Honeycomb Ice Cream

Honeycomb ice cream O.K. I’ve already given you the recipe for making honeycomb pieces. Now here’s one for the ice cream! It’s a bit complicated, but if you’re feeling up for the task, please go ahead and test it as part of my ice cream party!

Over the years, this has been our best-selling ice cream in the shop, and I hope it makes you as happy as the thousands upon thousands who have enjoyed it in Dingle and Killarney!

MURPHYS HONEYCOMB ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

What to do:

  1. Honeycomb ice cream coneMake the honeycomb pieces, and break then into small pieces. You will need 200ml volume, more or less (depending on your tastes!)
  2. Make the caramel sauce.
  3. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
  4. Bring the milk to a simmer.
  5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  6. Pour the mixture back into pan, and place over low heat.
  7. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
  8. Allow the custard to cool.
  9. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (don’t over-whip!) and fold into the custard.
  10. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, adding the honeycomb pieces and caramel sauce when it’s fairly solid.
  11. You can also just cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours, and again, add the honeycomb and caramel when it’s reasonably solid.

Notes:

  1. Beware adding any more caramel sauce or the ice cream will get soggy.
  2. The part about adding the honeycomb at the end is important, as you don’t want the pieces melting in the ice cream.
  3. You will have extra caramel sauce left over, and you can always use it as a topping for the ice cream or to make a caramel sundae.

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Dingle Goes Through!

Dingle Team Dingle beat the might of An Gaeltacht yesterday in the West Kerry Semi-Final Replay in a major upset: 8-7 in a close match. I love going to some of the local games, where you can see players that have become so famous for their county scrapping it out in front of a small crowd.

Of course, you could just call it procrastination from writing the ice cream book!

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Reminder – Ice Cream Party

This is just a reminder that there is just over a week to go before I do a round-up of the Ice Cream Party, so start making ice cream! The idea of this is to help me test recipes for our upcoming cookbook. Anyone who wants to take part, see here. Thanks to everyone who has sent something in already!

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Glenteenasig Woods

Glenteenasig Woods Craving that rarest of commodities in West Kerry – trees, we went off for a walk yesterday in Glenteenesig Woods.

Lake at GlenteenasigLocated on the Tralee side of Castlegregory, and maintained by Coilte, there is a sign for it on the main road at Aughacasla. Turn, and after a 4km drive, you will reach the entrance.

There are three parking lots – one at the entrance, one at the first lake, and one at the second lake. I definitely suggest you park at one of the latter two, for the road up is a bit boring to walk.

Then it’s magic. What an amazing place for a stroll in Winter – misty and magical with trees, mountains, waterfalls, wildlife and three beautiful lakes.

You really feel as if you’re in another country, and all of this just within a whisper of the sea!

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Honeycomb Toffee

Honeycomb crunchy caramel Our best-selling ice cream in our shops is Honeycomb crunchy caramel (this ice cream flavour originates in New Zealand, where they call it “hokey pokey“), and last night I set about final testing on the recipe for the crunchy bits that make it so distinctive. Known also as “cinder toffee” and “sponge candy,” it is as actually quite easy to make.

By the way, if anyone knows who invented the candy, please pass it on!

There are so many ways to make this, and if you want to explore other recipes, you’ll find variations here, here, here and here.

Here’s what works for me, and it lasts fairly well without going soggy.

Honeycomb Caramel Candy

Ingredients:

  • Honey comb toffee candy400g sugar
  • 100ml water
  • 40ml golden syrup (about 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda

What to do:

  1. Combine the water, golden syrup and sugar and cook over medium heat without stirring until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Turn up the heat until the mixture becomes the deep golden colour of honeycomb, stirring if it cooks unevenly.
  3. Stir in the baking soda, until it is fully combined, but don’t over-mix! It will froth up and more than triple in volume.
  4. Immediately pour out onto a non-stick baking mat or greased baking sheet.
  5. Allow to cool fully.
  6. Break into pieces and enjoy!

Note: 1. For those scientifically minded, the sugar mixture should reach hard crack stage, which you can test by using a candy thermometer or spooning a few drops into a glass of cold water, where it should immediately harden and break easily when you take it out. That being said, I find that once the colour is right, the temperature is right!

2. Make sure there are no lumps in the baking soda, or it might not dissolve fully!

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Royal Ice Cream?

Heir to the Cone Ben and Jerrys Some of you might find this amusing… I have just received a press release from Ben & Jerry’s. Before I go any further, anti-royalist republicans should avert their eyes! Anyway, the press release reads in part:

To celebrate Prince Charles’ special day tomorrow, Ben and Jerry’s have rustled up a bespoke birthday treat… This limited edition ice cream is a sweet gift for the guy who has everything – and sure to make for one cool birthday when it lands on the Prince’s doorstep tomorrow.

“Heir To The Cone” is creamy banana ice cream, walnuts and chocolate chunks. Of course, only the finest ingredients were used in the ice cream fit for a king (to be)!

Given the prince’s predilections, you would have thought they would have made it organic, but we hope it sweetens the day…

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Georgina Campbell

Georgina Campbell's Ireland I’m delighted that both of our shops are included in the 2008 Georgina Campbell’s Ireland guide. You can read about their take on the Dingle Shop here…

Also, it seems our raspberry sorbet is good for the vocal chords! Roisí­n Ingle gave us a mention last Saturday in her column…

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Going Green

Green Coffee Beans Besides the cookbook, one of the projects we have for this winter is to try to make our company more green. Not only is it the right thing to do, but hopefully we can also save money on electricity, etc., as well as feeling good about ourselves! We are going to have a full environmental audit soon, and I’ll let you know how it goes…

In the mean time, I found treehugger.com, which should interest anyone with a slightly green tinge. They have such tidbits as How to Green your Coffee and Tea (compost the grinds, use Fairtrade, avoid tea bags, etc.) as well as How to Green your Electricity and even How to Green your Sex Life. I guess they haven’t written “How to Green Your Ice Cream” yet…

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