I feel like Icarus who flew too close to the sun and crashed to earth. Only my wings aren't made of wax. They're made of ice cream.
After having my Accidental Hedonist "Three Speeds of Ice Cream" post picked up by Reuters UK Lifestyles News and getting a link from the amazing Paris-based pastry chef, David Lebovitz, I produced the liquid you see in the above photo. It's supposed to be cinnamon ice cream.
It's been frozen and churned not once, but twice, but before I can say, "Who wants ice cream?" it dissolves into this.
And it doesn't taste all that good either.
I steeped cinnamon sticks in the cream, added ground cinnamon and stirred in a handful of crushed candied hearts just for good measure. It tastes oily and won't stay together. Note to self: Table cream (18%) is not a suitable substitute for whole cream (35%) and homo milk.
Undaunted by this temporary setback, I attempted a coffee ice cream, using the recipe from a trusted cookbook. It was so over-powering even Andrew, who thinks Starbucks' French Roast is for wimps, found it too strong. So I added chopped dark chocolate, Frangelico and hazelnut brittle to produce this:
You know it's bad when dessert looks this good and no one asks for seconds. Oh well, at least it held its shape long enough for me to snap a picture.
I'm about to make a brown sugar vanilla frozen yogurt. Let's hope three times the charm.
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5 comments:
So ... how much comes from each batch? And, what are you doing with it all? Inquiring minds want to know.
Roxanne, most batches make about a quart.
Where does it go? I have a lot of friends and family who are willing to be guinea pigs so the experiments get eaten quickly.
I'm sorry to say I dumped the cinnamon disaster down the drain. It was unsalvageable. We discussed spooning it over brownies, but why ruin good brownies? It's the only total write off I've made to date.
The coffee ice cream got served as dessert with the souvlaki dinner (tomorrow's post, so stay tuned!) It's almost gone, but if it had been really good, there would have been none left.
Two comments. First, check out Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. It's a readable, professional reference book to all things "Food Science". Secondly, you may want to take Doug Goff's Ice Cream course at the University of Guelph.
I have to say, I've made ice cream many times, and sometimes, for reasons that are beyond my little pea-brain, it just doesn't freeze properly. Happily, the successes far outnumber the failures, but it still makes me batty.
At least you got a funny blog post out of it, and by the law of averages (?) it shouldn't happen again until next summer.
Cheryl, this makes me feel better. I'm glad to hear that ice cream can be temperamental.
While I don't like wasting food, my disasters are often more instructive than my successes. They force me to learn. Anita Stewart's comment (and yes, this is THE Anita Stewart, aka The Patron Saint of Canadian Cuisine) is bang on. I'd no idea there was an ice cream course offered right in town!
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