The White Ramekins

food & photography

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream {Egg Free}

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Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Scorching sun these days doesn’t seem to show any mercy on us and it is just the beginning and temperature has already started touching 43 degree C here. But it is quite natural for us. In fact both mind and body are kind of getting prepared for the intense hot days which are about to come. How interesting it is, no? That is the beauty of nature, gradually all your surroundings seem to be so adaptable, however hostile the condition be. And it is not just nature, I have observed this phenomenon of adaptability along various different walks of life. Be it work, or be it your friends or family. A pain from a long observed hardship which never seems to end suddenly start diminishing. But is that really the truth? Is the pain really starts to go off? May be yes or may be not. But whatever it is, the endurance to bear the pain definitely sees an uptick. And that is what matters the most. You become all the more stronger and better prepared for even harder situation to come. And I believe the same phenomenon can very easily be applied to the weather condition and how body adapts to suit itself.

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

I am leaving you all here with this thought {hoping, at least some of my gibberish would have made sense to you} and a delightful yet easy Strawberry sour cream ice cream recipe adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. It’s a wonderful concoction of very berry strawberries and the tangy sour cream, which suite themselves so well. Try it!

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients

450 gm fresh/frozen strawberries {thawed if frozen}
250 gm sour cream
250 ml low fat cream {can use heavy cream, if you like}
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar

Directions

  1. Slice the strawberries and toss them with sugar in a bowl and let them macerate for about an hour.
  2. Pulse all the ingredients including strawberries in a food processor or blender 3-4 times, until almost smooth, but still slightly chunky.
  3. Refrigerate mixture in a bowl for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight.
  4. Freeze in the ice cream maker, as per manufacturer’s instructions.
  5. Serve it with fresh sliced strawberries and some strawberry compote, if you like.

 

Alfajores, Dulce De Leche Sandwich Shortbread Cookies

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Alfajores

With winters on full bloom, and with holiday season on, it’s time to spend sweet moments with family and friends. This is the season of spreading love and joy, of indulging into all your sweet desires. And not at all a time to worry about anything. Winters to me is not just about those chilling days and nights when sun doesn’t show up for days, but it is more than that. It’s about getting cuddled under the warmth of quilt, munching onto peanuts, carrot halwa and sipping into hot comforting soups. It’s also about chit chatting with family and friends for hours, when most of us have taken off from work, just to be with each other. And when we chat for long long hours, it has to be accompanied with some great food and quick munchies. And to me, cookies are the best things to be traveled and shared and I have been on a cookie baking spree this month.  I baked some brownie cookies with festive season cut outs, like gingerbread men, snowflakes, pine trees and stars {will share the recipe sometime soon}.  And I also baked some easy quick shortbread cookies and sandwiched them with the leftover dulce de leche from roasted banana ice cream, I made during fall. These kind of sandwich cookies are known as Alfajores, and are particularly from the region of Latin America. As dry fruits and nuts mark become essential for the winters, I rolled the edges of cookies into some finely chopped toasted almonds, to make them more festive. They taste better the next day, they are made as the cookies become softer with dulce de leche sandwiched in between.

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Ingredients

260 grams all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
200 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
60 grams confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Around 1 1/2 cup dulce de leche {click here for homemade recipe}
Around 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted

Directions

  1. In a bowl, whisk the flour and salt and keep aside. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Beat in the sugar and vanilla extract. Gently beat in the flour, until incorporated.
  2. Wrap the dough into a cling film and flatten and chill for an hour, until firm.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until 1/4 inch thick. Using the lightly floured 2 inched round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place on baking sheet. Bake for 7 – 10 minutes, until browned on the edges. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
  5. Take two cookies and sandwich them with heaping tablespoon of dulce de leche such that dulce the leche oozes out slightly from the edges. Roll the cookie edges into toasted nuts and store in an airtight container in fridge.

Diwali Wishes & Chocolate Fudge

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With celebrations and festivities of Diwali this year, our family got together and we made sweets at home, exchanged gifts and lit up the entire house with diyas and lights  and ultimately had lots of fun.  I am leaving you with this beautiful, luscious and creamy yet easy chocolate fudge recipe, which is egg free too.

A very happy and prosperous Diwali to all you lovely readers.

xo

Chocolate Fudge Chocolate Fudge Chocolate Fudge Chocolate Fudge Chocolate Fudge

Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

400 gm dark chocolate
1 tin (400 gm) condensed milk
1 1/2 cup nuts {almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts, pistachios etc.}
2 tsp vanilla extract
30 gm unsalted butter

Directions

  1. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and keep aside.
  2. Roast the nuts in a pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool. Once cooled, chop the nuts roughly.
  3. Combine the condensed milk, chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a double boiler with simmering water.
  4. Melt the chocolate mixture stirring frequently, making sure the mixture doesn’t get too hot or the fudge may be grainy. Stir it until smooth {it will be fairly thick}.
  5. Remove from heat and mix in the chopped nuts {reserving some to sprinkle over top later} and vanilla extract.
  6. Pour and spread the mixture into prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle over the remaining nuts.
  7. Let cool on room temperature, this may take several hours.
  8. Carefully remove the fudge from the pan by lifting the edges of the foil. With a long, sharp knife cut the fudge into one inch pieces. Store in the refrigerator.