out of their skins
- Set aside and allow to cool completely (put it into the fridge if necessary)
- In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved (about 1 to 2 minutes on a low speed)
- Stir in the cream and vanilla to taste
- Turn the machine on, pour the cream mixture into the freezer bowl, and mix until thickened (about 20-25 minutes). The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture
- Decant into a lidded freezer container, pour over the cooled blueberry sauce and fold in gently through the ice cream using a spatula
- Once churned and spooned out into a lidded container, put it into the freezer until firm. It takes about 2 hours for it to 'ripen'
Peanut ice cream sundae
The weather has finally turned autumnal; that doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy a little ice cream. We spent a few days in Wales last week and I had a lovely dessert that I wanted to recreate when I returned home. It was at the Harbourmaster in Aberaeron and it was their peanut ice cream sundae.
There was home-made peanut ice cream, whipped cream and topped with white chocolate. I wanted to make an indulgent version, so I used honey roasted peanuts, added sugar and almond extract to the cream (my version of crème chantilly), sprinkled some crushed Amaretti and garnished it with a couple of almond thins. To make it extra luxurious, substitute the almond extract for a boozy nut liqueur.
Justin declared that it was the best ice cream that I’ve made so far using my new (to me) Cuisinart Duo.
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest
- 180ml/6⅓fl oz full fat milk, cold
- 125g/4½oz caster sugar
- 350ml/12⅓fl oz double cream, cold
- ¼tsp almond extract
- 75g/2⅔oz honey roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- 600ml/21fl oz double cream
- 20g/¾oz caster sugar
- ½tsp almond extract (or 2tsp nut liqueur such as Frangelico, Amaretto, Créme de Noisette or Nocello)
- 150g/5¼oz white chocolate
- 6 Amaretti biscuits
- 6 ice cream wafers or a dozen thin nut biscotti
- In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and the caster sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved
- Stir in the double cream and almond extract
- Turn the machine on and the pour mixture into the ice cream machine freezer bowl
- Churn until thickened - about 15 minutes
- With the machine still turning, spoon the chopped peanuts into the ice cream until well distributed
- Turn the ice cream maker off, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer until firm - about 2 hours - to 'ripen'
- In a deep mixing bowl, whisk together the double cream, caster sugar and almond extract/liqueur to the 'soft peak' stage
- Simmer a little water in a small saucepan. Top with a heat-proof bowl (making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't come into contact with the water)
- Break up the chocolate into pieces and put it into the heat-proof bowl to melt, stirring occasionally to get rid of any lumps
- For each sundae, scoop a ball of ice cream into a sundae glass, followed by a spoonful of crème Chantilly. Repeat
- Drizzle over a dessert spoonful of the warm, melted white chocolate
- Crumble an amaretti biscuit over the top and garnish with a wafer or a couple of biscotti
- Serve with long-handled spoons so you can scoop out every last delicious drop!
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