Ice Cream Ireland

 I have written about trying to come up with sugar-free ice cream alternatives here and here. It’s been a challenge to which I return from time to time. A few days ago in our Killarney shop, I met a family with an 8 year old girl, Shona, who was recently diagnosed with diabetes. It has given me another push.

The difficulty in making a sugar-free ice cream naturally (and I won’t do it any other way) is that diabetics need low-fat as well as sugar-free (at least according to all the medical advice I have received). That makes it very, very hard, at least in my experience, to make a commercial product both tasty and viable.

We haven’t given up on it, but in the mean time, I though I’d pass on a few sugar-free frozen desserts that are easy to make at home, extremely yummy, and free of, or very low in, refined sugar (sucrose). Not all might be appropriate for every diet - I know that bananas are quite high in fructose, but that’s where I’ll start. I will also pass on an ice cream recipe or two in the coming days.

Frozen Banana Pops 

My mother often kept frozen bananas in the freezer for us when we were small, and we loved them! It’s a great treat that won’t have a little one bouncing off the walls from a sugar high.

Making frozen banana pops is simple:

1. Peel a ripe banana.

2. Cut it in half.

3. Push a plastic spoon or lolly stick into one end.

4. Put it/them in a freezer-safe dish and stick it in the freezer for a few hours.

That’s it! You can serve them straight from the freezer, and they will disappear quickly.

If you want to take it a step further, melt some bittersweet (70%+) chocolate (generally quite low in sugar if the quality is high) or good quality dark diabetic chocolate, pour it on a shallow plate and roll the frozen pops in it (see top picture). Do the rolling quickly as the chocolate will harden on immediately! Now you really have a special treat…

Technorati tags: diabetes, diabetic, sugar free, diet, frozen, dessert

I made one of the tastiest things I have in a while - Cajeta. Similar to Dulce de Leche, this Mexican treat is made by reducing goat’s milk with cinnamon and sugar until it caramelises.

The recipe I used was out of Rick Bayless‘ excellent book, Mexican Kitchen. The result was thick, creamy, and utterly delicious.

In fact, I have never made anything from that cookbook that wasn’t fantastic (as long as I could get my hands on the ingredients, which isn’t easy in Ireland!)

If you want to try it, there is a recipe here or here.

We ate it mostly over vanilla ice cream (see right), and it disappeared pretty quickly, I can tell you. Ausra, from our Dingle shop found an excellent use for it - a Cajeta Latte - a Mexican twist on a caramel latte. Yum!

Technorati tags: caramel, cajeta, recipe, goat’s milk, cinnamon, dessert

I promised a little while ago to post the strawberry and sage ice cream, which is pretty much sold out in the shops by this point, but anyway, here it is!

Murphys Strawberry and Sage Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar

5 Egg Yolks

1 3/8 Cups Cream

1 1/8 Cups Milk

1 Strawberry Sage Coulis Recipe

What to do:

1. Make the strawberry and sage coulis (recipe here)
2. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
3. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
4. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
5. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat.
6. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
7. Allow the custard to cool.
8. Whip the cream until you have soft peaks. Do not over-whip!
9. Fold in the custard and coulis.
10. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

12 Servings

Note: To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

Technorati tags: strawberry, cream, sage, ice cream, recipe, Irish

I have written about Sweetbank Farm several times, the fruit farm in Wicklow. Well, we have just received our first fruit from them - trays of luscious strawberries.

It’s good timing, because I’ve had strawberry and sage on the brain for a while now.

I’ll get around to making ice cream from it, but I started by making a coulis, which can be used as a sauce for many different desserts. It’s an easy recipe, and I was eating it over vanilla ice cream within 15 minutes of starting out!

Strawberry and Sage Coulis

Ingredients:

300g fresh, ripe strawberries
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
2 fresh sage leaves

What to do:

1. Rinse and hull the strawberries.

2. Put them in a food proccesor or blender and pulse two or three times. You don’t want a puree here! Just break them up a bit.

3. Chop the sage leaves in to fine pieces. (If you use dried sage, use about a half teaspoon).

4. Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. Don’t bring it to the boil. Cook it slowly simply to infuse the strawberries with the sage.

5. Serve hot or cold over ice cream or with another dessert.

Technorati tags: strawberry, sage, coulis, sauce, ice cream

One of my favourite ice cream flavours that we make is our “Caife” - Kahlua Espresso with Chocolate Shavings. Coffee cuts sweetness and makes a great adult ice cream. In addition, the alcohol makes it even smoother, and the chocolate shavings provide a bit of chocolate that melts on the palate with the ice cream. I do hope you like this as much as I do!

 As summer is coming on, we wanted to make a floral ice cream. I’ve also wanted to make ice cream with Manuka honey for a long time. This strong flavoured New Zealand honey comes from a plant used by the Maori for medicinal purposes. We decided to combine it with essence of orange blossom, and the result was delicious!

Murphys Manuka Honey and Orange Blossom Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 Cup (237ml) Sugar
5 Egg Yolks
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Cream
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Milk
1/2 Cup (118gm) Manuka Honey
1 Teaspoon Orange blossom water

Yield: 6 Servings

1. Mix the sugar and egg yolks and beat until thick and pale yellow.

2. Bring the milk to a simmer.

3. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.

4. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens slightly (around 70C). Use a thermometer, as at 75C the eggs will scramble!

5. Stir in the honey.

6. Allow the custard to cool.

7. Add the orange blossom water.

8. Whip the cream.

9. Gently fold in the custard.

10. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.

Notes: 1. We used a natural French orange blossom water (aroma). You might well need to adjust the volume depending on the flavouring you find.

2. I like a strong honey flavour. If you want something more subtle and floral, use half the given amount of honey.

3. The discerning horticulturist will know that those are apple blossoms in the photo. Sorry for that, but orange trees are in short supply in these parts!

4. I haven’t yet made this recipe for home use, so I would love any feedback if you try it!

Technorati tags: manuka honey, orange, blossom, ice cream, recipe, Irish

 I had some excellent orange sorbet here in Mallorca last night, made with local oranges, but I will summarise my trip here when I get back in a couple of days. For now, coffee is still on my mind!

Just before I left, we made Cinnamon Latte ice cream for our shops. I think it´s a nice combination of flavours, so here it is:

Murphys Cinnamon Latte Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 Cup (237ml) + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
5 Egg Yolks
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Cream
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Milk
1/2 Cup (118ml) espresso
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

Yield: 6 Servings

1. Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the espresso and reduce over medium heat until it is about 1/3 of its volume. Cool.

2. Mix the cinnamon with the rest of the sugar, then beat in the egg yolks until thick and pale yellow.

3. Bring the milk to a simmer.

4. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.

5. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens slightly (around 70C). Use a thermometer, as at 75C the eggs will scramble!

6. Allow the custard to cool.

7. Stir in the espresso.

8. Whip the cream.

9. Gently fold in the custard.

10. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.

Note: I haven’t yet made this recipe for home use, so I would love any feedback if you try it!

Technorati tags: cinnamon, latte, espresso, ice cream, recipe, Irish

 Once Upon A Tart  is hosting a brownie day, so I used that as an excuse to bring out the chocolate and get back to brownies. I wanted something with a coffee kick, so here’s my moist, dark Kahlua brownie recipe:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Kahlua

Servings :8 Preparation Time : 00:45:00 (including baking)

Categories : Pastries

Ingredients:

250 grams chocolate (70% cocoa content)
165 grams butter @ at room temperature
3/4 tablespoon natural vanilla
300 grams sugar
100 grams flour
3 each egg
100 ml Kahlua Liqueur

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Butter and flour an 10 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix until smooth.
4. Beat the sugar and eggs together.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. Slowly pour in the chocolate and butter, mixing all the time.
7. Sift the flour, then add, mixing thoroughly.
8. Stir in the Kahlua.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake 25 minutes (a knife should come out just about clean).
10. Allow the brownies to cool slightly. Then cut them into squares and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Caramel ice cream is a great accompaniment for these

Note: If you’re in the UK or Ireland, please read my comments on flour, or you will be very disappointed with the results!

Technorati tags: brownie, pastry, chocolate, Kahlua, recipe

The idea for this this tasty dessert came originally from the New Basics Cookbook, but I have modified the recipe (for starters, it uses lemons, and the method and ingredients are different here). Anyway, it’s a light and fluffy dessert that always goes down a storm…

Warm Lime Meringue Mousse

Ingredients:

60g Butter
150ml Fresh Lime Juice
Zest of Two Limes (finely zested)
200g Sugar
5 Eggs

What to Do:

1. Put the 100g of the sugar along with the butter, lime zest, and lime juice in a saucepan and cook over low heat until all the ingredients are melted together. Allow to cool slightly.

2. Separate the eggs.

3. Beat the egg yolks into the lime/sugar/butter mixture.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. (Do not let it boil, or you will have scrambled eggs with lime!). Remove from the heat.

5. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and beat until they are stiff and glossy.

6. Fold half the egg whites into the lime custard, stirring gently until they are combined.

7. Pour into 6 ramekins.

8. Carefully spoon the rest of the egg whites to the half-full ramekins, so that the egg white is on top of the custard as a top layer.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden in colour.

10. Serve immediately!

This has gone to Helene at Tartelette as part of her HHDD mousse party…

Technorati tags: lime, meringue, mousse, custard, pudding, recipe

I’ve posted various hot chocolate recipes, and this is what we’ve settled on for a hot chocolate with a huge cocoa hit and a drink that’s not too sweet. This cocoa is thick and luscious, and it’s going down a storm in the shops. It’s for real chocoholics only…

Murphys Extreme Cocoa

125 g cocoa (unsweetened)
800 ml milk
225 gm sugar
1 teasp. natural vanilla essence

1. Mix the cocoa and sugar.
2. Add the milk in small parts, stirring to create a paste, then diluting the paste until the milk and cocoa mix are combined. Add the vanilla essence.
3. Pour into a saucepan and place the over medium heat, stirring all the time until it reaches 60-65C.
4. Garnish with grated chocolate and/or whipped cream and enjoy!

Six servings.

Notes:

1. If you find it too strong, you can always dilute it with more milk, but then again if you do find it too strong, this is probably the wrong recipe for you!
2. The amount of sugar will vary depending on the chocolate. Obviously you can add more if you want it sweeter.
3. You can freeze any excess and thaw it later when you want to drink it…

Technorati tags: hot chocolate, cocoa, hot, recipe