Ice cream! Ice cream!
We've been downloading some of the New York Times TiVoCasts, especially Mark Bittman's The Minimalist. We recently watched him cook up some Cornstarch Ice Cream and were intrigued enough to try it. (If you have a Series 2 TiVo, you can check out the ice cream episode here.)
Our version was reminiscent of Ben & Jerry's Holy Cannoli. I thought it was wicked good.
Cornstarch Ice Cream
Time: 20 minutes, plus chilling
2 1/2 cups light cream, half-and-half or milk (whole or skim), or a combination
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 biscotti (biscotto?), coarsely chopped
2-3 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
Put 2 cups cream, half-and-half or milk, the sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until mixture begins to steam.
In a bowl, blend cornstarch and remaining cream, half-and-half or milk; there should be no lumps. Add cornstarch mixture to pot. Cook, stirring, until it starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes. Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thick. Stir in almond extract.
Cool top part of double-boiler in an ice-water bath, then cover with plastic wrap and stash it in the fridge. Chill until cool, a couple of hours (you can skip this step if you have a machine with a built-in freezer). When cool, pour into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
About 5 minutes before the ice cream is done, add chopped biscotti and chocolate chunks. Let it finish, scoop into a container, and freeze overnight.
Yield: 1 generous pint. (Serves 2.)
Posted by rv at August 20, 2007 05:30 PM to food