Devil's Food Chocolate Ice Cream

Moving into our new apartment has been all about culling: what do we absolutely need? What will fit? What needs to go back to the in-laws until we have more room? It's a tricky thing, and I've had to be cold-hearted about a lot of my stuff. That's why I was asked three times, by three separate family members, "You're keeping the ice cream maker??" Yes, and for excellent reasons, as they were soon to find out.

I can't tell you how long I've waited to make this ice cream. It's been on my list of things to make since at least May, but I needed for the stars to be aligned--in other words, for my ice cream maker to be in the same place as me. I also had to finish my summer fruit dessert obsession. But sadly, this is the last ice cream recipe in the book. I've now finished out two categories.

OK, here are our key ingredients. Note that the brand of honey "Lune de Miel" means honeymoon. You may or may not be able to see that it comes in this cool squeezable plastic pouch. Also note that I'm using old (Ghiradelli) chocolate that probably spent weeks melting in a shipping container and new (Nestlé) chocolate. Guess which one worked better.

You can see the two chocolates here: nice, smooth, dark chocolate, mixed in with grainy, separated chocolate. But it's OK--the old chocolate finally smoothed out when melted. Kind of like the nasty old chocolate chips Alicia used for the glaze on the Boston Cream Pie.

Here is my finished custard getting ready to hit the ice cream maker. Note that there's not much. I divided the recipe, which is written to make 3 quarts (!), by 6 to make a pint. I don't think it really did...

Note my tiny freezer, completely dominated by the Donvier. I had to take out a shelf to fit it.


The custard hits the cylinder. Don't you wish you had some?

I have to say that the amount I made was just enough to cause family disharmony. Everyone wanted more, but there wasn't more, and all the bowls and beaters were licked very clean. This is delicious, rich, chocolatey ice cream.

A day later the girls and I were strolling around Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where there was a sort of street festival going on--musicians, donkey carts, flea market. We stopped for an ice cream cone at a shop that was selling the famous Berthillon ice cream from Paris. We agreed that the chocolate ice cream was just not as good as the one we'd had the night before.

Here's the recipe, in the original quantity plus the amounts (in weight) I used. Make just enough to cause a bit of family disharmony.

Devil's Food Chocolate Ice Cream

21 oz. (3.5 oz.) semisweet chocolate

2 c. (2.7 oz.) milk

3/4 c. (1.4 oz.) honey

14 (2) egg yolks

1-1/3 c. (1.5 oz.) sugar

Pinch salt

4 c. (5.3 oz.) cream

Melt the chocolate with the milk and honey over medium-low heat in a smallish saucepan. In the meantime, put the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and use an electric mixer or whisk to beat them to a fluffy, light consistency. Gradually pour the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisk that well, and then return it all to the saucepan. Put it back over medium-low heat and stir and scrape until the mixture reaches 140 degrees on a thermometer (I guess this would be the spoon-coating stage if you don't have a thermometer). Strain the mixture into a large bowl or glass measuring cup, and then gradually whisk in the cream (and a little vanilla if you feel like it). Chill the cream in the refrigerator (or in the freezer or in an ice bath if you're feeling impatient) until it's very cold. Then freeze it in an ice cream maker. Maida says to let it sit in the freezer for 8 hours before serving, but it was delicious straight from the ice cream maker. Enjoy the creamy goodness and don't let anyone steal your rightful portion.

Maple Syrup Ice Cream

One of the things I'm really enjoying about our stay in Pontlevoy is our colleagues. There are two French teachers, two history teachers, an art history teacher, an English teacher, and Sami. The group ranges in age, nationality, and gender, but we seem to mesh very well. This is evinced by the social events we like to participate in: dinner at our house, drinks at someone else's house, a trip to the market, and of course, the potluck.
Last week was a potluck: everyone brought a dish according to their culinary means and abilities. There was a ton of cheese (but not too much!), too much bread, a delicious roast boar, salad, and two, no make that three desserts. And of course multiple bottles of wine. And after dinner half the group talked heavy-duty philosophy and the other half fled to the kitchen to "help with the dishes." Delightful.
So I brought two of the three desserts: my favorite apple crumble and this maple syrup ice cream.
Ah, maple syrup. It's surprisingly easy to get here, but expensive. I happen to have imported my own. I think there's about one-third of a jug left. We like pancakes. I therefore cut the recipe in half, so that I would only need one cup of precious Canadian-ness.

I always forget that ice cream takes a long time to chill. I didn't have that time, so I cooled the custard (maple syrup plus egg yolks) in an ice water bath.

One cup of maple syrup seems like a lot until you fold it into 2-1/2 cups of whipped cream!

So this was my ice cream maker. I was a bit worried about this part of it. I don't have one here, and I didn't feel like buying one for 65 Euros. So I went to my ice cream guru and found out how to do without an ice cream maker. It turns out to be easy, assuming you remember to check on your ice cream every 30 minutes. So I turned on the freezer upstairs in Claire's room, popped my pan of ice cream in...and forgot about it. For about 3 hours. When I got to it, it was frozen solid. I tried many tactics, including scraping with a fork and processing it in a food processor. Turned out that letting it thaw a bit was the best technique...huh.
Long story short: this was delicious. It's not too sweet but has nice maple-y flavor, and it went well with the crumble. Our Canadian colleague told me that it reminded her of home. The art history teacher, an 80-year-old former priest, asked me to run away with him so that I can make ice cream for him every day. And the English teacher, who has problems digesting starches, just kept dipping her spoon into the dish. Unlike my brownies, unlike my cake, there was no ice cream left over. Not a drop. Success!
Here's the recipe, if you want to get some indecent proposals...

Sugarbush Maple Ice Cream

3 egg yolks
good pinch salt
1 c. maple syrup (the darker, the better)
2-1/2 c. (20 oz.) whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. almond extract

Don't forget to get your ice cream freezer ready, if required. Put a pan of water (the bottom of a double boiler or a saucepan that your mixing bowl will fit over) over medium-low heat to simmer. Now in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and salt until they're thick and pale, about 5 minutes or so. Then put the maple syrup in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwave until it's just boiling--it took just about 2 minutes in mine. You'll want to watch it carefully so that it doesn't boil over. Then start beating the egg yolks again while you pour in the hot syrup in a thin, steady stream. Make sure that's all well beaten (scrape the sides), and then put the mixing bowl over the simmering water and heat, stirring, until it reaches 178 on a candy thermometer (this took me at least 10 minutes, though Maida says 5). Take the mixing bowl off the heat and somehow get the mixture cooled down completely. You could let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerate or freeze it, or you could put the bowl in a larger bowl full of ice water and cool it down that way.
Now that you feel your custard is cool enough, get ready to whip a whole lot of cream. If you have the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, get that going with all that cream, along with the vanilla and almond extracts. You want to get soft, not stiff peaks. Then gradually fold the maple custard into the whipped cream. When that's all mixed together, freeze it however your ice cream maker works. Enjoy alone, with candied nuts, or with your favorite fruit dessert.

Going over the top: Little Havana Coconut Ice Cream and Star-Spangled Banana Cake

If you know me, you know that I love having people over for dinner. "Dinner parties" would be saying too much, as that implies having centerpieces and set tables and a clean house and all. No, having people over for dinner is much more straightforward. I plot and plan and cook as much food as humanly possible, and Sami does the entertaining part. Fortunately we have the big open kitchen so that I can also chat with friends while I cook. I also make sure we have lots of munchies available because I've always overplanned and underprepared.

Thus Friday night. We had planned to have our friends Frank and Randolyn over. We've been trying to have them over since August, but what with our going to France all the time and their having kids and grandkids coming to visit and then Friday, a little thing called H1N1, it still hasn't happened.We keep hoping. Otherwise they'll have to come have dinner with us in France.
So when Randolyn, who had probably been hoping she'd get better so that we could finally do this thing, let me know that she was on strict bed rest, I kind of panicked. Of course I felt (and feel) terrible that she feels terrible, but also I had all kinds of party food and party plans going. Claire had even gotten the ice cream base started in the morning. So Sami, understanding husband that he is, found some wonderful pinch hitters.

So here it was, 4:00 in the afternoon, and all I had to do was 2 appetizers, a meat and 2 sides and 2 desserts. No problem. The problem was that I still had 20 pages of editing to do on a project due on Friday evening. D'ohhhh! So, priorities first, I got the cake in the oven. As Alicia points out, it is truly a "piece of cake" to make. No worries there. Then while it baked and Sami cleaned house all around me, I buckled down and worked on the editing, taking a few breaks now and then to take the cake out of the oven, slice and bake some cheese crackers, and do a few other chores. So I was still at the computer when our first guest came. It was Barry. Barry brings his laundry when he comes. We've renamed our guest room Barry's room. So that was no problem. I told him he could peel a few pounds of carrots while he was at it.

Long story short: Our other guests were fortunately quite late, and there was just a half hour of drinking and nibbling while I got stuff ready. The cake was baked, the ice cream mix was in the freezer doing a speed chill (not recommended, by the way), and dinner was just about ready. Whew!
What cracked me up was the frosting. We had eaten a delicious dinner, worked our way through a few bottles of wine, and now I still had to make 7-minute frosting, which I've never made before. Turns out, since I in fact used real egg whites left over from the OBSCENE amount of egg yolks in the ice cream, it was piece of cake. And this kind of frosting is so magical--from a little puddle of egg whites at the bottom of the mixture to the bowl filling up with this marshmallow fluffy stuff. Really cool.

You'll see from the pictures that it's probably not the greatest idea to fill and frost a cake when you've had a couple of glasses of wine.
But I tried to at least put on a show. Note the large amount of dirty dishes.
Ah, coconut. Love me some coconut. OK, my cake is not as beautiful as Alicia's.
But look at Maida's:

See that, with the ribbon? That's what it's *supposed* to look like. In my dreams, at least. You can also see many more desserts that mine will not look like. Oh, well.

Verdict on these two desserts? The banana cake is awesome. It was too sweet and fluffy for Claire (who I believe is turning into Pete), but the rest of us loved it. That sweet fluffy frosting is not my favorite, but it was pretty good here. As for the ice cream--well, it is over the top in and of itself. I made half a recipe, which means half and half and cream infused with coconut (and thus coconut oil) and then enriched with 6 egg yolks (which I cut down from 8). The US government could have fed this to Fidel Castro every day if they wanted to overthrow the regime quickly. It's delicious, and went with the banana cake really well, but Lord have mercy!
Let's just say that our guests waddled home feeling content. And I have a freezer full of lethal ice cream...

OK, here are the recipes. If you decide to go all out and make them both, start with the ice cream. Preferably the day before.

Little Havana Coconut Ice Cream

1-1/4 c. whipping cream
2 c. half and half (Maida wants you to use coffee cream, which is heavier--ha!)
6 oz. shredded sweetened coconut
1-inch piece of vanilla bean, if you feel like it
6 egg yolks (save the whites for your 7-minute frosting)
1/2 c sugar
1 T. Cream of Coconut (waste of the century--threw the rest away. Boy, is that nasty-looking stuff)

Heat 3/4 c. cream and the half and half in a medium saucepan. Add the coconut (and vanilla bean) and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes (I now realize there is no way Claire did this and still caught the bus for school). While it's sitting, get out a strainer, a mixing bowl, and a thin towel or old pillowcase; put the strainer over the mixing bowl and line it with the towel. Pour the coconut mixture into the strainer. Let it drain for a while, then twist and squeeze the towel so that all the coconut goodness can escape. Throw away the coconut. Now rinse out the saucepan or not, depending on how you feel about a few stray flakes of coconut in your ice cream, and put in the egg yolks, sugar, and Cream of Coconut. Whisk that together until it's thick and a bit lighter in color, then begin adding the warm cream mixture to it, whisking constantly. Keep your bowl and sieve handy. Put the custard over medium heat and cook and stir until the mixture starts steaming (or when it's thick enough to coat a spoon or when it reaches 178). Pour the mixture back through the sieve into the mixing bowl, and then add the remaining 1/2 cup cream. Let the custard cool at room temperature, then chill overnight. Or you could be lame like me and put it in the freezer to speed cool. Then just pour the stuff into your ice cream freezer and let it do its stuff. Be prepared to serve this in *tiny* portions. It would be dynamite with some roasted pineapple, I bet. This served 6 with lots left over.

Now the cake recipe:
Star-Spangled Banana Cake
(If you want Alicia's 4-layer extravaganza, just double the recipe)

6 T (3 oz.) butter, room temperature
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. almond extract
1 c. (6.5 oz.) sugar
1-1/2 eggs (I used one egg and an egg white because of the ice cream situation)
10 oz. bananas (about 2-1/2), mashed with a fork
1/2 t. baking soda
3 oz. chopped toasted pecans (the Trader Joe's ones are excellent here, too)
1-1/2 c. (6 oz.) sifted flour (yes, I threw in about half whole wheat)
1/4 c. buttermilk

Heat the oven to 350; spray 2 9-inch cake pans. Cream the butter with the baking powder and the salt. Then add the extracts and gradually add the sugar. Beat for 2-3 minutes while you mash the bananas and get out the nuts and measure the flour. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy. Now mix the baking soda into the bananas and add that, along with the nuts. It seems so odd to add the nuts before the flour, but there it is. Mix that well. Then at low speed, add half the flour, then all the buttermilk, then the remaining flour. Mix until just barely incorporated, scraping in between as needed. Divide the batter between the pans. The layers will be pretty thin. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until top springs back when pressed and a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out the layers onto a rack and let cool.

Now it's time for the fun frosting:
Southern Fluffy White Icing

1-1/2 c. (10.5 oz.) sugar
2-1/2 T. (1.9 oz.) corn syrup
6 T. boiling water
3 egg whites
Pinch salt
1/2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. almond extract

3.5 oz. shredded coconut

Put the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan over moderate heat. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved. When the mixture comes to a full boil, remove it from the heat and set it aside for a minute. Now get out the whisk attachment of your big old mixer and whip the egg whites and salt until the whites are stiff--they "stand up straight when the beaters are raised." Pour the syrup into a glass measuring cup--mine fit into a 1-cup measure, though the 2-cup one probably would have been more comfortable. Then, while the egg whites are beaten at high speed, add the syrup in a slow, thin stream. Maida warns about overflowing icing; I didn't have that problem with the half recipe I present here. After all the syrup has been beaten in, add the extracts and continue to beat for about 15 minutes, until the icing is very stiff. I found that took more like 6-7 minutes. Now excuse me while I abdicate my responsibility of telling you how to frost a cake. I believe Deb over at smitten kitchen has a nice tutorial.
OK, I'm back now. Just sprinkle that baby with lots of coconut, close your eyes and pretend you put a ribbon around it, then dig in. This should feed at least 12 people.

Mmmmwwaaahhhhchchhhhh....caramel ice cream

OK, I don't know how to spell this. This is the sound Homer Simpson makes when he thinks of pancakes and donuts and sacred waffles ("I know I should not eat Thee...mmmmm....sacrilicious"). And that's the sound I make when I eat this caramel ice cream. It's enough to turn me into a drooling pile of hopeless gluttony.
Homemade ice cream is one of those things that I rarely do and then wonder why I rarely do it. It's so easy and fun, and the payoff is usually much greater than the effort put into it. I guess one reason I don't do it so often is that I would then eat it, and even Häagen-Däzs doesn't put as much butterfat into their ice cream as this recipe does. Also it involves thinking ahead. Because I have a Donvier, I have to remember to put the canister in the freezer the day before. And then the custard also needs to chill ahead of time. But still...not that hard.
I had to smile when I read the title of this recipe: Spago's Sensational Caramel Ice Cream. Does anything say 80s food more than Spago? (Well, The Silver Palate. RIP Shiela Lukins.) It's such a cliché now, but Spago was hot stuff back in 1985, and Nancy Silverton, who developed this recipe, is still a force in the dessert world. Deservedly so, I would say!
David Lebovitz, the ice cream god, has a recipe for caramelized white chocolate ice cream in which he suggests that you sprinkle smoked salt on top. When I served this last night to our French guest, I was afraid of scarring her for life, so I didn't try it. I'm going to as soon as I finish posting here. (20 minutes later: OMG, that is the Right Thing To Do. Just a tiny pinch--but the crunch and the hit of salt with the rich caramel...mmmwhaahhcchh...) I believe salt and caramel go together. That's why I highly recommend you add a good pinch of salt to this recipe, even though Maida leaves it out. It cuts the sweetness and balances the flavor, I think. I also used half a vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract. I had one, and I'm running out of vanilla and can't decide whether or not to order more from Penzey's. All this baking takes a toll on the baking supplies. Good thing I'll be able to stock up at Trader Joe's in DC! (Yes, that's on my tourism list: Lincoln Memorial, National Gallery, Smithsonian, Trader Joe's. I have my priorities...)
So here's the recipe I made. I cut Maida's recipe down by a third because my Donvier only does a quart of ice cream. That's probably a good thing..

Spago's Sensational Caramel Ice Cream
Should serve about 4 people with a certain amount of self-restraint.

1-1/3 c. milk
1-1/3 c. cream
half a vanilla bean, scraped
pinch salt
5 egg yolks
scant 1/2 c. (3 oz.) sugar


Put the milk, cream, vanilla bean (and scrapings), and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and scald over medium heat. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer (I think a handheld one is best here) for 2 minutes--until they're very pale and thick. Take the vanilla bean out of the milk (rinse and dry it and grind it with your coffee beans--yum!) and gradually add the milk to the egg yolks, mixing at low speed. The mixture will be pretty frothy. Then pour the whole thing back into the saucepan and heat it carefully at medium heat, stirring and scraping with a silicon "rubber scraper" until the mixture thickens enough to coat a spoon or registers 168-170 on a thermometer. I just waited until I could see a good bit of steam. Remove from the heat and strain into a large bowl. Now, get the caramel ready:

Scant 1/2 c. (3.5 oz.) cream
2/3 c. sugar

Put the cream in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for about 45 seconds, until really hot. In the meantime, in a small pot or frying pan, heat and stir the sugar over medium heat until it's melted, then continue to heat and stir until it's caramelized. This happens pretty suddenly, so keep your eye on it. Take the caramel off the heat, then VERY CAREFULLY and from as much distance as possible, pour in the cream and stir. It will bubble ferociously, but keep trying to stir. A long-handled spoon is a good thing here. If you still have unmelted caramel after the bubbles have subsided, you can put it back on the heat for a bit until it's all smooth, but I didn't have that problem. Now mix the caramel gradually into the custard and then cover and chill it. At the same time, consider freezing your ice cream canister, if you need to. Then, probably the next day, freeze the ice cream however you're supposed to, scoop it out, and serve in smallish portions. And prepare to become a puddle of drooling gluttony. But in a good way.