BSFIC » Kavey Eats

My ‘bloggers scream for ice cream’ monthly challenge event invites bloggers to create ice cream recipes to a theme. All entries are featured in a monthly round up post and themes are broad enough to allow plenty of room for creativity, to beginners and old hands alike. You don’t even need an ice cream machine to enter, so what are you waiting for?!

June & July BSFIC: Herbs

07 Jun 2013 2 Responses »

Jun 072013

Last year we did Spices, now it’s time for herbs!

Defined (culinarily) as the leafy green parts of a plant, either fresh or dried, herbs are usually used in small amounts to provide flavour or seasoning. They are distinct from spices, which are most commonly a product of the seeds, berries, roots, bark, flowers and even resins of various plants and also used to flavour and season.

The list of herbs is long indeed and the uses (both culinary and medical) are almost endless. It’s not uncommon for me to come across a reference to yet another herb I’ve never heard of before, let alone seen or tasted.

Za’atar and farmer Abu Kassem, Southern Lebanon

Whether you make something sweet or savoury, whether you create an ice cream, sorbet, granita, slushy, lolly or other frozen treat… make sure it’s all about the herbs!

You can choose a familiar herb such as coriander or mint, parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme, bay, basil, oregano, tarragon, dill or chives…

…or something more unusual such as anise, costmary (mace leaf), lemon balm or verbena, perilla, angelica, sorrel, calamus (sweet sedge), purslane, pennyroyal, sweet cicely, myrtle, lovage, feverfew, stevia, marshmallow or lemongrass…

…or even something completely new to you such as brooklime, greenthread, papalo, tulsi, peppergrass cress, rosella, sculpit, burnet, speedwell or sarsaparilla.

As always, I’ll seek out some inspiration and share it on my Pinterest board.

How To Take Part In BSFIC

Create and blog a recipe that fits the challenge by the 28th of July.
In your post, mention and link to this Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream post.
In your post, include the Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream badge.
Email me (by the 4th of June) with your first name or nickname (as you prefer), the link to your post and an image for my roundup, sized to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

You are welcome to submit your post to as many blogger challenge events as you like.

If the recipe is not your own, please be aware of copyright issues. Email me if you would like to discuss this.

Entry into the challenge confers permission to use your image in my round up blog post of all entries, as well as related entries on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media.

If you like, tweet about your post using the hashtag #BSFIC. I’ll retweet any I see. You are also welcome to share the links to your posts on the Kavey Eats Facebook page.

This isn’t a proper competition, but I will send out a gift of some herb seeds to the author of my favourite entry (as long as the border agency regulations of your country allow it).

P.S. Karen at Lavender & Lovage runs a monthly Cooking with Herbs challenge; your herby #BSFIC would be an excellent fit for hers too!

Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream: May Roundup & Winner

05 Jun 2013 7 Responses »

Jun 052013

I knew when I set May’s #BSFIC theme as Cones & Cups, Biscuits & Baskets, Wafers & Waffles (or indeed, any other edible containers for ice cream) that it was quite a challenge. Lots of choice on what to make, lots of scope for creativity but also lots of potential for things to go wrong.

So I was super impressed with all the entries, below, which I’m sure you’ll agree showcase a fabulous range of ideas!

I started things off early with my own post for which I recreated the BSFIC cartoon badge I drew back when I set the first challenge. I used my new review Lakeland Waffle Cone Maker (with lots of help from Pete) to make the cones, made a simple but really delicious basil ice cream to serve in them and melted some dark chocolate to create the drizzle on top.

Showing great ingenuity in the face of no waffle maker, Gary from Big Spud made Waffles on a George Foreman Grill. He paired them with some Ben & Jerry’s Winter Berry Brownie for a fruity chocolatey hit. Great proof that you don’t need to fill your kitchen with gadgets to be creative in the kitchen, a lesson I’ve not yet truly accepted!

Julia from Food Blog London initially thought about making stroopwafels (keep your eyes open for an upcoming post of mine, Julia!) but decided in the end to combine the new challenge with the recent Baked Alaska theme. Her Waffle, Blueberry Sorbet and Meringue dessert may not have looked as pretty as she hoped, but it did look pretty darn tasty! I like the idea of using a waffle instead of a cake as the base for a baked alaska, and the sorbet sounds so refreshing.

Now if you want to talk about thinking outside the box, blue sky thinking, pushing the envelope or, as us normal people call it, originality then look no further than Hannah of Corner Cottage Bakery’s Strawberry Jelly Ice Cream Bowls. And of course, she didn’t use the ready made cubes of jelly like yours truly would have – she made beautiful delicately pink jelly from real strawberries and served it with vanilla ice cream. A totally grown up twist on a childhood classic.

Julia from Something Missing had an ice cream crisis recently. She ran out of ice cream! Now that just won’t do… so a root around her store cupboard revealed just the ingredients to make a tasty Frappuccino ice cream using Ferrero Rocher, coffee and a condensed milk base. For her edible Hazelnut Chocolate Bowls, she used Nutella and ground hazelnuts for a gluten-free bake. I love the pretty shape of the bowls!

Asbestos fingered Jennie from All The Things I Eat made cute little cones, using a David Lebovitz recipe. These she then turned into nifty Cornettos by filling with vanilla condensed milk ice cream and coating with chocolate and chopped toasted hazelnuts. It’s hard not to sing like a Gondolier at these beauties!

After throwing down the gauntlet to me to try making ice cream cones out of crushed popcorn, Gill from Pigling Bland decided to make Brandy Snap Baskets with Banana Ice Cream. She added a little desiccated coconut to a Mary Berry recipe for the brandy baskets and combined frozen bananas and condensed milk to make a base ice cream to which she added vanilla and chocolate.

Foodycat’s Alicia shocked herself silly when she realised, after much Googling, that her idea was indeed so original she couldn’t find any evidence of anyone having done the same before. Having often thought of a new idea myself, only to discover that many others have had just the same inspiration before me, I know well how rare this actually is! Keen to represent the flavours of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Alicia made Raspberry Choux Profiteroles filled with Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I’ve never encountered flavoured choux pastry before and love the idea!

With such wide-ranging and creative entries, I really struggled to pick a winner, and turned to Pete to help me make the final pick. Between us, we selected Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery to win the prize – a Waffle Cone Maker, kindly provided by Lakeland. We loved her clever take on ice cream cups; and such a pretty and summery post too.

Hannah, drop me a line with your postal address and I’ll send it on to Lakeland straight away! Congratulations!

I’m a bit late posting the new Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream challenge, so I’ll make it a two month theme again. I’ll announce that one soon!

When Cartoons Turn Real: Basil Ice Cream, Waffle Cone & Chocolate Drizzle

07 May 2013 13 Responses »

May 072013

Back when I launched #BSFIC I drew the cartoon for the challenge badge, featuring a scoop of green ice cream, drizzled with chocolate and served in a waffle cone. I’ve never been a good artist so I was rather pleased with my efforts! Since then, it’s presided over more than 14 challenges.

When I set May’s challenge as edible Cones & Cups, Biscuits & Baskets, Wafers & Waffles – in short, edible ice cream containers – I knew I wanted to try and recreate my little sketch in real life.

For the green ice cream, I considered matcha, avocado, pistachio, and several herbs including mint and rosemary but in the end, settled on basil (recipe below), an ice cream flavour I first encountered on holiday in Islay in 2006.

Waffle Cones

Lakeland stepped in to send me a review sample of their Waffle Cone Maker (and are kindly giving away a second one as a prize for the best entry to this month’s challenge).

Pete did all the work creating the cones, which was fairly straightforward but slower than we’d anticipated. He made the batter according to the recipe in the instructions booklet and got to work. After preheating the waffle cone maker, he poured some of the thick batter onto the lower plate, closed the lid and waited for the waffle to cook. We had the temperature set to its highest, but it was still slow. Each waffle took about 5 minutes to cook through – twice the 2-3 minutes instructed. As soon as they had a little colour, Pete used the plastic mould provided to form the pliable waffles into cones before they cooled and hardened. When we tried to give them a little more colour, they hardened too fast for Pete to wrap them around the cone, which is a shame as I thought the darker ones prettiest. A couple weren’t cooked enough and never hardened, but we found we could put them back into the waffle cone maker and cook them a little more. A hint of brown was the best compromise between appearance and being able to form cones easily.

Basil Ice Cream

Regular readers of Kavey Eats will know that I am not one to insist that everything always has to be from scratch. Instead of making custard, and steeping the basil in it as it cooked, I used a good quality fresh ready made custard and added fresh basil, blitzed with a little sugar to help it grind more easily.

The flavour of the basil came through clearly and the touch of extra sweetness from the sugar was welcome too – when making custard for ice cream, I make it a touch sweeter than for serving warm, as flavours are always muted a touch by freezing.

This is a lovely, summery ice cream and a nice alternative to fresh mint.

Ingredients
500 grams good quality fresh custard
20 grams fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons sugar

Note: This ice cream freezes very solid. Add a tablespoon or two of vodka to make it softer after freezing.

Method

Process the basil leaves and sugar together to form a paste. I used my Cuisinart Spice and & Nut Grinder for this.
In a blender, combine the custard and the basil paste and blitz until smooth.
Pour into your ice cream maker, and churn according to the instructions.

Basil IceCream-0368

Assembly + Chocolate Drizzle

Finally, it was time to assemble my homage to the #BSFIC drawing.

Pete came to my rescue in carving out a nice round scoop from the very solid ice cream. (Next time I’ll add a tablespoon of vodka to the mix before churning, to give it a little softness once frozen). We chose the darkest waffle cone, as it was the best match to my cartoon cone. I melted a few squares of Divine 85% dark chocolate in the microwave and drizzled it over the ice cream.

My only regret is not posing it in front of Pete’s maroon T-shirt instead of our white card backdrop for an even better match!

If you’re thinking about taking part in Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream, the theme this month is edible Cones & Cups, Biscuits & Baskets, Wafers & Waffles and all bloggers from anywhere in the world are welcome to enter!

Don’t forget there’s a prize for best entry this month – Lakeland have given me a second waffle cone maker to give away. (T&C on the challenge page, above).

May BSFIC: Cones & Cups, Biscuits & Baskets, Wafers & Waffles + Fantastic Competition

01 May 2013 8 Responses »

May 012013

The May Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream challenge is all about edible ice cream containers. So much so that you can opt to fill your home-made cones, cups, biscuits, baskets, wafers and waffles with your favourite ready-made ice cream (or sorbet) if you don’t have the time or energy to make your own, this month. Of course, home-made is always welcome in BSFIC!

Foodycat’s green tea ice cream in a sesame snap bowl, for October’s Japan themed BSFIC

As soon as this theme formed in my mind, I knew I wanted to recreate the waffle ice cream cone (with scoop of green ice cream and drizzle of chocolate sauce) that I drew for the BSFIC icon, below. That’s the point at which I realised I’d need a waffle cone maker and turned to my friends at Lakeland.

They sell this Montiss Waffle Cone Maker (£29.99), which provides a quick and simple way of making slim textured waffles. Just pre-heat the appliance, pour batter onto the cooking plate, close the lid, and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. You can adjust the temperature to suit your recipe. To turn waffles into waffle cones, lift the hot pliable waffles from the press and quickly wrap them around the cone-shaped form provided. The casing is made of durable bakelite and the cooking plates are non-stick, so should be easy to wipe clean with a damp cloth.

To my delight, Lakeland not only offered me a review sample of the waffle cone maker, so I can make the ice cream cones of my dreams (and then give homemade stroopwafel a try), but very kindly agreed to give a second one away to the winning entry from this month’s challenge!

How To Take Part In BSFIC

Create and blog a recipe that fits the challenge by the 4th of June.
In your post, mention and link to this Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream post.
In your post, include the Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream badge.
Email me (by the 4th of June) with your first name or nickname (as you prefer), the link to your post and an image for my roundup, sized to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

You are welcome to submit your post to as many blogger challenge events as you like.

If the recipe is not your own, please be aware of copyright issues. Email me if you would like to discuss this.

If you like, tweet about your post using the hashtag #BSFIC. I’ll retweet any I see. You are also welcome to share the links to your posts on the Kavey Eats Facebook page.

I’ll post a round up of all the entries at the end of the month.

About The Competition

Valid entry into the May 2013 BSFIC (as above) will be considered entry into the competition for the Lakeland Waffle Cone Maker. (If for any reason, you don’t wish to enter, please advise in your email).
The deadline for entries is midnight GMT 4th June 2013.
We will select a favourite entry from those submitted. We will be looking for an entry that meets the challenge theme well and a post that is engagingly written, attractively presented and provides easy-to-follow instructions.
The prize is a Lakeland Waffle Cone Maker and includes delivery to a UK mainland address only. (Those outside the UK are welcome to enter and nominate a friend’s UK address for delivery).
The prize cannot be redeemed for cash.
The prize is offered directly by Lakeland.
The winner will be notified by email. If no response is received within 14 days of notification, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be picked and contacted.

Edit: 23 May 2013 – please note that the deadline for this month’s BSFIC has been extended from the 28th May to the 4th June.

For more ideas, check out my Pinterest Ice Cream Inspiration board and my Pinterest BSFIC Entries board.

With thanks to Lakeland for providing sample and prize waffle cone makers.

Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream: April Roundup

29 Apr 2013 7 Responses »

Apr 292013

Baked Alaskas are a little intimidating. This challenge garnered quite a few comments from those who loved the idea but were too nervous to give it a try. The response, from those of us who gave it a go, is that Baked Alaskas are not as complicated as they seem nor as prone to failure as we worried they’d be. The effort is worth the reward of these magical hot cold desserts.

Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery was the bravest of all of us, I think. Testing her theory of which foods make sense on sticks (in the current cake pops, pie pops style) she created crazy fabulous Coconut Baked Alaska Pops. She added coconut to a Genoise sponge recipe, made a creamy coconut ice cream, sandwiched the two together around a lollipop stick and dipped to coat in a thick layer of Italian meringue. A blow torch finished things off. I’m not usually a pops kind of person, but I think this idea is wonderful!

Suffering from a nasty cold that wouldn’t shift and several weeks of poor sleep, I came up with a Cheat’s Chocolate Cherry Baked Alaska as a way of joining in without making cake or ice cream. I combined shop-bought dense chocolate loaf cake, Morello cherry jam and Belgian chocolate ice cream, smothered them in a regular meringue mix and baked in the oven for a few minutes. To my delight, the meringue browned up and the ice cream stayed frozen inside. Result!

Back to proper home-made efforts with Julia from Food Blog London’s vibrant Raspberry Almond Baked Alaska. For her base, she made a raspberry almond cake, which she topped with home made raspberry sorbet. Once covered with meringue, she baked in a hot oven. Julia mentioned that her sorbet leaked in a few places, and soaked into the sponge a little and we are wondering whether that was down to sorbet melting faster than ice cream, lack of a layer of jam between cake and sorbet or the need for a thicker insulating layer of meringue? Feedback welcome!

Claire from Under The Blue Gum Tree already knows that her honey and ginger combination is a winner, and used it again to great effect in her Honey and Ginger Baked Alaska. She made her delicious sticky gingerbread for the base, topped it with home-made honeycomb ice cream and put on the insulating meringue before a quick stint in a hot oven. Doesn’t it look beautiful?

I think it’s safe to say that most of us who took part this month had never before made a Baked Alaska. But Jennie from Things I Eat had never even eaten one, so her Lemony Baked Alaska was a double first! She used madeira cake for her base, made a condensed milk and yoghurt ice cream with lemon curd swirled through, added more lemon curd between cake and ice cream and topped with Italian meringue. I think it’s safe to say she really enjoyed the sensation of a dessert that was both hot and cold at the same time!

Huge thanks to all who participated. I hope you enjoyed your Baked Alaskas!

Look out for May’s #BSFIC challenge, coming soon and with a fantastic prize to be won for the best entry.

Cheat’s Chocolate Cherry Baked Alaska

16 Apr 2013 2 Responses »

Apr 162013

When I set April’s Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream challenge as Baked Alaska I had plans to make everything from scratch. I settled on the idea of individual chocolate cherry versions with a chocolate sponge base, cherry jam and a chocolate cherry ice cream.

Several weeks of poor sleeping and a rather nasty cold left me feeling sapped of energy but determined to find a way of making my Baked Alaska meets Black Forest Gateau.

I decided on a cheat’s version using shop bought cake, jam and ice cream. Don’t judge me; it worked, it was tasty and we enjoyed it!

For the cake base, I used a chocolate loaf cake. The jam layer was a morello cherry preserve. I couldn’t find any chocolate cherry ice cream so went with a Belgian chocolate ice cream instead.

Cheat’s Chocolate Cherry Baked Alaska

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 chocolate loaf cake
4-6 tablespoons cherry jam
1 tub chocolate ice cream (or chocolate cherry if you can find it)
3 medium egg whites
200 grams sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

Method

Preheat oven to 220 C.
Carefully slice the loaf cake horizontally.

Use a round cookie cutter to cut 4 circles from the slices. (I had an accident with one slice but did get two perfectly usable circles from the top slice).
Spread about a tablespoon of cherry jam evenly over each circle of cake. You’ll need a nice thick layer to be able to detect the flavour, so add a little more if you like.

Make the meringue: Beat the egg whites to soft peak stage. Add the sugar and cream of tartar and whip to stiff peaks.
Use the heat from your hands to warm the surface of the ice cream tub, and slip the ice cream out of the tub and onto a chopping board.
Cut the ice cream into four thick slices and use the cookie cutter to cut to size. Work quickly as the ice cream will start to melt fast. I threw the ice cream remnants back into the tub and back into the freezer to eat later.
Place a slab of ice cream over each circle of cake and jam.

If the ice cream is melting, pop the cake, jam and ice cream stacks into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up.
Place the stacks onto a baking tray or in an ovenproof dish.
Use a spoon and spatula to coat each stack with a thick layer of meringue. Make sure there are no gaps and that the meringue extends al the way down the sides. (I struggled a little as my meringue wasn’t quite stiff enough).

Use your finger to create little spikes over the surface of the meringue.
Bake in the hot oven for about 4 minutes, until the surface of the meringue is brown.
Remove and serve immediately.

To my surprise, the ice cream was still properly frozen, though we made such a mess of cutting one in half that it doesn’t look great in the picture. The cherry jam had a nice tartness which was welcome against the sweet cake, ice cream and meringue.

Please note that as the egg white is not cooked through, this recipe is not be suitable for anyone who shouldn’t eat raw eggs.

This is my entry for my April BSFIC Baked Alaska challenge.

If you’ve ever fancied making a Baked Alaska, go on and have a go!

April BSFIC: Baked Alaska

01 Apr 2013 16 Responses »

Apr 012013

As a child of the seventies, I can’t help but love a bit of retro… and Baked Alaska is definitely one retro classic that deserves a more central place in the modern repertoire.

Of course, Baked Alaska (also known as glace au four and Norwegian omelette) wasn’t invented in the 1970s! Wiki tells me the Baked Alaska epithet was bestowed back in 1876 but the basic recipe – ice cream, usually on a sponge cake base, coated in a thick layer of meringue and briefly baked in a hot oven – has been around for a lot longer than that. There are many claims about its origin but one that appeals to me is the mental image of American physicist Benjamin Thompson aka Count Rumford accidentally creating it during an experiment to test the heat resistance of beaten egg whites back in 1804!

My mental association between dish and decade no doubt arises from its popularity in British homes and restaurants in the decade of my birth.

Another part of the appeal may be the apparent craziness of the idea of baking a dish in which a main component is ice cream and it not resulting in a puddle of warm custard. But meringue is a superb insulator and the ice cream doesn’t melt in the brief period of baking needed to cook the outer layer of meringue.

Image by Citrus & Candy, used under creative commons license. Here’s her gorgeous-looking original recipe for earl grey ice cream and passionfruit cake Baked Alaska

Despite my love for the flamboyance of Baked Alaska – especially when it’s flambéed with rum at the table – I’ve never made it at home. This is something that needs to change!

So April’s theme for Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream is Baked Alaska!

Ring the changes with your chosen ice creams and bases (or perhaps creating multiple layers of different ice cream flavours) or keep it classic. Whatever you fancy!

How To Take Part In BSFIC

Create and blog a recipe that fits the challenge by the 28th of this month.
In your post, mention and link to this Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream post.
In your post, include the Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream badge.
Email me (by the 28th of the month) with your first name or nickname (as you prefer), the link to your post and an image for my roundup, sized to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

You are welcome to submit your post to as many blogger challenge events as you like.

If the recipe is not your own, please be aware of copyright issues. Email me if you would like to discuss this.

If you like, tweet about your post using the hashtag #BSFIC. I’ll retweet any I see.

I’ll post a round up of all the entries at the end of the month.

A Baked Alaska is far more appealing than an April Fool’s joke, don’t you think?

Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream: February & March – A Year of Themes

30 Mar 2013 15 Responses »

Mar 302013

Although the enthusiasm for making and sharing ice cream has waned somewhat during the winter, several of you still joined me in celebrating a year of BSFIC by choosing one (or more) of the previous 12 themes of the challenge.

Ozzy from Light/ Bites shared a refreshing Blood Orange Slushy, taking inspiration from April’s theme of sorbets, granitas, shaved ice desserts, slushies and spooms. Combining orange zest, pureed flesh, some grated ginger, half a vanilla pod, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamom and Demerara sugar, he created a mix that he turned into a sorbet the old-fashioned way – removing it from the freezer at intervals to break up the chunks. As the finished result wasn’t as solid as he’d intended, he called it a slushie and served it with pieces of chocolate brownie.

FoodyCat Alicia also used seasonal citrus, this time Seville oranges, in her Seville Orange Ice Cream, enjoyed as part of a celebratory wedding anniversary meal and served in lovely homemade brandy snaps. Although she was happy with the flavour of her ice cream, she felt the texture wasn’t quite right so has provided two versions of the recipe, one as she made it and an adjusted one she reckons will work better. Best of all, she met three of the past themes – June’s fruit, July’s condensed milk and December’s booze!

Claire from Under The Blue Gum Tree really went to town, recreating a dessert from The Restaurant at St Paul’s in London but adding her own twists too. Her Honey Ice Cream and Gingerbread Sandwich looks absolutely stunning! She sandwiched a custard-based honey ice cream between two layers of gingerbread cake and topped the whole lot off with a decadent ginger-spiked dark chocolate ganache. I have to say it really does look both professional and utterly delicious and a real crowd-pleaser.

Michael from Me, My Food & I made a tasty Espresso and Baileys Ice Cream which fit into both the condensed milk and booze themes of July and December. His original influence was a Nigella recipe which he adapted according to the ingredients he could find. An obliging friend sourced the instant espresso powder, Baileys was substituted for the original coffee liqueur and Michael finished off the presentation by scattering crushed coffee biscuits over the top. Decadent, quick and easy!

I love the styling that Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery has created for the photos of her Damson Gin Ice Cream. As the queen of leftovers, she was determined to make good use of the alcohol-soaked damsons that were a side product of her damson gin production. She pureed the boozy fruit and mixed it into a rich custard base, meeting three previous challenge themes – custard-bases, fruit and booze from February, June and December. I love the pretty pink colour – it looks delicious!

Having been sent an enormous sample box of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, I was determined to include these in a simple but colourful ice cream. I took the lazy option and used the no-churn recipe I discovered for July’s condensed milk theme (for which I made a honeycomb ice cream slice). To my surprise, the jelly bean makers themselves commented on my Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream post – apparently every time they’ve experimented with incorporating the product into an ice cream the beans have gone rock hard. That mine retained some chew confounded them – I posit that commercial ice creams have to be frozen to lower temperatures than those made in a domestic freezer.

Chloë is the author of Gannet and Parrot, one of the more unusual blog names I’ve come across! Deciding that vanilla ice cream was too boring, she suddenly remembered the spiced lassi in her fridge and wondered what it might be like frozen. An Iced Spiced Lassi froyo, if you will. Her idea fit best into the spices theme from September 2012. Although she felt the texture of her first attempt wasn’t right – too powdery and not the right balance between sweet and tart – she loved the flavours of the spicy yoghurt and condensed milk. The toasted cumin, fresh and crystallised ginger, green chilli all came through clearly. I hope she’ll give the idea another go, as it sounds like it has great potential to me.

Julia from Something Missing loves making ice cream but was becoming frustrated with all the leftover egg whites she didn’t know how to use. Luckily, a chance viewing of a food show on telly gave her the inspiration to make an amazing Chocolate and Hazelnut Egg White Ice Cream. The technique involves folding Italian meringue into whipped cream and is a no churn ice recipe. It took a little effort but Julia was very happy with the results. Another way of using egg whites is to made yourself some spoom – essentially a sorbet mixed with Italian meringue!

When Monica of Smarter Fitter came to visit us recently, she was full of excitement about a Holy Mole Weekend of cooking she was planning – a feast of all things Mexican including tamales, mole sauce, black beans, salsa and for dessert, rich chocolate brownies. Thinking about ice cream that would reflect the theme and go well with chocolate, I suggested something along the lines of the avocado ice cream I made last summer. Monica opted for an Avocado Ice Cream recipe by ice cream guru David Lebovitz, liking the inclusion of sour cream and lime, which balanced beautifully with her Mexican flavours. And of course, her recipe fit June’s fruit theme perfectly!

Thank you to all the intrepid winter ice cream makers who joined me for this challenge. Look out for the April challenge, coming very soon.

Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream (No Churn, No Machine)

12 Mar 2013 26 Responses »

Mar 122013

I love Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.

I can’t remember a time when I’ve not loved them, having come across them in the USA during childhood trips. I didn’t know their history until now, though. The company that makes them was born back in 1869, when two German brothers emigrated to America and set up an ice cream and candy store in Belleville, Illinois. They weren’t responsible for the invention of jelly beans, thought to be inspired by Turkish delight, but they started making them in the late 1800s are certainly strongly associated with them today. In the 1970s, they introduced a range made with only natural flavourings, and the first eight Jelly Belly flavours were born.

These days, there are many more flavours than 8!

Recently, I was sent a box of their Original 50 – flavours which are made and sold all year round. In addition to these, they also make a sugar-free range, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (based on flavours from the Harry Potter books), the Sours range and branded ones such as Snapples and Cadbury Schweppes flavours. There are also a number of “rookie” flavours that are being trialled, some of which may make it into the long term top 50 list, if they prove popular enough. I wish I could try honey bean, mojito and mint chocolate chip, from the current list of rookies!

The reason I love these beans is how vivid and accurate the flavours are. They all taste of what they should, rather than the cheap and synthetic flavourings used in many sweets.

Looking for a way of showcasing the range of flavours, I decided to make a Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream.

The thick, creamy texture and slightly caramel flavour of a condensed milk and double cream no churn base seemed like it would be a good fit.

Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream (No Churn, No machine)

Ingredients
300 ml double cream
125 ml condensed milk
100 assorted Jelly Belly jelly beans

Note: I used two each of every flavour in the box except for cinnamon and liquorice, which I don’t like.

Method

Whisk the cream until it is thick but still a little floppy.

Add the condensed milk and whisk again until it holds its shape.

Fold in the jelly beans.

Spoon into a freezer container or a loaf tin lined with clingfilm and freeze overnight.
Turn the ice cream out of the container or tin (peel off the clingfilm) and slice to serve.

Once frozen, the shells of the jelly beans harden, so it’s like biting down on hard toffee, with a wonderfully chewy interior. We really liked the contrast between the soft creamy ice cream and the harder beans.

(Because the beans become harder, this recipe may not be suitable for very young children or those who can’t chew hard toffee-like textures).

This is my entry into the February & March Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream event, for which the theme is a look back across all the themes for the preceding year.

If you enjoy making ice cream or if you’ve not made it before and fancy having a go, do see if there’s a theme to suit.

You can opt for a custard base, recreate a childhood favourite, make a sorbet, granita, slushy or spoom, do something delicious with chocolate, make ice lollies, use fruit, incorporate spices, be a bit different and try a savoury ice cream, raid the booze cupboard, be inspired by Japan or add in some dried fruit and nuts. Or, like I’ve done, make a condensed milk recipe.

All bloggers are very welcome, experienced cooks and newbies alike.

Kavey Eats received a review sample of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.

BSFIC: A Year Of Themes (February & March)

01 Feb 2013 10 Responses »

Feb 012013

I can hardly believe that Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream has been going a year, but it’s true – the first challenge was set back in February 2012 and we’ve had 12 great months of frozen treats since then.

To celebrate the milestone, I’m setting an unusual challenge this month. You can pick any theme from the last year and either make one of the many delicious ideas shared by everyone so far or share something new.

And because February is a short month, I’m extending this challenge to the end of March, so you have plenty of time to whip up something fabulous!

Check my two Pinterest boards for ideas – BSFIC: Inspiration and BSFIC: Entries.

How To Take Part In BSFIC

Create and blog a recipe that fits the challenge, between the 1st February and 28th March.
In your post, mention and link to this Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream post.
In your post, include the Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream badge.
Email me (by the 28th March) with your first name or nickname (as you prefer), the link to your post and an image for my roundup, sized to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

You are welcome to submit your post to as many blogger challenge events as you like and you can share more than one entry if you’re feeling particularly inspired!

If the recipe is not your own, please be aware of copyright issues. Please email me if you would like to discuss this.

If you like, please tweet about your post using #BSFIC. I’ll retweet any I see.

I can’t wait to see what you make!

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