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| Glorious cone! |
My inspiration for this recipe belongs to these two recipes, what I've done is a hybrid of the 2, with less sugar. I also used less raisins because I had some blondie bits to put in too (otherwise I may have used closer to a half cup). The method is very similar (exactly) like the joy of baking website.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rum-Raisin-Ice-Cream-4529
RUM RAISIN ICE CREAM
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| Some ingredients..cream, sugar, egg yolk |
1/2C packed brown sugar
5 egg yolks
2 1/2C half and half cream
1t vanilla
1/3C dark rum
1/3C raisins
2/3C blondies (I had some leftover, see recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/Blondies.html)
2 1/2C half and half cream
1t vanilla
1/3C dark rum
1/3C raisins
2/3C blondies (I had some leftover, see recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/Blondies.html)
The process - PART 1
- Combine the rum and raisins in a small pot on medium heat, gently warm mixture for about 5 minutes until warm to the touch. Place mixture in glass bowl or measuring cup and cover. (Do this in advance if you can, 2 hours steeping time is a good minimum). We're soaking the raisins for a few reasons, mostly so they don't end up hardening in the ice cream mix, and of course for the amazing flavour.
- Combine the rum and raisins in a small pot on medium heat, gently warm mixture for about 5 minutes until warm to the touch. Place mixture in glass bowl or measuring cup and cover. (Do this in advance if you can, 2 hours steeping time is a good minimum). We're soaking the raisins for a few reasons, mostly so they don't end up hardening in the ice cream mix, and of course for the amazing flavour.
- Get a large saucepan, and fill a couple of inches, let the water simmer (make sure it can accommodate your egg yolk bowl as a double boiler). Don't put too much water in here. When you are 'double boiling' the water cannot touch the bottom of the top bowl or else your custard will ruin. It will, because I've done it.
- Take your cream, place in another pot or saucepan and put on medium heat until it reaches the scalding point (begins to foam up). Remove from heat. Don't let it boil forever, once you see those bubbles and foam, kill it.
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| The whipped yolks and sguar |
- Meanwhile....Whisk or beat the egg yolks and sugar in a good sized metal bowl for about 2-3 min until well blended and fluffy. Fluffy is relative, but it's neat to see just how much air yolks can take.
- Temper your egg mix with the cream. Add a little bit of cream and whisk in, gradually add all of the cream to the egg mix and whisk constantly to blend. If it ends up chunking up on you a bit, simply strain the mix.
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| Coat the spoon test when making the custard |
- Place your egg/cream mix over the saucepan of simmering water and cook the custard stirring regularly until it coats a spoon (see picture). There is a degree register for this as well - see the joy of baking recipe for specific degrees. This part takes longer than you want, and the top may be a bit foamy, don't worry, that's normal.
- MEANWHILE - make an ice water bath in a slightly larger bowl than your egg yolk bowl. Once your custard is ready, place it in the ice water bath and continue to stir for about 5 minutes. What this does is it prevents the custard from overcooking and helps expedite the cooling process. Add the vanilla at this point.
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| Give it a nice cold bath |
- At this point you may want to transfer your mix into a lidded glass container. Leave the mixture on the counter until it comes to room temperature, loosely covered. This, again, will take longer than you want, probably at least an hour. The reason I suggest a lidded container is to check and see if condensation is forming on the lid (which is not sealed btw, I said loosely covered). Once it is no longer forming condensation, you're ready for the fridge.
- Add your rum and raisins, at this point they should be nice and plump. Stir the mix.
The process - PART 2
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| The mixer setup with the bowl |
- Make sure you have a plastic spatula/scraper and your custard mix on the ready. Have a clean bowl, and a second spatula handy (just incase you lose track of the other one! ha)
- Get a 4 cup plastic container and put it in the freezer. If you have a previously used plastic container from actual store bought ice cream, these work well too!
- Get out the churner and set it up on your stand mixer (don't fiddle with this, do it quickly! Each minute it's out of the freezer is a minute it gets warmer and doesn't help your custard) The ice cream bucket I have for the kitchenaid mixer fits all sorts of models, they have several adapters to put it in place. You will note the bowl as well as a special plastic attachment - this thing spins around and pumps air into the mix while it freezes.
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| Using the spill guard, it churns away |
- Turn on your mixer BEFORE adding the custard, you want to put it on 'stir' level (basically the lowest mixing level on the mixer). Any higher than this you're doing no good, the custard needs contact with the sides and bottom of the bowl to freeze, go to fast and the mix won't form right.
- Gradually add your mix to the bowl, I have an plastic ingredient cap with my mixer which Adam bought for me, genius gift, because I use it almost each time I use this stand mixer. it helps avoid mess.
- Now we have to wait again. It will need to churn for about 20 minutes or so. Now, if you hear the mixer struggling, that means it's ready which may be before 20 minutes. In the case of this ice cream, it has a low freeze which I like to say, that's because of the booze - so it will basically look like a chunky fast food milkshake when it's ready. Frozen yogurt I find and sherbet tend to mix really really well and have almost hard consistency coming out of the machine (so are often great to try as your first recipes, because it will boost confidence in the proccess.
- Meanwhile...cut up your blondies. Now, you don't need these, I had some leftover from a recipe I made a short while ago. When doing cookie/brownie/candy etc add-ins for ice cream you want them to be cold so they don't break down churning or stirring, so pop 'em in the freezer after chopping. Fruit is different though, don't add frozen berries to your ice cream, you want fresh (or else you'll have ice cream with berries as hard as rocks). Dried fruit should soak in something so it plumps up. Throw these in with your mix a few minutes before time is up.
- Once time is up you need to work quickly here. Take your cold storage dish out of the freezer. Stop your machine and remove bowl with churning mechanism and all, go over to your cold storage dish. Take out the mixer mechanism (let it drip) and place into your reserved clean bowl. Work quickly to pour, scoop, scrape the contents of your mixture into your cold storage bowl, it will be awkward and some of it will melt. Use your spatula to get the excess from your mixer component as well. DO NOT USE ANY METAL in the mixer bowl, EVER EVER EVER. It will scratch it and you don't want that, since it will affect how ice cream churns and freezes. Get that stuff in the freezer!!!!
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| See it form, this one looks like a chunky milkshake |
- Now you have to wait again, depending on the consistency of your mix before throwing it in the freezer. It could 'ripen' in an hour, it might take 4 or 5. If it's a bit on the soupy or milkshake consistency side, you might want to stir the mix after about an hour in the freezer to ensure even distribution of any mix-ins, as well to help freeze the contents.
Alright, so 2 days later NOW YOU EAT IT.
IT IS REALLY GOOD.
The verdict and cooks notes:I'd either use heavier cream combo or another egg yolk if I did this again. Because of the booze in this ice-cream it is of it's most benefit and its drawback too! I'll explain: The alcohol makes the ice cream not freeze as hard as a rock, which is often a risk with homemade stuff, so this is great because it has excellent scoopability. But because it modifies how ice cream normally freezes, the mouth-feel texture isn't as smooth as I'd like. The flavour though, is exceptional. 9/10.
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