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| Drizzly Goodness |
I should clarify right off the bat; the Ice Cream itself wasn't a disaster, but the process of making it got messy. People always ask if I edit out any errors or flops before posting on the blog, but that wouldn't be honest now would it? But I'll get to the disaster later.
Once again, my recipe of choice came from Canadian Living Magazine. Until I got the magazine, the thought of making ice cream without any sort of ice cream maker had never crossed my mind. But the process didn't seem too difficult and I had the food processor required for the blending part so I figured I would give it a try. The overall time commitment isn't too bad, however with all of the cooling and freezing steps, its ends up putting some restrictions on your day. I think that's why people buy ice cream makers!
Ingredients:
2 Cups Milk
4 tsp Corn Starch
1 1/2 Cups Whipping Cream
2 oz Dark Chocolate
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Vanilla
The first portion involves melting the chocolate in a half cup of the cream. Use a little bit of the milk to mix together the corn starch.
The rest of the milk, cream, cocoa, sugar and vanilla get mixed together in a pot and then brought to a boil for 4 minutes on medium heat. This is where the old adage "A watched pot never boils" comes into play. I had this sucker on the stove for a while and nothing... I turned my back for a few seconds to grab a drink and the pot erupted like a school child's paper-mache volcano experiment. Boiling cream is a messy business. It went everywhere on my stove top including on the element under the pot which instantly burned the creamy, sugary liquid into a black crusty pile of goo.
The disaster relief team jumped into play, Kevin Costner offered to send his extraction machine and the process was back online in a matter of minutes. I had used a new burner since the full cleanup could not be completed until the first burner was cool.
I was mildly concerned about the proportions being off now that I burned away a portion of my cream mixture, but there was no reason to turn back now. After the boiling, the chocolate mixture gets added and then refrigerated for an hour and a half or so to cool before being put in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours. Firm, but not solid says the recipe.
Mine was slightly less than firm, but I proceeded anyway since time was an issue. The food processor turned my mostly thickened cream into a smooth milkshake consistency. This is where you were supposed to swirl in the salty Caramel, but this would have just mixed in. So it went back into the fridge for another 4 hours to harden.
After about an hour I finally "swirled" in my caramel. This was still probably too early, but I was committed to my schedule and took the plunge anyway.
Salty Caramel Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 Sugar
1/4 Water
1/2 Whipping Cream
1/2 tsp Salt
This should be made once you put the cream mixture in the freezer the first time so that there is time for it to cool before mixing it in with the ice cream.
Once the ice cream was frozen, which took way more than the recommended 4 hours, I had a scoop and drizzled it with the remainder of my caramel sauce. Every bit as delicious as it looks. Perhaps even chocolatier than the recipe intended due to my reduced cream allotment.
For the effort involved, I probably won't make it again unless by request, but it was a worthwhile experience to know it can be done.
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