Fried Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups vanilla or dulce de leche ice cream

1 cup finely chopped toasted almonds

2-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 x eggs, lightly beaten

oil for frying

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

2. Using an ice cream scoop and your hands, make a 60-ml (1/4-cup) ice cream ball. Repeat with the remaining ice cream, for a total of 8 balls. Place on the chilled baking sheet and return to the freezer for 10 minutes.

3. Place the almonds in a bowl. Roll the ice cream balls in the almonds, pressing the nuts onto the balls to coat them well. Freeze for about 30 minutes.

4. Place the eggs in a bowl and the crumbs in another bowl. Turn the ice cream balls in the egg and shake to remove any excess. Roll the balls in the crumbs, pressing to coat well. 5. Freeze for about 30 minutes.

6. Strain the eggs to remove any crumbs. Refrigerate.

7. Coat the ice cream balls in egg and crumbs a second time. Freeze for about 2 hours.

8. Preheat the deep fryer to 190°C (375°F).

9. Fry 3 or 4 balls at a time until golden, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Winter rhubarb ice-cream

For the custard base

150ml/5fl oz whole milk
450ml/16fl oz double cream
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthwise
6 egg yolks
120g/4oz caster sugar

For the rhubarb1kg/2lb rhubarb
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthwise
180g/6oz caster sugar
250ml/8fl oz water or verjuice

For the custard, pour the milk and cream into a pan and place over a low heat. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and add them.

Bring to just under a boil, remove from the heat and set aside for 15 minutes to infuse. Now whisk the yolks and sugar in a bowl for five minutes, until the mix becomes thick and pale.

Gently reheat the creamy milk and pour it on the egg-yolk mix, stirring with the whisk. Return to the pan and place over a low heat, stirring gently until the custard thickens – about eight minutes. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool.

Wash and trim the rhubarb into 5cm chunks. Put in a pan with the vanilla pod, sugar and water or verjuice. Place over a low heat and stir gently. Bring to a simmer then turn down and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should be soft but not completely falling apart. Remove the rhubarb with a slotted spoon and reduce the remaining liquid by half. Pour over the rhubarb and allow to cool.

Once the custard has cooled, pour into an ice-cream maker; follow the manufacturer's instructions. Just before it sets, pour in the rhubarb and churn for 10 minutes.

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Chunky Plum-and-Ginger Ice Cream

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup ice cream and 1 gingersnap).

Ingredients

* 4 cups vanilla low-fat ice cream, softened
* 1 cup diced plums (about 3 plums)
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger
* 6 gingersnaps

Preparation

Combine first 3 ingredients in a freezer-safe container. Cover, and freeze until firm. Spoon ice cream into 6 small bowls, and crumble 1 gingersnap over each serving.
Nutritional Information

Calories:
177 (27% from fat)
Fat:
5.3g (sat 2.7g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.5g)
Protein:
4.1g
Carbohydrate:
29.8g
Fiber:
0.6g
Cholesterol:
15mg
Iron:
0.7mg
Sodium:
86mg
Calcium:
139mg

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Recipes - Ice Cream Strudel, Tomato Pudding

The recipe, from a 1970s cookbook the Southwest Chapter of Women's American ORT, was published in 2001. The dough, made with ice cream, turns out flaky and crisp. The recipe makes a lot of strudel. What's wonderful is that you can freeze the dough and make one or two rolls, at a time, thawed before baking.

Ice Cream Strudel

Makes about 40 portions

1/2 pound butter or margarine, melted

1/2 pint vanilla ice cream softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups apricot or raspberry preserves or fruit pie filling

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

1/2 cup raisins or golden currants

1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Confectioners' sugar (optional)

1. Beat butter into ice cream. Add flour a cup at a time and form into a soft ball. Place in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour, until dough is easy to handle. Divide into 4 portions. Roll each into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick.

2. Stir the preserves, nuts, raisins, coconut and chips together. Spoon filling onto dough, and roll up each portion as you would a jelly roll, from the long end.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place rolls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, and slit each roll on the diagonal into about 10 portions. Bake about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Q. My late mother often made what she called "tomato pudding." She served it with grilled cheese sandwiches and it was the best combination you can imagine. I guess the pudding was a side dish, but we all thought we were getting to eat dessert with our dinner!

— Paula, Gene and Rosemary Keene

A. Tomato pudding and grilled cheese sandwiches sounds like an unbeatable combination. The recipe, made with less sugar and lard rather than butter, was a staple during the Depression. This version is from a booklet put out by the Florida Department of Agriculture in 1961, when we weren't worrying much about cholesterol. You could certainly cut back on both the sugar and butter, though I have to admit the original is wonderful!

Tomato Pudding

Makes 8 servings

1 can (16-ounce) tomatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup stale bread cubes

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the tomatoes into an 8-inch square baking pan. Distribute the bread cubes over the top. Sprinkle with the brown sugar; pour the butter over the top. Bake 50 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

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Recipe - Mulled red wine jellies with vanilla cream

The pudding could be described as a grown-up version of jelly and ice-cream. You might think a chilled dessert an odd choice at this time of year, but the wintry flavour of mulled wine and spices makes it strangely warming.

Makes 6-8, so plenty for seconds

INGREDIENTS
For the jellies:
750ml bottle medium-bodied red wine, such as Merlot

1 cinnamon stick

1tsp cloves

Zest of 1 orange, plus 100ml
(3½fl oz) freshly squeezed juice

1 bay leaf
225g (8oz) caster sugar

8 gelatine leaves, such as Costa Fine Leaf

For the vanilla Cream:150ml (5fl oz) double cream
1 vanilla pod

2tbsp sieved icing sugar Ground cinnamon, for dusting


METHOD
Place the wine, cinnamon stick, cloves, orange zest, juice and bay leaf in a saucepan, and gently heat until it is just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15-30 minutes.

If any scum rises to the surface, skim off with a metal spoon. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes until soft. Strain the wine through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.

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Recipe - Pear and date crumble

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE FILLING
900g-1kg (2lb-2lb 4oz) pears, peeled, cored and chopped

150-175g (5½oz-6oz) pitted dates, roughly chopped

25g (1oz) caster sugar

½tsp mixed spice

FOR THE TOPPING

125g (4½oz) unsalted butter, softened

150g (5½oz) plain flour

75g (2½oz) flaked almonds, crushed lightly in your hands

40g (1½oz) rolled oats

100g (3½oz) soft brown sugar

Custard, cream, ice cream to serve


METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C fan/gas 6.

To make the filling, toss together the pears, dates, sugar and mixed spice and transfer to an oven-proof dish, about 1.25-1.5ltr (2-2½pt), or individual dishes.

Lightly rub together the butter, flour and a pinch of salt, and then stir in the almonds, oats and a quarter of the sugar. Keep the topping fairly chunky and crumbly.
Scatter over the top of the fruit and finish by sprinkling the reserved sugar on top.

Sit on a baking tray and cook for 45-60 minutes until the topping is crisp and golden, and the fruity juices are bubbling around the edges. If the topping starts to become golden, then just cover loosely with a piece of aluminium foil.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a good 5 minutes before serving with custard, cream or ice-cream.

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Ice-cream shop off to flying start

FRESH, funky, and colourful is the vibe at Queensland’s first Trampoline Gelato store. With a variety of flavours and quirky service, owner and operator Kerri Healy said she wanted people to get something different at her store, which features staff who have been known to juggle or yodel.

Trampoline makes all of the gelato fresh daily, including the award-winning peanut nutter flavour. A former school teacher, Ms Healy discovered her passion for gelato in Italy and began the business after returning from a four-year European adventure in October.

“It was a very quick turn around but I had been planning on starting a small business for a while,” she said. “What I really wanted to do was to make Italian quality gelato with an Australian style.”

All of Trampoline’s ingredients are Australian, with all of the dairy products coming from Victoria’s Gippsland region.

“We like to say that we can trace the products back to the cow it came from,” Ms Healy said.

Trampoline Gelato can be found on level three of Indooroopilly Shopping Centre.

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Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Anyone who hasn’t tried Haagen-Dazs’ dulce de leche ice cream will have a hard time guessing what flavor this is. Not quite caramel or butterscotch, this is one of those ice cream flavors that make people go, “Oh my gulay* this is so good. What flavor is this?”

Dulce de leche ice cream comes in a low-key shade of light brown so it’s not the most exciting-looking frozen dessert, but one spoonful and finicky preferences won’t matter. This ice cream flavor is a certified crowd pleaser.

It’s also really easy to make because it uses an egg-free ice cream base. The pre-churn chilling does take a bit of time, but you’ll get the best flavor and consistency with an overnight rest in the fridge.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

makes about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream, depending on overrun

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups whole milk (18.5 ounces / 525 grams)
1 1/4 cups dulce de leche (14 ounces / 396 grams)
1/2 cup heavy cream (4.6 ounces / 130 grams)
a splash of vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Special Equipment:

* an ice cream maker

Instructions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk and dulce de leche just to a boil, stirring until the dulce de leche is dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
3. Cool completely at room temperature. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
4. Churn, churn, churn.
5. Serve immediately for a soft-serve consistency or store in an airtight container and freeze.

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Louise cake: meringue-topped delight

Some recipes endure no matter what whims of culinary fashion prevail. Louise cake is one of these perennial favourites. A shortcake base, coconut-meringue topping and a filling of berry jam sit together in perfect harmony.

Most recipes for Louise cake call for raspberry jam, but you can use any jam that is on hand. Squares or shallow cakes baked in a Swiss roll tin are quick to make and easy to store.

They are less time-consuming than making biscuits, which tend to be baked in batches and then iced or filled, or sometimes both.

Squares neatly circumvent all that fiddling and when the family is around you want something that can be made and replaced quickly. You can easily vary this recipe by using different fillings.

Try adding lemon zest to the shortcake base and using lemon curd as a filling, or replacing two tablespoons of the flour with cocoa powder and making a quick caramel in the microwave with condensed milk, butter and golden syrup. Today's traditional recipe has a twist; I have added a cupful of fresh raspberries to the jam filling for extra flavour.

A very happy new year to all Southland Times cooks and bakers.

Ingredients

* 150g softened butter
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 4 medium eggs
* 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
* 1/2 cup raspberry jam
* 1/2 cup coconut
* 1/2 cup extra sugar
* 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Method: Set oven at 180degC and line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Separate eggs, reserving the whites.

Add the yolks to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

Gradually add the flour until a dough forms. wPress dough into prepared tin then spread with the jam.

Dot the raspberries over the jam.

Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form.

Gradually add the second measure of sugar until meringue is glossy and holds its shape well.

Fold in the coconut then spread evenly over the cake.

Bake for 30 minutes or until topping is golden.

Allow to cool in tin then cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

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MUESLI ICE-CREAM

Ingredients
makes 1 1/2 pints (900 ml)

1 pint (600 ml) milk
6 egg yolks
4 oz (100 g) caster sugar
5 fl oz (150 ml) double cream, whipped

For the flavouring
4 oz (125 g) muesli

Method

1. Scald the milk and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Gradually stir in the strained milk. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 to 4 minutes until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow to boil, otherwise the eggs will curdle.

3. Press a circle of greaseproof paper or cling film on to the surface and leave until cold.

4. Fold in the whipped cream and flavouring (see below).

5. Spoon into a shallow container and freeze for 40 minutes or until the ice cream begins to harden round the edges.

6. Turn into a chilled bowl and whisk to break up the ice crystals. Return to the container and repeat the freezing and beating process once or twice more, depending on the required smoothness.

For the flavouring

Fold 4 oz (125 g) of your favourite unsweetened muesli mix into ice cream.

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Ice cream wonderland

As New Year’s Day and the last restful weekend of the holiday season are upon us, I thought a review of ‘The Ice Cream Factory’ could be useful to those parents looking to hit the town with their little ones in tow. I had hoped to take two adorable little children with me so as to relate their verdict from the horse’s mouth, but ended up going instead with my crazy funny friend Kennie.

A very grown up affair A café and parlour dedicated almost entirely to ice cream and dessert, ‘The Ice Cream Factory’ opened up in the professional heart of Victoria Island roughly 7 months ago. My initial presumption that.

The venue was intended for toddlers and young teenagers proved to be entirely wrong when Kennie and I walked into the dimly-lit café that was thumping with British dance-floor tunes from Jamiroquai and the Artful Dodger. The room told of a chill-out café for a mature audience and was jam-packed with loudly chatting university students and married couples alike. This was no kiddie zone to say the least.

Kennie and I started with a ‘ham and cheese melt’ (N1800) from the ‘Factory Grilled Melts’ section at the very back of the menu – the only page to offer savouries like ‘the factory club’, ‘tuna melt’ and ‘cheese and mushroom’ sandwiches. Our pressed panini was simply perfect. The smoked ham and tomatoes were smothered in a luxuriously melted blend of mozzarella cheese and mayonnaise, while the accompanying chips were chunky, crisp, and as delicious as the photograph in the menu promised.

Alcohol, spice and all things nice

To complement the sandwich, I drank a ‘baileys milkshake’ (N900), initially judging it to be a richer than usual vanilla milkshake until the subtle hint of Irish liqueur arrived as an aftertaste. Kennie meanwhile sipped on a ‘chai latte’ (N800), a hot aromatic milk tea infused with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and vanilla. And after I pressured her into giving a verdict on it, she said “it’s pretty good… very gingery… milky… tea-y” and then snapped, “it tastes like a chai latte, what more do you want me to say?” which was simply hilarious.

After a forced (albeit welcome) break, caused by the waiters’ poor preparation and inability to deal efficiently with their many patrons, we ordered a ‘butter pecan waffle’ (N1500) and a ‘cookie monster’ ice cream sundae (N1200). The waffle was not warm as promised, but was beautifully presented alongside two scoops of butter pecan ice cream, drizzled with caramel syrup and topped with freshly whipped cream. Being a huge fan of pecan nuts, I found the ice cream delicious, although Kennie thought it far too sweet. The waffle tasted unfortunately as though it had been baked with sourdough and I regretted having glanced too quickly over the ‘Artisan Selection’ with other offerings like the ‘caramel waffle dream’ (which would have been accompanied by ‘dulce de leche’ ice cream), and the ‘berry belgian waffle’ (with Madagascan vanilla and white chocolate strawberry swirl ice cream).

Chocolate concoctions and contortions

The ‘cookie monster’ sundae was a scoop each of ‘cookies n cream’ and ‘chocolate chip cookie dough’ ice cream layered with chunks of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and drizzled with hot fudge chocolate sauce and freshly whipped cream. The large cookie chunks added a fantastic crunchy dimension to the sundae.

As luck would have it, my teeth began to cry out for mercy from the onslaught of such cold concoctions, and I found myself unable to sample anything else. Darting past the list of other sundaes like the ‘banana split’, ‘choco explosion’, and ‘coffee addiction’, I wondered if Kennie would think me mad if I suggested that we sample other hot desserts like the ‘apple crumble’, ‘sticky toffee cheesecake’, ‘strawberry crepe’ or ‘affogato’ (that alluring Italian mix of vanilla ice cream and a steaming espresso shot).

For a short while, I also toyed too with the idea of the ‘belgian hot chocolate’ (a delicious, decadent blend of triple chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate and frothy milk, topped with freshly whipped cream and Belgian chocolate shavings – N950). Then I remembered that the first time I indulged in it, it left me so incredibly bloated and saturated that I was unable to consume anything for the rest of the day, not even a glass of water! That memory proved powerful enough to inspire yet another addition to my list of New Year’s resolutions – a commitment to healthy eating. Let’s see how long that lasts.

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