Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Malted Milk Ice Cream (No Churn) with a Quick Mars Bar Sauce

This is really Part Two of the ice cream challenge! Before the weekend, I began by making a malted milk custard base for my very first ever home made ice-cream for Kavey’s Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream challenge! I’m only just in time as today is the last day to post entries, but I think I can do it! The good news is – it worked!

Malted Milk Ice Cream with Mars Bar Sauce

A quick re-cap – I learnt that to make a custard-based ice-cream, you first have to make a very simple custard, with egg yolks sugar, double cream and milk. For added flavour, I used vanilla sugar and 50g Horlicks, or Malted Milk Powder.

I followed the instructions for Malt Chocolate Ice Cream on BBC Good food here – I didn’t use the melted chocolate or Irish cream liqueur. After taking a cupful out to go with some seasonal rhubarb, I put the rest into a metal loaf tin and into the freezer.

Since I don’t have an ice-cream maker, I used a no-curn method, using a spatula to stir every 30 minutes. It actually came together really well – no great disasters!

Then I read Laura’s post on Ginger C’Rum Ice Cream and she suggested mixing it with a fork after the first 30 minutes and then every 30 minutes for at least the next 3 hours.

I also read that you can, in fact, use an electric whisk to mix the ice cream once the ice crystals start to form, so I will try that next time.

David Lebovitz has also written a great post on How to Make Ice Cream Without a Machine and incidentally, James left a comment to say he had tried a Malted Milk Ice Cream from David’s book The Perfect Scoop – so if you have that you could just follow David’s recipe and instructions in full – it’s on my wish list!

Quick Mars Bar Sauce

All that was left was to make a suitably quick and easy sauce, so out came two Mars Bars and some double cream. To make the sauce, you literally chop the Mars Bars (I had about 170g worth), put them into a bowl over a pan of simmering water (bain marie method) and stir until it is melted adding 1-2 tablespoons of double cream and then 1-2 tablespoons whole milk if it is too thick. There will be a few lumps as the caramel melts, but you can use a whisk to smooth it out. You can make Mars Bar sauce in the microwave too, just keep stirring every 30 second until it is all combined and melted.

My little boy was fighting a fever yesterday and so was home from school. Guess what? He managed some ice cream!

Why You Should Make Your Own Ice Cream

Shockingly, I looked at the ice cream in the freezer that I would have given my son, had I not made my own. It is a well-known UK brand, bought at the supermarket called “Classic Cornish Vanilla Ice Cream” – note, the box says “Simply 100% Dairy Ice Cream With Real Cornish Cream.”

Here are the ingredients on the shop bought ice cream – “Reconstituted Skimmed Milk, Water, Sugar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Cornish Cream, Whey Solids, Glucose Syrup, Butteroil, Emulsifier (mono and di-glycerides of fatty acids), vanilla extract, stabilisers (locus bean gum, guar gum, carrageenan), colour (mixed carotenes), flavouring.”

There are at least 6 ingredients in this shop bought ice cream that I don’t recognise.

Moral of the story – check the ingredients OR MAKE YOUR OWN!!!!!

Thanks Kavey for hosting this challenge – I have not only learnt a new skill, I have gained a new a LOT of knowledge in the process!

IceCreamChallenge

What’s your favourite ice cream flavour/combo?

Have you got an ice cream machine?!

 

 

About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. This is lovely. The texture of the no churn ice cream looks great. I always worry when I make no churn ice cream about it turning out a bit too solid, but this looks lovely and creamy. Mars bar sauce a great addition! Nazima z

    Reply

    • Thank Nazima! Hope all is well with you and your little bundle. No time to make ice cream for you I bet!

      Reply

  8. I’m thinking of taking a “sickie” so that I can come round to your place for some ice cream with Mars bar sauce…
    When I was a boy I used to have Mars bar sandwiches. Put the bar into the fridge for a while until it is really firm, and then use a knife to slice it really thinly – then into a couple of slices of buttered bread (toasted if desired…)

    Reply

  9. I knew it would work Ren! Looks stunning and who could resist a mars bar topping too . I thought about using an electric whisk but think if you have a chunky ice cream mix then the electric whisk would remove all the chunks & texture so may only use it for my smooth textured ice creams. I can’t wait for summer and the arrival of soft fruits :-)x

    Reply

    • Thanks for your tips Laura. I also read you can make a quick, no-churn ice cream with a can of condensed milk, so that might be worth a try soon. Toying with sticking an ice-cream maker on my birthday list now!

      Reply

  10. I love your ice cream Ren and you are taking me back with that sauce. My mum used to make that when I was wee.

    As for ice cream. I like a scoop of dark chocolate alongside a scoop or tart sorbet. Yum!

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    • Isn’t it just the quickest, easiest sauce? Already caramelly, silky, gooey, all of those good things! I’ll try your dark choc-sorbet combo soon!

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  12. I love ice cream but rarely make it since I don’t have a machine and feel that it doesn’t always come out well. Yours, on the other hand, is perfect! I must try your recipe… and that decadent sauce is a WOWEE!!! Fabulous, Ren!

    Reply

  16. How delicious does that look!
    Am glad that a few people without ice cream machines have gone ahead and entered, as it proves how simple it is to make your own!
    Thanks Ren!

    Reply

  17. This looks so yum! I need 2 scoops after lunch! Please send me in a box. The weather is cold, it started snowing again so it won’t melt! 🙂

    Reply

    • I agree, my sister and I used to make Mars Bar sauce as kids all the time, so I guess it is a nostalgia recipe! Thanks for stopping by x

      Reply

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