Butterbeer Ice Cream

Yes! I'm finally back to my blog, the poor abandoned thing. But not forgotten though. I had so many ideas swimming in my head but never had to time to put them to work.

As usual, my posts are rather short and straight to the point, as compared to most other (proper) food blogs anyway. This post is inspired by a few subjects. First of all, this is for Harry Potter fans. Non-Potterheads would probably not know what a Butterbeer is anyway. Secondly, we actually visited the amazing Harry Potter studio when we were in London last year. We had the Buttterbeer and Butterbeer ice cream. It was magical.

Earlier this year, we even made magic wands from chopsticks and a large twig, one for each member of the family. We were so impressed with the outcome of this project. Take a look.

This year, for my 9 year old's birthday party theme, we decided on Magic and Witchcraft. It wasn't quite a Harry Potter theme but we did have a magic potions workshop which the kids enjoyed. We even printed authentic looking potions labels for the bottles.

Anyway, back to topic. We wanted to make Butterbeer for the party. We tried out the recipe and it turned out well. But I decided against it as it was too much work to make for a large group of people. I did make another batch of the the butterbeer though, and in the form of ice cream!  We finished it all before the birthday party as it was too yummy!

I used my usual method of making ice cream, which is by whipping up evaporated milk. The recipe is based on the Butterbeer drink recipe but instead of mixing the base with ice cream soda, I chilled the base and mixed in with whipped evaporated milk. I also split the sugar in two. I used half in the butter mixture and the other half whipped in the milk.

I love this recipe cause the ice cream has a soft texture and is easy to scoop straight out from the freezer. This is most likely because of the high fat content and also the small amount of alcohol.

Yes,this recipe has alcohol but the one teaspoon of rum gives a wonderful kick of flavour.

So here's the recipe if anyone is interested. But it's also for me, so that I won't forget.  Here's to magical memories. And... Expecto Patronum!!

Gula Melaka Ice Cream

I've made many kinds of ice creams. But I've always wanted to do something of a local flavour. Durian comes to mind easily but I wanted to do something different (and a little less intense). 

After pondering over it, gula melaka comes to mind. It would just replace normal sugar in a basic recipe and yet give that distinctive Malaysian flavour. So I finally gave it a try.

The result was a luscious creamy ice cream. I guess part of the reason is that boiling the milk reduces the water content further so there were no crystals formed during freezing. I added a small amount of water during boiling though, because I think too much water was going off.

The only downside is that it is very sweet. And it seems to melt very quickly. So I'll just have to eat it in small quantities, and quickly!

So here's the simple recipe. Happy trying!

My Ice Cream Project

This is a much delayed post. I've been experimenting making different flavours of ice cream since I made the basic, black sesame and mango peach ice creams. 

The method is use is the "no machine" method. You don't need yogurt machine to make yogurt or a a bread machine to make bread and it's possible to make ice cream without an ice cream machine. You do need a handheld or stand alone mixer, and time at home. And some amount of good memory, since you do need to take out the mixture and whip it every 40 minutes or so.

Here are some of what I've done this year:

Blueberry

I used whipping cream instead of evaporated milk. I expected a creamier texture but it wasn't that much better. And the colour didn't turn out that blue either.

Green Tea

This was definitely a huge success. My daughter loved it and my husband said it was the best ice cream I've ever made. Texture, flavour and colour turned out beautifully.

Chocolate

This was lovely too. Except next time, I would add more cocoa powder. 

Stawberry

For this, I was hoping to get a pink ice cream. Instead it turned out light orangey. I guess it was from the egg yolks. Other than that, the strawberry flavour was noticeable and texture was okay.

Alrighty, here is my err... ice cream project summary poster, if you may call it. If you would like to have the full method, you may refer to the mango peach ice cream post.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

The nice thing about making your own ice cream is that you can have the flavours that you can't find in the supermarkets. Black sesame is one such example. I've had it at gourmet restaurants but never found it anywhere for sale.

Black sesame also has many health benefits. One of them is to restore and maintain black hair. This is a motivation for me of course, since quite a few strands of grey are sprouting from my head!

That aside, this is a lovely recipe. It turns out soft with a nice nutty flavour. It's something different that's really worth trying. So here's the recipe for you (no ice cream maker has been used in creating this dessert):

Mango Peach Ice Cream

We had a short holiday in Bali recently. It was lovely to ride around Ubud, especially around the countryside. What was surprising however, was the number of gelato stalls around. My daughter had a grand time trying out the variety of pink "ice cream". Yes, she only wanted the pink ones.

This is her, enjoying her strawberry sorbetto.

She still wanted ice cream when we got back to KL. So I made a batch of fruity ice cream.  Made from fresh mango and canned peaches, it has a slightly tangy taste which we both love.

 



 

This ice cream can be made successfully without an ice cream machine. Here is a recipe:

Mango Peach Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 can evaporated milk
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 mango
2 canned peaches (4 halves)

Instructions:

1. Chill the milk in the fridge overnight.

2. Pour the milk into a large mixing bowl and whip until fluffy (about double the volume).

3. Add in sugar and continue beating.

4. Place the bowl in the freezer for an hour.

5. Puree the mango flesh and peaches with a small amount of the syrup from the can .

7. Pull out the bowl from the freezer and whip for 1 minute, adding the fruit puree.

8. Refreeze and whip again after about an hour . Repeat 3 to 4 times.

9. Place in a container with a lid and store in the freezer.

10. To serve, remove container from the freezer for about a minute before scooping.

 

Enjoy!

I Scream for Ice Cream!

I've been dreaming about homemade ice-cream lately. I've tried a few recipes but the end product were not as soft and creamy as what we get from the supermarket. And I wasn't quite ready to splurge on fresh cream, which is not cheap where I live.

So I decided to try using the evaporated milk method. And here's the result.
Taa... daa!!



 
I was happy to find that the end product was soft and could be easily scooped out straight after removing from the freezer without having to leave it to thaw.

I had a quick taste after the short photography session. The verdict: texture is lovely but unfortunately it's a little too sweet for me. Perhaps I should reduce the sugar or add some dark chocolate to balance the sweetness. Next time, then. For those who have a sweet tooth however, this should be a lovely treat. Here's the recipe:

 

Ingredients

1 can ( 400g ) evaporated milk
½ cup soft brown sugar
1 sachet of chocolate malt drink powder (3 in 1)

Instructions:

1. Chill the milk in the fridge overnight.

2. Mix a small amount of the milk with the chocolate malt powder.

3. Pour the rest into a large mixing bowl with the sugar and whip until fluffy.

5. Add in the chocolate malt mix and continue beating.

6. Place the bowl in the freezer for an hour.

7. Pull out from the freezer and whip for 1 minute and back to the freezer.

8. Repeat about 4 times.

9. Place in a container with a lid and store in the freezer.