Christmas pudding ice cream

 

Last week, a bunch of us had a cook-along session on Google+ Hangout hosted by Great British Chefs and Tesco Real Food. We were cooking along with award winning Chef Galton Blackiston who runs Morston Hall, up at the Norfolk coast, and making Christmas pudding ice cream was on the agenda. It was my first time doing a hangout session like this and so was a wee bit nervous as to how it would churn out (pun intended).

We were asked to do a few preps before hand and jot down any relevant questions we wanted to ask Chef Galton during the session. It all went on extremely well and I'm completely amazed at how technology can just make things so much more convenient. I mean we were all in different parts of UK, in the comfort of our own kitchen and cooking along with so much ease. Except for a few glitches with the audio at times, it was an absolutely well thought out session. Thanks to GBC for this fantastic opportunity and to Chef Galston for the demo. You can watch it here.

Now, I know its not the perfect weather for ice cream, but really this one needs to be made this Christmas y'all. We are all going to od on Christmas pudding and even worse, have tonnes of it left over. Chucking them into a custard base and churning them to make fabulous ice cream is THE way to go about using whats left over. I am not a big pudding fan or for that matter an ice cream fan, meaning I can just about have a slice or scoop of each, but when the two come together it just makes it so much better.

I had to try hard to not keep eating spoonfuls of custard while it was cooling down. So the ice cream base is a really good one, to experiment with. You can use it as it is with a kick ass sauce, chuck in some candied fruits, or add some nuts and such to make it appealing. Its pretty basic and except for the whisking bit, doesn't really take too much time. Those in India, remember the rum and raisin ice creams we get..well this ones sort of like that.. but a whole lot boozier..who's complaining about that now? :)

Recipe adapted from Great British Chefs (serves 5 to 6)

Single cream- 300ml

Milk- 150ml

Vanilla pod- 1/2, split length ways

Egg yolks- 3

Caster sugar- 62 gms

Christmas pudding- 125 gms, crumbled into pieces

Add the cream and milk to a sauce pan and scrape in the vanilla seeds along with the pod.

Place the pan over medium high heat and bring to a gentle simmer.

Remove from heat and set aside to infuse for about 30 minutes or so.

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar till pale and smooth.

Bring the cream and milk mix back to a simmer.

While whisking the egg, slowly pour  in the cream.

Pour the mix back into a saucepan and place over low heat.

Keep stirring continuously till you have a thin layer of custard that coats the back of the spoon.

At this point, take the saucepan off heat and pass the custard through a sieve into a bowl.

Allow to cool completely. Lay cling film on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.

If you want to speed up this process, place the bowl over an ice bath and keep stirring till it turns cool. I actually chucked it into the refrigerator for a while.

Once cool, you can either churn it in an ice cream maker, stirring in the Christmas pudding once the mixture begins to thicken and then freeze till ready to use.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, then pour the custard into an air tight container and freeze for about 30 to 45 minutes or till just about set.

Take it out, whisk well and then fold in the Christmas pudding gently, to not break it up too much. 

Notes: This is a halved recipe

My air tight container was really good and so i only had to whisk the custard twice, at 1hr intervals and it was perfect. I also added the pud into the custard the first time and kept whisking gently each time.
I may not infuse the cream for 30 mins next time. Couldn't really find much difference.

I was paid for the ingredients and the time. Thanks GBC

Jan Ellis Pudding with a brandy-orange sauce

I finally steamed my Christmas pudding two days back. The recipe said 10 to 12 hours but I just couldn't bear to carry on for that long and so after about 8 hours I checked it with a skewer, nothing stuck to it and so I decided it was time. While it was steaming, there was no divine smell of the soaked fruits in brandy or anything and I was disappointed. But once the cake was put aside to cool, the smells that filled my house was sooo good. It was like Christmas in a bowl. Ro on the other hand could have been a bit more enthusiastic about it..but instead he asked:

'cant we just buy a pud from M & S like we always do?' 

No we cant because I STIRRED this pud with aching arms and now I want to flambé it for Christmas. OK then this months electricity bill is coming out of your salary. 

Hmm, OK, screw the stirred pud, maybe we can actually just buy it from M & S

But then we agreed to still go ahead with this, with the bill situation still unresolved. But when those smells wafted through the house, I had a slight feeling it was thoroughly worth it. Its now well wrapped up and put in a cool, dark corner for the flavours to develop and then on Christmas day it has to steam for another 2 more house, after which it will be ready to be flambéed.

Since I couldn't eat the pudding I steamed, I went and baked another pudding yesterday. I am a novice when it comes to steamed puddings and after the 8hr experiment, I didn't want another steamed one. So I opted for the Jan Ellis Pudding which is probably the simplest but tastiest pud I have had in a while. I made it in a 2 litre Mermaid pudding basin which was absolutely perfect for the deed. Made of hard anodised aluminium, the basin is extremely solid and durable and there is even heat distribution which is great for the pudding to cook all the way through. I did butter the basin a bit with fear of not being able to turn it out on to a plate easily, but I doubt that was necessary, as it came out nice and smooth and with no fuss. The only thing I noticed was that, about 10 minutes into the baking time the top started to brown severely. I don't know if it was because of the heat from the basin or just the oven, but it was solved by covering with a silver foil sheet.  

The pudding is traditionally South African and you can read more about it on Cook Sister where I saw the recipe a loong time back and had book marked it. The pudding on its own is pretty average, but the sauce that accompanies it just takes it to a whole different level. Soaked in the sauce, this dessert will definitely be a hit. Go on, try out something different for Christmas and I assure you wont be disappointed.

Recipe adapted from here and here (serves 4 to 6)

Milk- 1/2 cup

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Apricot jam- 2 tbsp

Eggs- 2

Butter- 2 tbsp, melted

Cinnamon powder- 1/8th tsp (optional)

For the sauce

Double cream- 3/4 cup

Boiling water- 1/2 cup

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Orange zest- 1/2 tbsp

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Brandy/ Cognac- a few splashes 

 

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and keep aside.

Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and into that add the remaining ingredients. Mix well using a strong wooden spoon, breaking down the apricot jam as you go.

Pour in the milk mix and continue stirring till all the ingredients come together and you get a smooth batter.

Pour into a lightly greased 2 litre pudding basin and bake in an oven preheat at 180C for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Once the skewer comes out clean, take the basin out of the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes after which you can turn it on to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the pudding is in the oven, you can get working on your sauce.

Mix together the cream, boiling water, sugar and orange zest in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Take it off the heat and add in the vanilla and brandy, give a good stir and leave aside till your pud is ready.

When ready to serve, douse the pudding with enough syrup and have it hot or cold.

What I did was, I transferred the pud into a deep plate, warmed it up a wee bit in the microwave and poured over the some of the sauce. 

Left it aside for a couple of minutes and it had soaked up pretty well.

If you don't want to do this, then once you slice the pud, you can pour over the sauce then and serve. Not everyone might enjoy a soaked up pud. I sure did though :)

 

Notes: Feel free to halve the recipe, in which case you may need to reduce cooking time and also use a smaller pudding basin.

That said, you are free to bake this in any pan you like, a 9 inch cake pan would work perfectly well. But again watch out for cooking time.

I think i over baked my pud  a bit more than necessary and so it wasn't it soft soft. But once the sauce went over, it was no problem at all.

Jeanne of Cook Sister has used orange zest in her batter as well. Feel free to use about 2 tsp of zest if you please.

The cinnamon powder can be replaced with a pinch of nutmeg powder, or completely avoided. Your choice.

The brandy is purely optional. Avoid if not a fan.

I thought the apricot jam would lend a nice taste to the final product, but was disappointed I couldn't even taste it. I wonder why???

With thanks to Mermaid Bakeware for sending me the Pudding Basin for this challenge. All views expressed are my own.