With the Met Office predicting warmer spells, many of us will be making the most of the sunshine with some alfresco dining or a barbecue get-together. When the weather hots up, nothing beats serving guests and family some refreshing ice cream, and there’s no better ice cream than homemade. In fact, online searches on Google for ‘how to make homemade ice cream’ have increased by 90% over the past week, while Instagram has over 365K #homemadeicecream posts for inspiration.
One for the adults, STAUB’s cassis-butter ice cream recipe below can be prepared in the morning for the day ahead, with STAUB’s 24cm Round Cocotte ideal for freezing four generous portions. Thanks to its cast iron construction and temperature retaining properties, the ice cream is kept colder for longer even when out of the freezer on a warm summer’s day, so guests can help themselves with no need to rush for fear of it melting.
Those who appreciate a humble bowl of vanilla ice cream will enjoy STAUB’s vanilla ice cream with warm chocolate sauce recipe. It’s a jazzed-up version of an otherwise classic dish with its hint of orange flavour – and if for adults only – whiskey. STAUB’s Set of Four 9cm Ramekins are the perfect size for serving individual portions, with the high-quality ceramic material and enamelled surface ensuring they are easy to clean, while also being scratch resistant.
Cassis-butter ice cream
Ingredients
400g cassis fruit coulis (blackcurrant fruit purée)
60g sugar
1 vanilla pod
50ml cassis (blackcurrant liqueur)
220g cold butter
5 egg yolks
Ice cream cones (optional)
Method
1. Prepare the ice cream by mixing the cassis liqueur and the cassis fruit coulis with the pulp of the vanilla pod and heating to around 80°C (use a thermometer).
2. Cut the butter into cubes and mix in with a hand blender. Beat the egg yolks in a bain-marie until fluffy and fold into the cassis and butter mixture.
3. Allow the creamy mixture to cool slightly, but do not allow to become cold. Beat the mixture again and freeze in an ice cream machine for around 45 minutes until firm.
4. Remove the ice cream, add to a cocotte and freeze in the freezer for at least three hours before serving. For the full holiday experience, serve up a scoop or two of this deliciously creamy ice cream in a crispy waffle cone.
Vanilla ice cream with warm chocolate sauce
Ingredients
250ml milk
500ml cream
100g sugar
2 vanilla pods
6 egg yolks
50g brown sugar
Juice of ½ orange
100g dark chocolate
2 tbsp whiskey (optional)
Method
1. Add the milk with 350ml of the cream and 50g of the sugar to a saucepan. Slit the vanilla pods lengthways, scrape out the pulp and add together with the pods to the milk-cream mixture. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and allow to steep for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add the egg yolks with the remaining 50g of sugar to a bowl and whisk till creamy. Pour the vanilla-milk-cream through a sieve onto the egg yolks, stirring well, then pour back into the saucepan and whisk at medium heat while stirring continuously until it forms a thick cream.
3. Then let the vanilla cream cool and freeze in an ice cream maker for about 30 minutes until creamy and firm.
4. Meanwhile, boil the remaining 150ml of cream with the brown sugar and orange juice. Remove from the heat, chop the chocolate into small pieces and add gradually so that it melts. Flavour the sauce to taste with a little whiskey, if serving to adults only.
5. To serve, portion the ice cream into bowls and pour the warm sauce over the top.
For those who don’t have access to an ice cream machine at home, ZWILLING’s Enfinigy Power Blender (RRP £299) makes light work of preparing homemade ice cream.
