No Churn Ice Cream Duo – Anko and Nutella-Chocolate

I haven’t bought any ice cream lately but had cravings so I dug out my last can (10 oz in Canada) of sweetened condensed milk and a container of whipping cream and looked through my ‘meal ideas’ file.

I came up with this Japanese inspired anko (red bean paste) ice cream …

and a decadent Nutella-chocolate ice cream.

Anko Ice Cream – makes 2 cups. Whip 3/4 cup whipping cream in medium sized bowl until forms stiff peaks. In a 2nd medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1 tbsp vodka or other neutral alcohol, and 100 gm coarse anko paste. Gently fold whipping cream into condensed milk mixture until no white areas remain and trying not to deflate the whipping cream. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for 6 hrs or overnight. Serve.

Nutella-chocolate – makes 2 1/2 cups. Replace the anko, from the recipe above, with 1/4 cup of Nutella and add 2-3 tbsp of finely shaved dark chocolate.

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Bread, Loco Moco, Tortillas and Ice Cream

PICSPAM WARNING

I’ve got a backlog of pictures that I wanted to share but couldn’t come up with a good way to tie these disparate items together, so I’m just going to lump them into one post, and let you sort them out.

Since I gave up buying bread at the grocery store, I have to restock whenever I run out of bread in my freezer. And, of course, pizzas are on the roster of regular meals at home or for work lunches.

Instead of making my usual two pizzas, I used half of the dough to make a foguasse, a sort of pull apart French bread. The shaping (leaf-like) is designed for easy tearing and sharing. Or you can just eat it all yourself dipped into a small bowl of herb, sea salt and freshly ground pepper infused extra virgin olive oil. I rolled it out a bit too thinly so by the time I slashed and opened up the dough, it got too thin in some areas. They got crispy rather than remaining puffy and being a sponge for the oil. But I dealt with the hardship.

I turned a small sweet potato, into a loaf of regular sandwich bread (700 gm of dough) and four small (60 gm, pre-bake weight) buns. Two of the buns were used for mini hamburger patties.

The hamburger patties for the buns were leftover from making loco moco. Loco moco is a Hawaiian dish consisting of a bed of hot steamed rice (long or short grain works) topped with a hamburger patty and beef/brown gravy. It is often topped with a fried egg, runny yolk preferred, and served with a side of pasta salad. Two slices of fried Spam may be served along side. I’ve made the classic burger loco moco and one featuring Spam served with eel sauce instead of the beef gravy in the past and it’s a delicious and easy meal to put together.

Loco Moco with hot sauce … runny yolk adds flavour to the rice along with the beef gravy

Flour Tortillas … a version with all purpose flour and masa harina

Chicken fajita with home made flour tortillas and Mexican rice

Top and bottom of tortilla

I wanted something sweet and had a bit of nostalgia for my mom’s favourite ice cream flavour. This was a boozier version than she ever tasted.

Rum and Raisin No Churn Ice Cream

Rum and Raisin No Churn Ice Cream – makes ~2 cups

1/3 cup raisins
2-3 tbsp dark rum
3/4 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Soak raisins in rum for one hour or overnight. Drain off the excess rum and add the raisins to the condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the heavy cream in second large bowl. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk/raisin mixture. Pour into freezer container and freeze for at least 6 hrs or overnight.

No Churn Ice Cream Duo – Cherry Garcia Cheesecake and Black Sesame Seed

I brought home over a kilogram of beautiful sweet ripe cherries and after eating some out of hand, I wondered what I could make with the rest that didn’t involve some sort of baked goods using flour.

Ice cream seemed a perfect solution. I wanted to use as much cherry puree as possible to make the flavour stand out but was afraid that would thin out the ice cream base too much. Since I had a couple of ounces of cream cheese in the fridge, I though the addition would thicken the base, sort of a cheesecake version. And, at the last minute, I added the dark chocolate chunks for a Cherry Garcia cheesecake ice cream.

Cherry Garcia Cheesecake No Churn Ice Cream – recipe makes ~ 4 cups of ice cream

3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp alcohol**
1 tbsp flavouring**
50 gm dark chocolate, cut into rough chunks, or mini chocolate chips
250 gm cherries, pitted (if sour, add 2 tbsp sugar)
57 gm (2 oz) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

** If using an extract with an alcohol base, like vanilla extract or limoncello, as I have in the past, one tbsp of the extract is all you need. In this case, I used 1 tbsp of Kirsch, a cherry flavour liquer.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, flavourings and add ins. (NOTE: For the first attempt, I added the cream cheese, sugar and Kirsch to the bowl of a food processor and processed them together until the cream cheese was smooth. Then I added the sweetened condensed milk and the pitted cherries and pulsed them together briefly, scraped down the sides and pulsed the contents again. You want to leave some chunks. Turn out into a medium sized bowl. If you’ve pureed your cherries too much, pit and roughly chop 5-6 cherries and add them to the bowl.) Add the chunks of chocolate to your bowl of cherries.

In a medium sized bowl, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

Add about 1/4 of the whipped cream to the bowl of cherry flavoured sweetened condensed milk to lighten it up and then fold this mixture into the rest of the whipping cream, trying to deflate the whipped cream as little as possible.

Transfer the ice cream gently into a lidded 4 cup freezer safe/Tupperware container. Freeze for AT LEAST 6 hrs or overnight before serving. For maximum creamy texture, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for about 10-15 min before scooping.

And so that the rest of the can of sweetened condensed milk wouldn’t end up in the freezer, I wanted to make a second flavour. In contrast with the sweet fruitiness of the cherry ice cream, I decided on a simple black sesame seed ice cream. The flavour is subtle and the slight bitterness of the toasted and ground sesame seeds tones down the sweetness of the basic no churn recipe.

Black Sesame Seed No Churn Ice Cream Recipe – 3/4 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1 1/2-2 tbsp toasted ground black sesame seeds, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, pinch of salt. Makes a bit over 2 cups of ice cream.

A Comfort Meal for Christmas … Pot Roast

Cooking for one is a challenge during the holidays. You want something special but an elaborate spread is time consuming and can be expensive. The roast below was economical and the long braising time turned a tough piece of beef into a tender and tasty main course.

The outside roast I cooked was small (1.2 kg) so the cooking time was shorter than in the recipe that inspired it. And, while it was braising, there was plenty of time to make the side dishes. I added some new, Christmas-inspired, treats to the meal to make it special.

Purchased Egg nog with a shot of brandy and a grating of fresh nutmeg

Pot Roast, mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes, pot veggies and salad

Mincemeat No-Churn Ice Cream and Mincemeat Kolach

The mincemeat ice cream was a simple variation of the cranberry sauce one I made a while ago. To save time, I’ve posted the recipe below.

Mincemeat No-Churn Ice Cream – makes 3 1/2 – 4 cups

3/4 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup mincemeat, plus another tbsp or 2 for marbling
1 tbsp brandy

In a large cold bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, brandy and the mincemeat.

Add a scoop or two of the whipped cream to the bowl with the sweetened condensed milk and fold in to lighten the mixture. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream as gently as possible.

Scoop half of the ice cream mixture into a freezer safe container. Place several dollops of mincemeat over the ice cream. Scoop the rest of the ice cream mixture into the container. Place a few more dollops of mincemeat over the top. With a butter knife gently marble the mincemeat into the ice cream. Put the lid on the container and place into freezer for a minimum of 8 hrs or overnight.

Cranberry Sauce Variation: Replace the mincemeat in the recipe above with home made or jarred cranberry sauce. Use whatever alcohol you prefer … Cointreau or Grand Marnier bring out the orange notes in the cranberry sauce recipe I used.

Cooking the pot roast – The roast is seasoned with salt and pepper and seared before continuing with the rest of the braise.

The pot roast was tender after 3 hrs but it could have been cooked for another half hour if desired.

Mushroom gravy made with sauteed white mushrooms and strained braising liquid.

Technique: No Churn Ice Cream (Cranberry Sauce)

I’ve posted this recipe/technique of making ice cream, without an ice cream maker, before. However, I thought I’d give it another look before the holidays, when an easy make-ahead dessert might be just what you want. Especially if you have some leftover cranberry sauce. You may even want to make some cranberry sauce just so you can make this.

All you need is whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk (though you CAN use sweetened cream of coconut as well), alcohol (about 1 tbsp per batch) and flavourings. And at least six hours in the freezer.

Small Batch No Churn Ice Cream – recipe makes ~ 3-4 cups of ice cream, more depending on the bulk of add-ins

3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp alcohol**
1 tbsp flavouring**

** If using an extract with an alcohol base, like vanilla extract or limoncello, as I have in the past, one tablespoon of the extract is all you need.

Variations:

Fruit – fruit purees or preserve, shredded coconut, curd (lemon, lime, orange, raspberry etc), fruit liquer ie Kirsch, Cointreau/Grand Marnier
Chocolate – cocoa powder, chocolate or fudge sauce, Nutella, chocolate liquer ie Bailey’s, Bols, De Kuyper, chocolate bars
Coffee – espresso powder, coffee liqueur ie Tia Maria, Kahlua, Patron for a tequila base
Nuts and seeds – coarsely or finely chopped, peanut butter, Nutella, sesame seeds (tahini), chocolate bars
Cheesecake – softened cream cheese or mascarpone may be combined with the sweetened condensed milk for a denser ice cream

Special Category:

Seasonal favourites – pumpkin pie, egg nog, cranberry sauce

Cranberry Sauce No Churn Ice Cream Ingredients – 3/4 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1 tbsp brandy, 1/2 cup home made cranberry sauce, plus another 1/4 cup cranberry sauce to swirl through the ice cream.

Reader Challenge:

Replicate your favourite chocolate bar (ie Thin Mints, Cadbury creme egg), cookie (ie Samoas, Oreos) or other dessert (ie tiramisu, apple pie) in ice cream form, like the Ferrero Rocher chocolates I made a while ago. Share a link to a picture on your own site.

Small Batch No Churn Ice Cream – Deconstructed Ferrero Rocher and Lemon Curd & Limoncello Cheesecake

ETA (07/21/2017): Replaced both the Ferrero Rocher and lemon curd scoop pictures.

For ice cream lovers without an ice cream maker or a large amount of freezer space, and a love for different flavours of ice cream, a small batch of no churn ice cream may be the solution. Especially as this type of ice cream is so VERY rich and a 1/2 cup serving is enough to satisfy most people. I picked two very different flavours of ice cream to cater to different cravings.

For Chocolate Hazelnut/Nutella Lovers – Deconstructed Ferrero Rocher Ice Cream

I wanted to buy some of the actual chocolates, chop them up and stir them into a Nutella flavoured ice cream but they didn’t have any at the grocery store so I was forced to use the elements for a ‘deconstructed’ version.

Deconstructed Ferrero Rocher Ice Cream – makes ~3 cups

3/4 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
50 gm coarsely chopped hazelnuts (filberts), reserve a teaspoon or so of nuts for decorating the top
1/2 cup Nutella
1 tbsp rye whiskey vanilla extract
1/4 cup (or more) fudge sauce** (or Nutella if you don’t have any fudge or chocolate sauce)

** I used Martha Stewart’s recipe

In a large cold bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

In a second large bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk with the Nutella until smooth. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts.

Fold the stiff cream into the sweetened condensed milk/Nutella/nut mixture.

Spoon half the ice cream mixture into a freezer safe container. Smooth the surface. Dot several half teaspoons of fudge sauce over the surface of the ice cream. Add the rest of the ice cream mixture. Drizzle some more fudge sauce over the ice cream

Sprinkle the reserved nuts over the top.

NOTE: Next time, I won’t line the container with saran wrap as it fell into the ice cream and got all messy. I was TRYING to keep the container neat.

Cover the container tightly with a lid or a sheet of foil and place into freezer for a minimum of 8 hrs or overnight.

For Citrus Lovers – Lemon Curd & Limoncello Cheesecake Ice Cream

I wanted the bright citrus hit of lemons so I used my home made lemon curd to flavour the ice cream. The Limoncello I made a few years ago provided the liqueur in the recipe, and, because it just wasn’t rich and creamy enough with the whipping cream, in an adaptation of an earlier blueberry version, I added cream cheese to make it similar to a cheesecake.

Lemon Curd & Limoncello Cheesecake Ice Cream – makes ~3 1/2-4  cups

3/4 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 oz/85 gm cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 tbsp Limoncello
1/3-1/2 cup lemon curd, divided

In a large cold bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

In a second large bowl, whip the cream cheese until smooth and then beat in the  sweetened condensed milk and the Limoncello.

Stir in a few tablespoons of the lemon curd.

Fold the stiff cream into the cream cheese/sweetened condensed milk/lemon curd mixture.

Spoon half the ice cream mixture into a freezer safe container. Smooth the surface. Dot several half teaspoons of lemon curd over the surface of the ice cream. With a wooden skewer or chopstick, marble the curd through the ice cream.

Add the rest of the ice cream mixture and flatten the top. Dot some more lemon curd over the top of the ice cream and marble through as before.

Cover the container tightly with a lid or a sheet of foil and place into freezer for a minimum of 8 hrs or overnight.

No-Churn Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I’ve been doing some more freezer diving lately as a way of keeping grocery costs down and because the frost layer is pretty thick and I really NEED to defrost the poor thing. So, my recycled meals have been quick, tasty and filling (and, of course, economical) but not exactly post worthy. I’ll post a summary of this month’s meals shortly.

While rooting around in the depths, I ran across a clam-shell of blueberries, bought on sale a couple of months ago, and debated on lemon blueberry pound cake or muffins. I went with a no-churn blueberry cheesecake ice cream. The sweetened condensed milk (bought during the Xmas baking sales), along with the heavy whipping cream, will also help to clear out the fridge and pantry.

ETA: Sorry for the ‘not pretty’ picture below. I kept meaning to take a nicer one and then just devoured the rest of the ice cream without taking a single picture. (OOPS!!)

No-Churn Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream – makes ~4 cups

Ice cream base

NOTE: Recipe measures after the slash are based on using the smaller CDN can (300 ml) of sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream/ ~ 1 1/2 cups
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk/ 1 CDN can (10oz)
7 oz cream cheese, room temperature/ 5 oz
2 tsp vanilla extract / ~1 1/2 tsp

Blueberry swirl

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Making the fruit swirl:

Combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pan over medium-high heat. Cook until the berries burst and release juices. You can crush some of the berries with your spoon or spatula to release more juices.

Let the berry mixture simmer for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens. Remove the pan from the heat, pour into a bowl, and stick your bowl in the fridge to chill. This is a good make ahead and the leftover ‘sauce’ makes a good topping for ice cream or pancakes.

Making the ice cream base:

In a VERY large bowl, beat your cream cheese with an electric mixer fitted with whisk/beater attachments until smooth.

Slowly add condensed milk and vanilla extract, and whisk the mixture until smooth.

Add the heavy cream and keep whisking until stiff peaks form. (This will take longer than usual due to the other ingredients. About 10 minutes is my estimate.) Spoon about half of your whipped cream mixture into a standard sized loaf pan.

Remove your chilled berry sauce from the fridge and spoon about half of it over your whipped cream mixture in the loaf pan. Blobs of sauce work. Don’t worry about making it pretty.

Cover with your remaining whipped cream mixture, and top with the rest of the berry mixture. Use a butter knife to drag/swirl your blueberry mixture into your cream mixture.

Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil, and stick it in the freezer for about 6 hours, or until ice cream is firm enough to scoop. For a faster set, make the ice cream in 2 containers.

No Churn Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

I’m reposting this recipe by itself cause too many people seem to have missed it in its original Canada Day posting and it deserves a second look. I’m adding a couple of new pictures as well.

It was too blah and gray to bbq so I made chicken cutlets out of some of the boneless and skinless chicken breasts I bought on sale yesterday and served them with roasted potato wedges and a classic mojito. I finished the meal with no churn ice cream.

I’ve made ice cream before using the classic cooked egg custard and my inexpensive ice cream maker. It was very tasty, but time consuming to make, since you need to pre-chill your freezer container for a MINIMUM of 24 hrs…72 is much better. And you have to make your custard mixture the day before and refrigerate it at least overnight before churning it.

As with no-knead bread, I thought the concept seemed too good to be true. All you need is sweetened condensed milk, whipping/heavy cream and flavourings. And time, of course. You have to let your mixture freeze for at least 6 hours or all you get is a milkshake.

I had a can of dulce de leche flavoured sweetened condensed milk, that I bought on sale a while ago, in the pantry … which would save having to buy the plain version. So I gave it a try.

After all, ice cream and summer go together.

Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream – 4 cups

350 ml (1 1/2 cups) cold whipping cream
250 ml (1 cup) dulce de leche-flavoured sweetened condensed milk
30 ml (2 tbsp) bourbon or whiskey
5 ml (1 tsp) pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, starting at low and gradually increasing speed to medium-high, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

In medium bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, bourbon and vanilla extract. Gently but thoroughly fold whipped cream into the milk mixture, being careful not to deflate the cream. You can start by stirring in about a cup to lighten the condensed milk mixture and then fold in the rest.

Spoon the mixture into a metal loaf pan or any freezer-safe container, lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream and freeze for 6 hours or overnight. You can drizzle additional dulce de leche over the ice cream as you pour it into the container. In Canada, a can of dulce de leche contains 300 ml, so you’ll have about 50 ml to play with.

NOTE: I used 2 tbsp of my whiskey vanilla bean extract in place of the liquor/vanilla combo. I tried to fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture as carefully as possible in order not to deflate it but I lost a LOT of volume. Hopefully you’ll do better.