Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream - 2 ways

I'm back after a short trip and jumped straight into work without having any time to brood over the holiday getting over. Deadlines, macaron orders, supper clubs and pop-ups fill my time for the next couple of weeks and then the much awaited trip to India end of December. While I was away Haagen Dazs sent me a gorgeous parcel (the husband kept sending me pictures of the package) and I couldn't wait to get back and check it out. In my gift pack was a Nespresso Inissia, a personalised silver plated spoon, a really nice OXO ice cream scoop, an egg timer and of course vouchers and the new Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream.

We don't do ice creams that often but when we do its always Haagen Dazs. I'm sure its a brand we are all familiar with and we all have that one flavour we are addicted to. Mine was the dulce de leche and it was a struggle getting over it. I had attended the launch of the Haagen Dazs Master Ice Cream Academy a couple of months ago and learnt a thing or two about how sounds and sights affect taste and of course got to taste a fabulous strawberry ice cream. Dan Doherty from Duck & Waffle made us an interesting ice cream float, one that I've been meaning to try at home, but before the blink of an eye summer whisked by without any warning.

That said, there is no rule you can have ice cream only in summer. Which brings me to these 2 desserts i whipped up with the new coffee flavour, so intensely coffee and perfect for an addict like me. I broke my head trying to decide what to make and I wanted to do something different than the usual pairing of the coffee ice cream with a cake or brownie. Cookie dough slices sandwiched with coffee ice cream and an affogato were the two easy to do options i came up with.

Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream Affogato (makes 1)

The Affogato happened quite by fluke and i ended up enjoying that much more than the slices. I could also put the Nespresso machine to good use, making a kick ass espresso for the affpgato and I'm hooked. You can whip it up in no time and tastes absolutely delicious. I added a dash of Amaretto for some good measure. No regrets.

Strong espresso coffee- 1 espresso cup

Amaretto (or any liqueur of choice)- 1 tbsp

Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream- 2 scoops

Praline- 2 tsp (recipe below)

Use your favourite coffee beans to make a strong shot of espresso.

Scoop the ice cream into the serving glasses and pour over the Amaretto.

Top with the steaming hot espresso by pouring it gently over the ice cream.

Sprinkle praline over the ice cream and enjoy.

Praline (recipe adapted from here)

Granulated sugar- 3 tbsp

Plain cashew nuts- 10 whole

Butter- 1/2 tsp

Melt the sugar in a non stick pan on low heat till it starts to caramelise and turns a light golden brown in colour.

Add the cashew nuts and butter and stir till it turns darker, but make sure you don't burn it.

Remove from heat once the cashew nuts look roasted,and pour on to a tray lined with baking paper.

Leave to cool completely and then break into smaller pieces or pulse it in your processor for a couple of seconds to get a coarse mix.

Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and cookie dough slices (recipe adapted from here)

 

Cookie dough slices were a unique choice, and I could imagine what a strong coffee flavour would do to a vanilla-y cookie dough. I decided to keep the filling and the dough thin so we could just hold it in our hands and eat as opposed to having it as a formal dessert with a plate and such.

Unsalted butter- 1/2 cup

Dark brown sugar- 1/3 cup

Granulated sugar- 1/4 cup

Milk- 2 tbsp

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1.2 tsp

Plain flour- 1 1/4 cup

Chocolate chips- a generous handful

Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream- 1/2 a tub, spreadable consistency

Melt the butter and both sugars in a saucepan, stir till the sugar has completely melted.

Take it off the heat and pour in the milk, vanilla and salt.

Stir in the plain flour till well combined and you get a smooth mix without traces of flour.

Keep aside to cool and then fold in the chocolate chips. Its ok if it starts to melt, but stop before it completely does so.

Have a tray ready with 3 sheets of baking paper.

Place one sheet on the tray and spread out or roll half of the dough on to the sheet, around 1/2 inch thick (or thicker or thinner if you prefer it that way)

Top with another baking paper and roll out the second half of the cookie dough into the same thickness as before.

Press the third sheet on top of the rolled out dough and freeze for about half an hour.

Remove the top cookie dough layer and spread the coffee ice cream as evenly as possible.

Top with the second cookie dough layer, gently press down, cover with baking paper and refreeze till ready to use.

Let it sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes to make slicing easier.

Slice into squares and eat immediately.

This is a sponsored post for Haagen Dazs in association with Great British Chefs. Thanks for the gift pack that was sent to put together the recipes.

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