Welcome to another Ice Cream Sunday! How has your week been? Are you getting excited about Christmas; or are you getting stressed about all there is to do between now and Christmas? I seem to spend most of my time teetering on the brink between the two... curled up with a mug of Mulled Cider in front of the fire and our twinkly Christmas lights (exciting), mulling over the ever growing to do list we have to get through (daunting)! We'll get there though- I have a list, and when I have a list I'm a girl on a mission. It also helps that this year we're making all of our Christmas presents; so instead of braving the traumatising Christmas crowds I have an excuse to shut myself in my wee kitchen for hours on end! I should probably say now, I won't be blogging about these gifts until next year (I know of at least two recipients who read this... hi, Momma! Hi, big sis!) but I will at least post pictures of them once they have been opened!
So back to Ice Cream Sunday. It occurred to me this week that with all this ice cream chat you would be forgiven for thinking that Ice Cream is my favourite dessert! You would be forgiven... but you would be wrong. You wouldn't be far wrong, but you would be wrong nevertheless. My all time favourite dessert is actually raspberry crumble...... but that doesn't make much sense in this blog post so I'll write about that another time. My second all time favourite dessert is Creme Brulee, with ice cream a close third. It only recently occurred to me that the reason for their standing in my preferences might be something to do with the fact that they have a very similar base flavour! Vanilla makes me happy. Very happy. You can have your chocolate, I'll take vanilla anytime. Don't get me wrong, I love all the variations on offer for both desserts- I'm having great fun trying out new flavours for Ice Cream Sunday, and only recently I tried a particularly fine Ginger Creme Brulee which pleased me greatly, but at the end of the day it all comes back to classic vanilla.
Can you guess where I'm leading with this? In a flurry of excitement at a really unhelpful moment (a meeting with my Boss) the thought came to me... why choose between ice cream or creme brulee?! The thing I love about Creme Brulee is the crisp, caramely topping and the moment when you break through to the deliciousness below. The thing I love about ice cream is.... well, everything! I hope my Boss will forgive me for the fact that smack bang in the middle of my notes of our meeting it says "Ice Creme Brulee!!!!!" with one massive smiley face next to it. I'm sure he will, he's nice like that... and if not, I'll bake something chocolatey for him. He's a chocolate person (you need to know these things about bosses. It helps).
Makes 6
Ingredients
300ml double cream
175g condensed milk
1 tblspn vanilla extract
3 tblspns demerara sugar
You will need
Freezer ramekins/ small bowls
1) Whisk together the double cream, condensed milk and vanilla ice cream until soft peaks form.
2) Get your ramekins and fill them within about a centimetre from the top. Tap the dishes lightly on the work surface to encourage the cream mixture to flatten out (if they're stubborn you may want to use the back of a spoon).
3) Cover the ramekins with foil, trying not to let it dip down and disturb the surface of the ice cream. Place the ramekins in the freezer for at least four hours.
4) Just before serving, remove the ramekins from the freezer and let sit for 10 minutes so the chill is gone from them (please please do this bit... I don't want to be responsible for the potential mess in the next step if you don't!). Sprinkle the top of each of the dishes with a teaspoon of the sugar, ensuring they are evenly covered. If you have a cook's blowtorch (Woohoo! How much fun are they?!) then use that to melt the sugar until it turns that gorgeous caramel colour and just starts to bubble. If you don't have one don't worry, simple preheat your grill/ broiler and put the dishes as high as possible underneath.
Dive in with a spoon and savour the perfect crack followed by unctuous vanilla ice cream. Then bring me some because we've run out (please)!
Another one of your recipes I love. I saw your ice cream brulee on Mandy's Recipe Box. Hope you will share again on Thursdays Treasures this week.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Christie, you're so sweet! I loooved the look of your Spoon Herb rolls earlier this week! Will pop by on Thursday :)
Deletewow. i have never seen anything like this and have never wanted anything more! gorgeous photos, too. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tijuana! I just visited your blog for the first time... I love it! It's fab!
DeleteWOW!! I never knew you could do that with ice cream. How COOL!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha I didn't either until my desire for my two favourite desserts in one go got the better of me!
DeleteStopping by from Wicked Good Wednesday. What a great recipe! I just love creme brulee, so I definitely will be trying this! Have a Merry Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Teri! Let me know if you do try it, and how you get on? Merry Christmas to you too :)
DeleteThis is the coolest thing I've ever seen! And, you've covered two of my favorite desserts in one. :-) Thanks for sharing at What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteWhat a GREAT idea!! And I LOVE that you were inspired to make this in a meeting with your boss! That's awesome!! Thanks for sharing at Wicked Good Wednesdays, Rhona!
ReplyDeleteHow much ice cream do you use in the recipe. It says to mix in the ice cream but there is none listed in the ingredients...??
ReplyDelete