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Recipes San Francisco

bourbon ice cream with chocolate coated cornflake mix-ins

This recipe was inspired by the “Secret Breakfast” flavor at a local creamery Humphry Slocombe. While I am not quite sure what is in their Secret Breakfast—they don’t call it secret for no reason—this is a close approximation. Accuracy of replication aside, this ice cream is amazing. I only made a half batch because I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out and boy was I sorry. We ate it in two days, and that was stretching it. I recommend you make the full recipe. It is surprisingly good.

The bourbon ice cream is balanced and satisfying. The bourbon flavor comes through but there is no alcohol burn because of the cream. Bourbon and vanilla are just a great combination. Bottom line: this ice cream unadorned is fabulous. I’m also imagining it topped with peaches and caramel and that sounds like heaven. It was also wonderful with the chocolate corn flake mix-ins. The crunch of the corn flakes is delightful. The cornflakes don’t get soggy because of the coating of chocolate that envelopes them. Plus, bourbon and chocolate is also a good idea.

Bourbon Ice Cream with Chocolate Coated Cornflake Mix-Ins, adapted from Lottie + Doof and Humphry Slocombe

For the ice cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups half and half
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 t kosher salt
7 T bourbon
1 T vanilla extract

Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until milk powder dissolves completely. Remove from heat.

Combine egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar, and coarse salt in large bowl; whisk until thick and blended. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and the temperature registers 175°F to 178°F. Remove from heat.

Mix in bourbon and vanilla extract. Refrigerate custard uncovered until cold, stirring occasionally, at least 3 hours.  Custard can be made 1 day ahead.  Note: I didn’t have this much time to refrigerate my custard and the ice cream turned out just fine, but three hours is what the big shots like David Lebovitz recommend.

Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn until the consistency of thick frozen yogurt. This is when you’d want to add in your mix-ins. Continue churning until quite thick. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for a few more hours. Or, if you’re like me, spoon into dishes and enjoy right then.

Chocolate Coated Corn Flakes
1/2 cup corn flakes
1 cup chocolate chips
coarse salt

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over just barely simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, stir in the cornflakes. Coat both sides of the cornflakes and then spread them in a single layer on the baking dish. Put in the freezer to harden the chocolate. Break apart the cornflakes into small bits. These are your mix-ins. They also make a really tasty snack if you happen to make extra.

Honestly, I am obsessed with this ice cream. It was so good. I’ve been dreaming of other desserts to incorporate it into or serve it alongside. There are so many possibilities!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

baking therapy: whole wheat shortbread

I very much enjoying making my food blog rounds, collecting new ideas, ooohhing and ahhhing at all the pretty photos and delicious dishes. There are just so many amazing cooks out there – it’s both intimidating and inspiring! These whole wheat shortbread cookies caught my eye on Lottie + Doof, a fabulous and adventurous mostly baking blog. They were just too adorable (and contained too much butter) not to make. I had high hopes to turn them into nectarine sorbet-shortbread ice cream sandwiches. The sandwiches never happened, but these cookies were wonderful.

Whole Wheat Shortbread, adapted from Lottie + Doof 
2 cups plus 2 T all purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 T whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
16 oz butter, at cool room temperature (I used Strauss Unsalted Butter – it is amazingly creamy and has a great grassy flavor)
3/4 cup sugar
1 t salt
additional sugar for dusting

Heat an oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flours and cornstarch. In standing mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt together. Add the flour mixture and mix just to combine. Be careful not to overmix – you don’t want a tough cookie!

Line several baking sheets with parchment. Roll out the dough on a flour dusted workspace. I rolled mine out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut using cookie cutters into your desired shapes – I choose a round because it was the only cutter I knew its whereabouts. Transfer onto your parchment lined sheets using a thin spatula. The dough is very soft and your meticulously cut shapes can get a little wonky if you’re not careful with them. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until just golden on the edges. Let them cool for a few moments and then dust with sugar. After dusting, let them cool completely on a wire rack and then enjoy!

These cookies are wonderful – so light and delicate and just sweet enough. They are good with sorbet, with coffee, and all by themselves. The recipe makes a lot of dough … I would recommend halving it or saving some of the dough in the freezer for the next time a shortbread craving strikes. If you decide to go the freezer route, let the dough come to cool room temperature before rolling it out and then bake as directed above.

And wow … we’ve had a lot of sweet treat posts in a row. Where’s Jordan to help set this course right?

-Emily