The easiest ice cream recipe in the world

The easiest ice cream recipe in the world

Wednesday 10 April 2013

When the sun in shining, all I want is ice cream. Actually, when the rain is falling, all I want is ice cream. When the moon is in the sky, all I want is ice cream. Just take it as a given that I will always want ice cream. 

My craving hit some pretty high points when I was reading Vagabond Language the other day, which featured a rundown of the best gelato in Florence. Man, do I love gelato. I adore seeing it piled high in Italian windows, choosing a flavour and getting it in a little cup. Love it. There's actually a great gelateria in Sligo town, Fabio's. Well worth a visit. 

But the other day, I wasn't in Sligo. I was at home, and I wanted ice cream, dammit. I don't have an ice cream machine, and was looking for an easy recipe I could do without one. I was even prepared take it out every 20 minutes to whisk it, such was my dedication. 

Luckily, I stumbled on an amazingly simple recipe from David Lebovitz. An ice cream guru, Lebovitz has a website full of beautiful looking gelatos and desserts. But this one stuck out to me. Invented by accident, it uses alcohol to somehow prevent it freezing too hard and forming ice crystals, which means you don't have to constantly whisk while freezing.

It also means that you're basically eating a cocktail. Which had the pleasant side effect of curing me of my mild Sunday hangover. Sugar + hair of the dog + heaven. 

This could easily pass as a great dessert for a dinner party. But it's probably more effective eaten alone, in pajamas, in front of some shit on the TV. 

The Easiest Chocolate Ice Cream Ever

Recipe taken from David Lebovitz, Ready for Dessert

Ingredients

55g dark chocolate (though I actually used Galaxy, and that was good. Dark would be richer, obviously)

80ml milk

80ml Baileys

1 tablespoon rum

1 medium banana

Melt the chocolate and milk in a pyrex bowl over barely simmering water. Keep an eye on it, because burnt chocolate is the worst. You could probably just pour the chocolate into hot milk and stir off the heat, and it would melt. Either way. 

Mix the booze in.

Mash up the banana and put it all in the blender. What you're left with is a boozy smelling milkshake. 

Pour it all into a Tupperware container and freeze for 4 hours. IT'S THAT EASY. The recipe says that you can get 4 - 6 scoops out of it, but I had two helpings. Generous ones, admittedly, but still. If you were serving 4 people I would double the quantities. When I first took it out of the freezer it was deliciously smooth. A few days later when I ate the rest, it was a little harder in consistency. So I would recommend making it 4 hours before you plan on eating it. 

I smothered mine in butterscotch sauce, because I had some in the fridge. And I wanted it, dammit. Melt 1 part butter with 2 parts muscovado sugar and 2 parts cream. Eat in the dark with a spoon.