The White Ramekins

food & photography

Coffee Ice Cream & A New Perspective Where Art & Coffee Meet

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Coffee Ice Cream 2

I love both coffee and tea equally. But generally, I try to avoid having both on a regular basis. But a coffee ice cream is something I can’t stop dreaming about. It’s my second favorite flavor after vanilla. I keep on trying with new flavors, when it comes to ice creams, but there is something beyond exquisite thing about your classic favorites, which make you keep going back to them.

Coffee Ice Cream 3

The easiest and the no churn coffee ice cream, I made somewhere last year was this Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream. That had me into submission, totally. It was a genius of David Lebovitz. A true Perfect Scoop! Easily doable yet nonetheless fantastic! Next one I wanted to try his another custard based version, but I didn’t have any ice cream maker at home. And I kept myself satisfied with the no-churn one and forgot about the other.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian

The other one was deeply buried somewhere down my brain, until recently, when my coffee experience got richer at one of the New Perspective series initiated by Le Meridien, New Delhi. It was when dark sensuous coffee met finer arts on a wet rainy afternoon. The weather couldn’t have been any better.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian 1

It definitely called for a perfectly brewed sip of one of the finer creations of the Italian brew master Nicola Scognamiglio, who is also a barista trainer at Illy Coffee’s Asia Pacific division. It’s the art of brewing coffee, which the coffee expert teaches at the University Del Caffee. We got lucky enough to hear some of his great thoughts about brewing coffee and a deeper insight into the subject.

Coffee Ice Cream 4

The facts that, the milk should only be warmed up to 60 degree C, not scorching boiling, otherwise it will caramelize the sugar in milk and will give a different flavor to the coffee.  We tried three of Nicola’s wonderful creations. Marocchino Caldo, Espresso Greco and Cappuccino Freddo. Marocchino Caldo, espresso with hot thick chocolate, cocoa and milk, was the one which suited my taste buds. It basically reminded me of the coffee we used to have in old times, generously sprinkled with sweet cocoa.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian 2

But this wasn’t enough for that afternoon. Artists Suddhasattva Basu’s artistic creations were yet to be experienced, while we sipped through some of the finest coffee concoctions.  His art represented the nature in form of  sacred garden, lotus leaves, flowers, aqua life, birds. Birds sitting on benches in garden almost made me feel, as if I can hear their sweet chirping. It was such a live art.

Coffee Ice Cream 1

An amazing blend of coffee and art really made my day and on the plus side my coffee love grew stronger. So much so, I ended up churning this coffee ice cream the very next day. Many thanks to Anasuya Basu and Meena Bhatia from Le Meridien for organizing this wonderful afternoon.

Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe minimally adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Yields: more than a pint

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup whole coffee beans
pinch of salt
1/4 cup mascarpone {at room temprature}, {click here for homemade recipe}
1 1/2 cup low fat cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp finely ground coffee

Instructions

  1. Warm the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt and 1/2 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
  2. Rewarm the coffee-infused milk mixture. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
  4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.. Strain the custard through a strainer and stir into the cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible, then discard the beans.
  5. Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes on room temperature. Mix in the vanilla, finely ground coffee and mascarpone, after the mixture is slightly cooled.
  6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze in freezer, until ready to serve.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream {Egg Free}

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Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream

I am kinda hooked on to this egg free ice cream base, which Jeni of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home has discovered. And why not, it’s super easy, free of hassle to cook the custard perfectly and nonetheless creamier than an egg based ice cream. And it comes without eggs, so you can feed it to a larger set of people and make them happy.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream 4

This is my third attempt at her ice cream base, and I am a fan! I made lychee ice cream and mango and blueberry popsicle s {I didn’t write about those popsicles, we gobbled them up fast before I could take pictures} using the glorious base and they were super fun!

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream 2

This time I took a recipe from her book and made this roasted strawberries and buttermilk ice cream. A delish way to use the last of the strawberries stash from the freezer. In fact, I had reserved them for making an ice cream only {even before I bought her book}.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream 3

Roasting the strawberries concentrated the flavor, with evaporating some of the water. And a touch of lemon juice and buttermilk helped drawing out the subtle tartness of the fruit. One spoon full of this luscious ice cream, and you are straight into the spring heaven.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream 1

There is nothing like a homemade ice cream. The one which is devoid of any artificial colors or essence. You can play around with ingredients, flavors, fruits, veggies or for that matter even herbs. Yeah, a basil ice cream next has been playing on mind. Till then, enjoy this lovely full of spring roasted strawberries ice cream.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream 5

Ingredients

Roasted Strawberries:

250 gm strawberries (hulled and sliced)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Ice Cream Base:

1 1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp cream cheese (I used Amul cream cheese spread)
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cup low fat cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 degree C. Combine the sugar in glass or ceramic baking dish, stirring gently to mix well. Roast for 8 minutes or until just soft (increase the roasting time by 5 minutes, if using frozen strawberries). Let cool slightly.
  2. Puree the strawberries with lemon juice in a food processor.
  3. For ice cream base, mix about 2 tbsp of milk with corn starch in a small bowl to make a slurry.
  4. Whisk together cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.
  5. Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, honey in a sauce pan and bring to rolling boil over medium high heat and boil for 4 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to boil and boil over medium high heat and cook stirring about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
  7. Gradually whisk in the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Let the mixture come to room temperature.
  8. Add the strawberry puree and buttermilk and mix well. Chill it in fridge, at least 5 hours or overnight.
  9. Freeze the ice cream in ice cream maker as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Store in freezer for another 4 hours before serving.

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds

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Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds

This has occurred to me previously too. A certain syndrome or phenomenon, whatever you might want to name it. That everything’s been running smoothly and peacefully on a steady pace. No hiccups, no hurdles. Almost reaching to a stage of complacency {read getting used to the ease of life here}. That peace and smoothness starts taking  it’s own toll. And slowly starts killing the creative being inside me.

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds 2

The inner me wants to surge out like ASAP, knowing that something’s not happening right. But it takes it’s own time.  Not sure, if this could be a reason I am somehow not able to conjure up my thoughts here and hence I have been finding reasons to stay away from this space. In fact, I have been talking to a close friend about this, but all I could put forward was a bunch of lame excuses. Though, I have been spending a lot of my time in kitchen besides work, churning, whipping, baking, cooking. Every time I  cooked and shot, I fell short of thoughts, that kept me away from all you lovely folks. {I know, all this blabbering sounds so lame…ain’t it!}. Yeah, I am still trying to figure this out. OK…I can’t burden you anymore with all this non-sense silly talk.

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds 5

Let’s talk about food, for the reason you and me are here. So, I ordered this wonderful and literally splendid book on frozen desserts, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, a couple of weeks before. I went through all the recipes in the book, like I always do, as soon as I open the book for the first time. The way Jeni’s found a unique way of creating artisan american ice creams in home kitchens, is awe inspiring. And all that astonishingly yummy stuff is minus eggs.

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds 3

I fell in love with her ice cream base instantaneously. And I knew, which flavor I was going to make first. This one is not from her book, rather my own imagination fired by the abundance of this in-season fragrantly sweet juicy plump Lychee fruit. And for the Jeni’s ice cream base, I used all local produce. Made me all the more happy. Mother liked this one a lot, specially knowing that this was en egg-free dessert she could relish.

Her recipe uses cream cheese and double cream, which I replaced with locally available cream cheese spread and low fat cream (Amul). And I served the ice cream with some crushed praline almonds and that doubled up the joy of the most splendid ice cream, made at home.

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds 4

Lychee Ice Cream With Praline Almonds 1

Recipe adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
2 1/4 cup low fat cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 cup Lychee pulp, divided

Instructions

  1. Take half of the lychee pulp and puree it in a blender or food processor and let it chill in fridge.
  2. Chop remaining lychee pulp and spread on a shallow glass dish and freeze.
  3. Mix about 2 tbsp of milk with corn starch in a small bowl to make a slurry.
  4. Whisk together cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.
  5. Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, honey in a sauce pan and bring to rolling boil over medium high heat and boil for 4 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to boil and boil over medium high heat and cook stirring about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
  7. Gradually whisk in the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Let the mixture come to room temperature. Chill it in fridge, stirring in between.
  8. Add the lychee puree to the ice cream mixture once cooled completely and chill the mixture completely until ready to make the ice cream.
  9. Freeze the ice cream n the ice cream maker as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Mix in the frozen lychee bits, just before ice cream is about to be ready in the ice cream maker. Store in freezer. Top with chopped praline almonds, while serving.

Praline Almonds

Ingredients

60 ml water
100 gm sugar
135 gm whole almonds
1/8 tsp coarse salt

Instructions

  1. Mix the water, sugar and almonds in a sauce pan. Put the pan on a medium high heat and cool, stirring constantly with a spoon, until sugar dissolves and liquid dissolves.
  2. Lower the heat to medium and continue cooking until the liquid crystallizes and becomes sandy. Very soon the crystals of sugar at the bottom of pan will begin to liquify. Stir the dark syrup at the bottom of pan over the nuts to coat them. Continue stirring and coating the nuts until the almonds are glazed and have a bit glossy and shiny skin.  Remove from heat and sprinkle the salt and scatter in a baking tray lined with silicon mat. Let cool completely. Break up the clusters if they stick to each other, once the nuts have completely cooled.