Why are the British never satisfied – when its wet, we wish for dry; when its cold we wish for hot! And now we have it, we are all trying to keep cool. And what better way than a nice dish of ice cream.
I have always loved ice-cream – not the Mr Whippy soft stuff but proper ice cream but with eggs and cream and different tastes. When my brother was little, he used to think “various ices” on a menu was a flavour and there seems to be no ending now to the “various” combinations – you can even have savoury ones for inbetween courses.
A few years ago, I entered a competition and won an ice cream maker but I also have a few favourites which don’t need one – you just whip it up and freeze If you haven’t got a maker, and it’s asked for, you can get by with taking the mixture out of the freezer and mashing the ice crystals in for a few times. Keeping it easy for you, these are all made without a maker – so you can definitely say you made these all by yourself.
French chocolate Ice cream (daughter no1’s favourite)
- 50g castor sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 175g plain chocolate
- 3 egg yolks (save the whites for meringues etc – you can even freeze them)
- 300ml double cream
Melt the sugar and water in a pan to a syrup. Break up the chocolate into a bowl and add the hot syrup. Mix until smooth and add the yolks. Whip the cream until stiff and add the chocolate, folding it through until all combine. Freeze. Simples!
Lemon Ice Cream
- 1 large lemon, juice and zested
- 200g castor sugar
- 250ml milk
- 250 ml double cream
Combine the zest and sugar. Put the milk in a bowl and stir in the zest mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the lemon juice. Whip the cream until stiff and gently fold into the lemon mixture. Line a loaf tin with cling film overlapping the edges. Pour into the tin, cover over with the edges and freeze. Tip out and slice to serve.
Stem Ginger Ice Cream
- 4 eggs, separated
- 110g icing sugar
- 3 – 4 pieces of stem ginger, finely chopped
- 275ml double cream, stiffly whipped
Whisk the yolks and icing sugar together until pale and very thick. Fold in the ginger and whipped cream. Using a clean whisk, whisk the egg whites into peaks and gently fold into the mixture. Pour into a 1.5 litre plastic container and freeze overnight.
Peach Ice Cream – Peaches are just coming into their own now so make the most of this most delicious of soft fruits!
- 6 ripe peaches
- 600ml pot double cream
- 397g can condensed milk
Put the peaches in a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes and peel off the skins and remove the stone. Roughly chop them and set aside. Whisk the cream with the condensed milk until thickened slightly and falls in ribbons from the whisk. Add the peach chunks to the cream, stirring gently. Put into a 2 litre plastic container and freeze for 3 – 4 hours or overnight. Take out of the freezer 20 – 30 minutes before you want it.
Obviously all of the above are for more than one – but ice cream will settle happily in the freezer for at least a month – make all of these and you don’t have to think about a treat for a while!
Ailsa cooks for One 