Cherry Beer Ice Cream

I first came across Mark @ Pencil & Spoon's recipe for beer ice cream a few months back and after making a winning raspberry beer ice cream I knew I had to try some other beers to test how they worked. This batch is for my Birthday BBQ this weekend.

I admit I'm not a huge ice cream eater. I don't like Hagen Daz et al far too sweet and sickly for me. The best ice cream, in my opinion, is the delicious selection from Needwood Dairy...and of course this beer ice cream. I have another ice cream idea in the pipeline based on one of my favourite English cakes, but you'll have to wait for that because I'm still developing the recipe.

To make the ice cream was also an excuse to use my newest KitchenAid Gadget - an Ice cream bowl and beater
This is not the first time I've made ice cream in the KitchenAid. The Damson Gin sorbet didn't work (I had gone a bit mad with the gin!), blackberry & apple sorbet waiting to be tasted and the raspberry beer ice cream, well lets just say it didn't last long as it was so delicious! The only think Mark says about making this is be careful with your choice of beer. Ideally you do not want a too hoppy beer as it can make the ice cream too bitter.



The beer in it gives it more of an adult flavour. Rich and fruity with a hint of bitterness to stop to being too sweet. The cherry juice in the beer gives the ice cream a beautiful cerise hue. This ice cream would be a perfect accompaniment to a rich dark chocolate brownie. I should also point out this is possibly one of the easiest ice cream recipes known to man. 3 ingredients, no egg, no faffing.

UPDATE: We ate this at my birthday BBQ and it was unanimously decided it tastes just like a Bakewell Tart. You can certainly taste almonds in it. Now this breakthrough means my grand plan to create an ice cream based on my favourite cake (a Bakewell Tart!) has now been shelved as I seem to have achieved it without trying.


Fruit Beer Ice Cream

1 can of condensed milk
300ml double cream
250ml-300ml fruit beer (I use Samuel Smith's fruit beer range)

Gently whisk together all of the ingredients then pour into the ice cream maker. Done!

Omega Seed Brittle

With the 3-Peak Challenge looming both Hubby & I are trying to find ways to help us get through the 11am and 3pm sugar slump without reaching for the biscuit tin. To help keep on top of my snacking at work I usually pack a bento box. This helps me control portion size as well as encouraging me to have a balanced diet. Hubby is talking of taking a bento snack box to work to keep him away from the temptation of the corner shop. Hubby in particular has a very sweet tooth so these bars are perfect for him, because not only does he get a good sugar hit it has the added benefits of slow release energy and all the good stuff that is in seeds. A Mars bar can't promise to do that!

I always have a packet of mixed seeds in the cupboard. Not only are they great for making granola with, but also for sprinkling on cereal and adding to flapjacks. I also carry a small tupperware box of seeds and dry fruit in my handbag for low energy wobbles. This particular seed mix contains pumpkin, sunflower, sesame seeds and linseed which means it is packed with omega-3. Great for body and mind. Omega-3 is something that the body can't produce and must be introduced through diet. I know there is some debate as to the benefits of omega oils, but I notice a significant difference in my skin and moods when I have a regular intake of it. However I don't buy into all the products out there at the moment with "added omega-3". I prefer to get it straight from the source. These products are just playing on public anxiety and food fads making out that Omega is a new amazing supplement, when in reality it has been something all of our bodies have needed from year dot.

The main source of Omega-3 is oily fish, but as I'm not a big fish eater I try to find other ways to getting it and this is perfect.I buy my omega seed mix from a Vegan Wholefood shop, but I have seen similar mixes in the supermarket.

When your making this, what ever you do make sure you wash the pan soon after making it or you'll have a job getting the encrusted honey off the pan.

Omega Seed Brittle

85g (approx 6 tbsp) omega seed mix or similar
3 tbsp honey

1) Place both the honey and seeds in a frying pan and slowly heat until the honey has begun to caramelise and the nuts begin to toast.

2) Pour out onto a piece of baking parchment and allow to set in the fridge.

The culinary equivalent of superglue...

The past week has been a bit of a crazy one. Christmas festivities in school are in full swing and Hubby has been working every hour under the sun to get a project finished in work so it can be shipped. Over the weekend I was back in the Homeland for an annual Christmas Ball at my dad's work and a Victorian Christmas festival in their village. At the festival in amongst the roasted chestnuts and hog roasts we decided to choose mulled Vimto. Bad choice, I usually love Vimto but words cannot describe how awful the a mulled version of it was. It left me wishing I had gone for the hardcore mulled wine after all.

There are some recipes that sit on my cookbook stand for a while waiting for me to get the balls to try them. This recipe for nougat was one of them. I'm not too confident with boiling sugar and always worry about burning myself. Last year when making cinder toffee, hubby dropped the spoon into the boiling sugar, reached in to pick the spoon up and burnt his fingers. Although he put ice on it straight away he could feel it burning for the next 24 hours...ouch.

Now the pronunciation of "nougat" in our house is a bit of a contentious issue. I say "noo-gaar" where as Hubby along, with the rest of his family, say "nugget" as in chicken nugget. I still argue I'm in the right because nougat is a french word.

I have to admit I'm not too sure if I got it to the right constancy. I whisked it until it wouldn't thicken anymore and considering the sugar took nearly an hour to get to the right temperature I was getting a bit fed up with it. It tastes like beautiful nougat and is sticky like anything, but slowly melts in the mouth. Cleaning the bowls after making it is another matter. This stuff is like superglue and sticks to everything and anything. The best tip I can give for cleaning all the bowls/saucepans is to use lots of boiling water. Pour it over the cemented nougat and it will melt away.

Just a warning this involves boiling sugar and it probably not a very child friendly. Be very careful when beating together the sugar and egg, if your mixer has a splash guard use it. Dentists turn away now...

Nougat
Adapted from Fresh Magazine

680g granulated sugar
340ml (about 1 tin and a bit) golden syrup
60ml clear honey
235ml water
2 egg whites, beaten until stiff in a large bowl
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries
200g mixture of almonds and macadamia nuts

1) Gradually heat the sugar, syrup, honey and water in a heavy saucepan until it reaches 154°C (hard-crack stage)

2) When the sugar has reached the correct temperature carefully beat into the whisked egg whites until the mixture is stiff and waxy. At the beginning of this stage don't worry if it looks a bit like fine scrambled egg in sugar syrup. Keep beating and it will thicken and combine.

3) Carefully fold in the vanilla, cranberries and nuts using a large metal spoon. The metal spoon, rather than a wooden spoon, helps stop the mix collapsing.

4) Pour the nougat into a tin lined with baking parchment. Allow to cool before cutting into squares...or if your nougat is anything like ours a knife won't cut it and we ended up using a meat mallet to bash it with another sheet of baking parchement.

Chocolate and Toffee Apples

This weekend we're going to a bonfire party and to celebrate I've made a Baileys cheesecake, toffee apples and chocolate dipped apples. To be honest I don't really like toffee apples and chocolate apples. My memories of them when I was a child was that the apple used to be horrible and bruised when you bit into it, so by making my own at least I knew the quality of the apples. The chocolate double dipping process was trickier than I was expecting. As I tried to put the milk chocolate topping on the white chocolate was sliding off! Chopsticks made great sticks. For both of the recipes make sure before you start swirl all the apples in hot water then dry them to rid of the wax.

Chocolate double dipped apples
makes 6

6 small apples
300g white chocolate
300g Milk chocolate
1 pot of sprinkles

1) Heat white chocolate gently in a bain marie. Once chocolate has melted swirl apple in chocolate until it is coated. Once dipped place on baking parchment.

2) Allow to chill and set in the fridge. Repeat the chocolate dipping process with the milk chocolate then roll in sprinkles while chocolate is still molten.

Toffee apples From Garden Cookbook
makes 6

6 small apples
225g demerara sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
30g butter
2tsp lemon juice
4 tbsp water

1) Gently heat all the ingredients in a heavy based saucepan until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and rapidly boil for 5-10 minutes.

2) Have a jug of cold water on standby. Every minute or so during the boiling, test the toffee by dropping a small amount into the water. When the toffee instantly turns into a crisp thread it's ready. Take off the heat.

3) Dip the apples into the toffee using the same swirling technique as above. Once coated did immediately into a bowl of ice cold water to set the toffee. If the toffee hardens and you struggle to coat the apple, but the toffee back onto the heat.

Crumpets & Cinder Toffee

I woke up stupidly early this morning with a deep urge to make crumpets from breakfast. I decided to use the crumpet recipe that was used in last weeks Something for the Weekend. It was really interesting seeing the dough develop and it was a really springy dough texture. They tasted delicious (far far better than shop brought variety), but the texture wasn't quite right. I think I may have over beaten it when I added the milk. We started out making the crumpets with a metal pastry ring, but also tried pouring the batter straight into the pan and they turned out more like pikelets. I did take pictures, but they just look awful!

Not to be undeterred I decided to make cinder toffee this afternoon. I've always been a bit scared of boiling sugar, worried about burning myself. I had heard from some people that the Nigella recipe for cinder toffee doesn't always work so I found an alternative recipe in a back copy of GFM. If only I knew cinder toffee was so easy, I would have made it ages ago. It was amazing to watch the reaction between the sugar and bicarb. My sister is coming to stay tomorrow, but I can't guarantee there will be any cinder toffee left by then. The pieces just keep on falling into my mouth!

Cinder toffee (Honeycomb)

5 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1) Heat the sugar and syrup gently in a saucepan until sugar has melted, begins to boil and turns a golden yellow colour.

2) Whisk in bicarb with a hand whisk then pour quickly onto baking parchment. Allow to set.

tip: to clean toffee encrusted pan, pour boiling inside pan and the toffee will melt away.