Christmas flavour ice cream

Christmas is undeniably on it's way now, it's time to put up decorations, buy presents, write cards and if you haven't already done it make the cake.

We were talking about Christmas at work last week and some gave me a idea for an ice cream recipe, she said that if you take some store bought vanilla ice cream, leave it to soften, then mix it with a jar of mincemeat it makes a really delicious Christmassy treat.I really liked the idea and I'm sure it's delicious with store bought ice cream but I wanted to make the whole thing myself, so that's what I did! As well as making the ice cream myself I also added a hefty glug of brandy for good measure, not only does it make it even more Christmassy it helps stop the ice cream from freezing rock solid too.

When I served this I was told it tastes like Christmas cake which is exactly what I was aiming for, mission accomplished!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

For the custard ice cream base:

• 3/4 pint whole milk
• vanilla extract
• Two large egg yolks
• 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
• 30-40g caster sugar

You will also need:

• Half a pint of double/heavy cream whipped to soft peaks
• 450g micemeat (recipe here or buy some)
• Brandy

Method:

• To make the custard pour the milk and vanilla into a saucepan and gently bring to a simmer, don't let it boil.
• Meanwhile beat the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour/cornstarch together in a large mixing bowl.
• Once the milk is up to heat pour a little into the egg yolk mixture and quickly beat it in.
• Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over a very gentle heat stirring constantly until it coats the back of a spoon. Don't leave leave it unattended for even a minute or it will burn, curdle or both!
• Once made cool the custard completely before continuing.
• Once the custard is cool fold it into the whipped cream, add the mincemeat and brandy to taste. Be careful not to add too much brandy or your ice cream will never freeze! 4-5 tablespoons should be enough.
• Churn the mix in an ice cream machine or put into a tub in the freezer and beat every hour until frozen.
  

Roast banana ice cream

I was walking around the market last week searching for one of my absolute favourite fruits, the greengage. Every year when autumn comes around I await their arrival, Scouring the shops and market looking for the first fruit of the season. They make what is possibly the very best of jams as well as excellent pies, tarts and crumbles. I like to eat them straight out of the paper bag.
Alas I had no luck this time, I couldn't find any. not one! So I bought a mountain of almost gone off bananas instead, as you do!
It was only once I was home that it dawned on me what a job it would be to use them all before they turned into banana sludge. So I got baking and two banana cakes later I had only used half of them!
Reaching banana overload I searched everywhere for a recipe that would use the last of my bananas and came across a recipe over at Butter, Sugar, Flour for roast banana ice cream. The original recipe is by David Lebovitz whose recipes are always great. The fact that I had all the ingredients to hand settled it.

To make Roast Banana Ice Cream you will need:

• 3 bananas (the riper the better, as in the picture is good)
  
• 75g brown sugar
• 1.5 cups (375ml) Single/light cream
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar (not pictured)
• 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
• half teaspoon vanilla extract
• quarter teaspoon salt

Method:

1. First heat your oven to 200C/400f/Gas 6
2. Chop the bananas and place in a baking dish mixed with the brown sugar
3. Roast the bananas for 40 minutes turning halfway.
4. Blend the still hot bananas with the syrup from the tray along with the caster sugar, lemon juice, salt, cream and vanilla. When blended chill thoroughly in the fridge.
5. Churn in an ice cream machine until frozen (it will probably need a couple of hours in the freezer to firm up)

Roasting the bananas gave this ice cream an incredible intense banana-caramel flavour and a wonderful toffee colour. I served mine with toffee sauce but it would pair very well with chocolate desserts or with fruit.If you don't have an ice cream machine you can still make this recipe, instead of churning it you can freeze the mixture for about two hours then beat well with a fork and return to the freezer, repeat about once an hour until frozen.