I was going to make a chocolate soufflé for dessert the other night, but I'd run out of dark chocolate. I didn't want to have to go out to the shops, so I looked for something else I could make instead. Unfortunately, many of the recipes required a lengthy bake, chill, or both. And most of the rest... I didn't have the necessary ingredients for. This was one of the things that I could make. Without a trip to the shops. And without too much time or effort.

Frozen Chai

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1L milk
• 4 chai tea bags
• 10 black peppercorns
• 3 slices fresh ginger (or 1 Tbsp. ginger paste)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 500mL vanilla ice cream¹
• whipped cream (optional)

Directions

1. Bring the milk to a bare simmer.
2. Add the tea bags, peppercorns, ginger, and sugar and stir to combine.
3. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. Once cool, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
5. Add the ice cream to a blender.
6. Strain the milk into the blender over the ice cream.
7. Blitz until smooth.
8. Pour into glasses, top with whipped cream and/or ground cinnamon, and serve.

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¹ The convenience store down the street didn't have any plain vanilla ice cream, so we picked up a small tub of churro flavoured ice cream instead. The cinnamon flavour worked extremely well with the chai! ^Back

This recipe includes some very strange flavour combinations. I mean, I've heard of both black pepper and balsamic vinegar being used in desserts before, but not both together and not in such large quantities! I was a bit nervous about the results, but I wanted to give it a try anyway and, I must say, I was quite pleased with the results! It was an unusual flavour profile, but not an unpleasant one.

Strawberry Parfaits with Black Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 500g fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Chambord¹
• 250mL vanilla ice cream²
• whipped cream

Directions

1. Combine the strawberries and black pepper and set aside.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a small pot, cover, and heat over medium-high heat until the sugar melts.
3. Uncover and cook, swirling -- BUT NOT STIRRING -- occasionally, until the sugar darkens into a light caramel (5-10 mintes).
4. Add the strawberries and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until any chunks of sugar/caramel that formed when the strawberries were added melt and dissolve back into the juice (2-4 minutes).
5. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and Chambord.
6. Cover and chill for at least an hour.
7. Once ready to serve, place some strawberries in the bottoms of three small jars and then layer some ice cream and more strawberries over them.
8. Top with whipped cream and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for kirsch, but a) I didn't have any and b) neither TF nor I like it anyway. We did, however, have a selection of other liquors. I decided that Chambord would be a nice match with the strawberries and used it in place of the kirsch. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 500mL of ice cream, but I only used about half of that amount. Of course, the original recipe also claims to serve six and I only actually made three parfaits! So, maybe the original amount would have been fine if I'd split it six ways. That said, there definitely wouldn't have been nearly enough strawberries to do that. I had a scant pound (450g) of strawberries and I already found that a bit skimpy (hence bumping it up to 500g here). There's no way that 450g would have been enough to make six parfaits. I was honestly debating whether to bump the strawberies up to 600 or 700g. That said, I think 500g is sufficient -- if not exaclty generous -- for three parfaits. ^Back

I know I've made strawberry ice cream at least once before. I followed the recipe from the little booklet that came with my ice cream maker. I can no longer find the booklet. A quick internet search lead me to a recipe on Epicurious. I found it unusual that it used only cream with no added milk, but decided to give it a go anyway. It seems to have turned out well: nice flavour, no lurking ice crystals. I might try replacing some of the cream with milk next time though, just to see if the recipe still works with the lower fat content.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Slightly adapted from Eipcurious

Ingredients

• 450g fresh, ripe strawberries
• 3/4 c. (vanilla) sugar
• 3/4 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. salt¹
• 2 c. heavy (35%) cream²
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Hull the strawberries.
2. Add sugar, lemon juice, and salt.
3. Mash with a fork or potato masher. Set aside for a few minutes, then mash again.
4. Set aside (preferably in the fridge) for 10 minutes.
5. Drain off most of the juice and add it to the cream.
6. Add vanilla extract to cream mixture (if using). Mix well.
7. If you prefer a smooth, homogeneous ice cream, you can purée the strawberries and add them to the cream at this point. Personally, I prefer to leave the strawberries as they are and add them partway through churning to create a chunky, fruity ice cream.
8. Turn on ice cream maker.
9. Pour cream mixture into ice cream maker.
10. Allow to churn for 15-20 minutes, until ice cream has increased in volume and started to solidify.
11. Gradually add macerated strawberries (if you didn't purée them and add them earlier).
12. Allow to churn for another 15 minutes or so.
13. Turn of ice cream maker and quickly scoop ice cream into container and transfer to freezer.

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¹ I totally forgot to add the salt. ^Back
2 Next time I'd probably try 1 c. heavy (35%) cream + 1 c. whole (3.25%) milk. ^Back

Coffee Frozen Yogurt

I've never actually made frozen yogurt before. I've made quite a bit of ice cream and the odd Italian ice, but never frozen yogurt. Since I've been trying to balance out my macros though and increase my protein (and decrease fat a bit), I figured that having some nice high-protein, low-fat frozen yogurt on hand for when I want a tasty treat probably wouldn't be a terrible plan.

This is mostly based on the vanilla frozen yogurt recipe from the booklet that came with the ice cream maker. I basically just swapped out the vanilla yogurt for plain fat-free Greek yogurt, used a bit more sugar than called for, and threw in some instant coffee crystals we had kicking around.

There is a "coffee latte frozen yogurt" recipe in the booklet. But it calls for gelatin and half-and-half and various other things I don't have and couldn't be bothered to get.

I was slightly worried that the gelatin was a necessary component when adding coffee to yogurt and that the lack of it would somehow cause a structural and/or textural disaster. But it seems to have worked out just fine! I tasted a little bit as I was packing it up to go in the freezer and it was lovely.

Coffee Frozen Yogurt
Adapted from the little Cuisinart "Instruction and Recipe Booklet" that came with my ice cream maker
3/4 c. milk¹
1 c. vanilla sugar²
2 c. plain Greek yogurt³
2 Tbsp. heavy (35%) cream⁴
1 1/2 Tbsp. instant coffee crystals

1. Combine milk and sugar and whisk until sugar is at least mostly dissolved.
2. Add yogurt and whisk some more.
3. Stir in coffee and cream.
4. Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk again.
5. Pour into running ice cream maker and churn for 25-35 minutes.

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¹ The original recipe called for whole milk. I used 1% lactose-free milk and it doesn't seem to have hurt it any. I suspect pretty much any milk would work just fine.
² I used vanilla sugar because I had it on hand. If you just want to use regular (granulated) sugar, just toss ~1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract in with the coffee and cream.
³ As with the milk, I suspect any fat content would work out just fine here. It's also worth noting that the original recipe did not use Greek yogurt. If you're going for protein content though, Greek is definitely your best bet!
⁴ I had some heavy cream kicking around the fridge that needed using, so I tossed it in. That said, I suspect you could also use table cream (18%) or half-and-half (10%) with good results. I'd be reluctant to go any lower than that though, especially if you're already using a low-fat milk and/or yogurt.

Chocolate Ice Cream

The kidlet asked to make chocolate ice cream today, so we did! :)
Just used the basic recipe that came with the ice cream machine. Seems to have turned out pretty well. And very kid-friendly because you just stir everything together and dump it in; no cooking required!

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream
1/2 c. cocoa powder (preferably Dutched, but regular is also fine)
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. milk (any percentage should work fine, I used 1%)
1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. heavy (35%) cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine cocoa powder and sugars.
2. Whisk in milk until blended and sugars dissolve. The recipe calls for using an electric mixer on low for 1 minute or so. I just whisked by hand until it looked smooth and homogeneous.
3. Mix in cream and vanilla.
4. Turn on ice cream machine and pour mixture in. (Yes, in that specific order.)
5. Churn for 30 minutes (+/- 5 minutes).
6. Serve immediately for a creamy, chocolate-y soft serve or scoop into a container and chill in the freezer for at least two hours for firmer ice cream.
7. If ice cream has been stored in the freezer, allow to soften at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Ice Cream

I bought myself an ice cream maker yesterday. It's very much a luxury item, but I'm really looking forward to experimenting with different flavours and recipes! And TF is excited at the prospect of actually having interesting flavours of lactose-free ice cream available. I just started with a basic vanilla ice cream to test the machine and get a feel for this whole ice cream making thing. I am very pleased with the results so far and am super excited to try some more complex recipes.

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream

3/4 c. milk (I used 2%)

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream

2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine milk and sugar and stir until dissolved.

2. Stir in cream and vanilla.

Mixture can be poured into ice cream maker at this point or chilled overnight. I chose to put mine in the fridge overnight since I was still waiting for the ice cream maker bowl to freeze anyway.

3. Turn on ice cream maker.

4. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl and allow it to churn for 25 minutes.

Ice cream will be extremely soft at this point. It's technically edible, but will liquefy almost immediately once served.

5. Quickly scoop the ice cream out of the ice cream maker and into another container and transfer to the freezer. Ice cream should firm up in an hour or two.