Pecan toffee ice cream

With all this warm, sunny weather, there’s only one thing on my mind… home-made ice cream! I got my trusty Cuisineart machine out of the loft this week and made us some pecan toffee ice cream.

First off, I made the toffee. This step takes no more than 10 minutes and the toffee can be made days in advance, if needed, just store it in an airtight container until needed.

You can make the toffee with other types of nuts if you prefer; Brazils, macadamias, almonds (use almond extract instead of vanilla paste/extract in the ice cream recipe), peanuts, walnuts… or a mixture of nuts.

Second, I made a basic vanilla ice cream mixture. Once churned, I stirred in the bashed up pecan toffee – don’t forget to set aside a few shards for decoration.

If you’re anything like me, you like to add even more toppings to your ice cream – chocolate, butterscotch, maple or caramel syrups are all good… chocolate chips or chunks are even better!

Click here or on the image below to save my recipe to Pinterest

Pecan toffee ice cream

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

For the pecan toffee

100 g pecan halves
50 g butter
150 g granulated sugar
1 tbsp water

For the ice cream

180 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup full fat milk
140 g/5oz/⅔ cup granulated sugar
300 ml/10½ fl oz/1½ cups double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, to taste

Instructions

For the pecan toffee

Grease & line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Lay out the pecan halves on the prepared sheet. Put the sheet of pecans next to, or actually on, the stove-top
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan (a cast iron skillet would be ideal) over a medium heat, add the butter sugar and water. Stir to until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved
Turn the heat up to high and allow the mixture to bubble and begin to evaporate. Do not stir during this stage
Keep a close eye and nose on the bubbling mixture, you're looking for the colour to start turning brown to begin smelling like caramel. It can get to this stage and suddenly go over in an instant and begin to burn. Just as you think the mixture is at this point, pour it carefully over the pecans. Be very careful, the mixture is exceedingly hot and sticky
Allow to cool completely
Break up into fairly large shards. Set aside 6 of these shards and put the rest of the pecan toffee into a large mixing bowl
Using a large pestle (or the end of a rolling pin, like I did) grind the toffee into smaller pieces - not quite a powder, you want small chunks
Set aside while you make the ice cream

For the ice cream

In a large saucepan over a very low heat add the milk and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Set aside and allow to cool completely
Stir in the cream and the vanilla paste/extract
Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and churn following the manufacturer's instructions
A couple of minutes before the end of the churning process, with the machine still turning, spoon in the ground pecan toffee
When the toffee has been combined well into the ice cream, turn the mixture out into a 1-litre lidded tub and put into the freezer to 'ripen' for at least a couple of hours

To serve: Scoop portions out into bowls or coupes and garnish with the reserved shards

Keyword ice cream, pecans, toffee

Cakes & Bakes: Toffee apple tarte tatin

Did you watch Bake Off this week? It was pastry week and the ‘signature bake’ was to create a savoury tarte tatin. So I used that as a bit of inspiration and decided to make a toffee apple tarte tatin. Here’s how it ‘panned’ out…

I’ve been spending the past few weeks making use of all the ripening fruit from our garden; plums, damsons and now apples. We don’t know the type of apple this is – we think it’s an ‘eater’ rather than a ‘cooker’, although it’s a bit on the tart side.

I was going to make a ‘plain’ apple tarte tatin, but I fancied a bit of extra bit of caramelisation. Sweet, gooey, sticky and chewy.

As a tarte tatin is an ‘upside-down’ cake, you want to lay the fruit on the base of the pan in an attractive pattern.

I could have done with making a little bit more pastry. I felt like I was stretching it across the top to thinly. But hey, it’s a rustic tart, a couple of cracks didn’t detract from the splendid taste and flavour.

Slice & serve with thick cream or vanilla ice cream. We’ve really been enjoying all our recent autumnal desserts; warming, hearty, filling and delicious; what will next week bring?

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest!

Toffee apple tart tatin

2019-10-16 17:35:44

Serves 4

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

For the pastry

110g/4oz plain flour
50g/2oz butter, cubed (room temperature)
pinch of salt

For the toffee

25g butter
25g Demerara sugar
1tbsp golden syrup
½tsp ground cinnamon
2 large or 3 medium apples, cored, peeled and sliced into segments

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Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4

For the pastry

Sift the flour and salt together into a medium-sized mixing bowl
Using your fingertips, lightly and gently rub the cubes of butter into the flour. When the mixture looks uniformly crumbly, sprinkle a tablespoon of cold water evenly over the top
Using a round-bladed knife, repeatedly cut through the mixture, which will begin to form larger lumps. Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth ball of dough.
Cool the ball of pastry, in a ziplock bag, in the fridge for half an hour

For the toffee

In a heavy-bottomed, cast iron skillet pan, melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally
Sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir to combine
Arrange the apple segments into an attractive pattern on top of the toffee mixture in the skillet pan

To bring together

Roll out the pastry into a 1cm thick round, with a slightly larger diameter than your skillet
Cover the apples with the pastry, gently pressing it down and tucking it down the sides
Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry begins to brown
Cool for a couple of minutes and loosen the edges with a sharp knife if necessary
Flip over, apple-side-up, on to a serving plate

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Mixed nut toffee brittle

We’ve had a whirlwind week; we had visitors come to stay and are currently spending a couple of nights at Justin’s mum’s. I realised that the weekly Cakes & Bakes post would be due and I hadn’t yet made anything.

Seeing as Justin’s mum (aka Granny Glittens) regularly says how much she likes my peanut brittle, I took the hint and made some mixed nut toffee brittle.

Rather than plain peanut, I found a bag of ‘Best’ mixed nuts in the supermarket and bulked them up with a bag of cashews that I already had in the store cupboard. In the mix were pecans, hazelnuts, Brazils and Carmel and Marcona almonds.

Apparently the latter are:

The ‘Queen of Almonds,’… imported from Spain. They are shorter, rounder, softer, and sweeter than the California variety.

If you’re using large nuts like Brazils or whole walnuts, it’s a good idea to chop them into 3 or so pieces to make them a better size for gobbling up!

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest

Mixed nut toffee brittle

2019-06-19 08:59:40

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

500g/17½oz caster sugar
3tbs water
50g/2oz butter
250g/9oz roasted mixed nuts
2tsp bicarbonate of soda

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Instructions

Line a large, shallow baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper. You can grease the tray lightly to make the paper stick to it
Pour the sugar into a large, heavy-bottomed sauce or frying pan
Turn the stove on to a medium-low heat, add the water and stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar has turned to a thick syrup
Stop stirring!
Bring to the boil (still without stirring) allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes or, if you're using a candy thermometer, bring up to the hard crack stage of 146-154°C/295-309°F. You'll see the consistency go from grainy to smooth and shiny.
As soon as you get to this point, turn off the heat and stir in the butter quickly
Add the nuts and stir those in quickly
Add the bicarbonate of soda, again, stirring in quickly
Pour the boiling mixture carefully on to the prepared baking tray and allow it to cool for about half an hour
Break it up into pieces using a toffee hammer or the butt end of a kitchen knife
Store in an airtight container lined with greaseproof paper

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Plot toffee

Plot toffee – otherwise known as bonfire toffee – is a traditional Yorkshire sweet eaten in the autumn around Halloween and – you guessed it – Bonfire Night!

It’s called Plot toffee after the Gunpowder Plot. It’s referred to by different names in different parts of the country; loshin du or taffi triog (Wales), Tom Trot (Yorkshire), claggum, clag or clack (Scotland).

Some recipes include a little milk and malt vinegar like this one that I’m using from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore. Others I’ve come across include ginger, cayenne pepper and even chilli powder.

Plot toffee

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Cuisine British

Servings 300 g

Ingredients

225 g Demerara sugar
55 g black treacle
55 g butter
2 tsp water
2 tsp milk
2 tsp malt vinegar

Instructions

Bring all the ingredients except the vinegar to the boil stirring constantly
Boil gently for 15-20 minutes, still stirring, until the mixture becomes brittle when a small piece is dropped into cold water. Even better, if you have a jam thermometer the temperature needs to reach the hard crack stage of 149-154°C / 300-310°F
Stir in the vinegar and then pour into a well-greased tin
When nearly set, you can score it deeply into squares. Alternatively, allow to cool and give it a bash with a toffee hammer
Store in an airtight jar or container

Keyword sweets, toffee