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!
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!
What’s your favourite ice cream flavour/combo?
Have you got an ice cream machine?!