Round the Campfire: S’more Ice Cream
Go with your instinct, always follow that little niggle that have that something isn’t quite right, or how it should be and always strive to create that image you’ve had in your mind. It doesn’t matter if you’ll have to buy more ingredients or if you’ve just ditched a tub of almost edible ice cream, my point is you can achieve what you’ve aspired to create just persevere and work hard.
The first time I made this ice cream it didn’t set 100% properly. It was of that soft serve/runny consistency and whilst it tasted good, it was a tad bitter and it made my tummy ache. You also learn certain things when they don’t work out that you can improve on and rectify. One of those is not to over brown the marshmallows. They can turn your ice cream a dull brown shade and also take on a certain bitterness. Tummy ache inducing bitterness.
You guy’s deserve better than a recipe that I wasn’t happy sharing. Something delicious, worthy of getting your sweat on a gym just so you can come back and enjoy a scoopful or two. You’ll take that first bite, close your eyes and exclaim..wow!
It’s made up of a couple of processes but those are easily achievable and can be made ahead of time. Give yourself a day from start to finish to make this ice cream and then possibly leave it to firm up over night as mine was rather runny even after churning. That was a concern of mine that my base was too runny, but it’s firmed up wonderfully and instead of taking your ice cream out of the freezer only to find its rock hard when you try to scoop, this is scoopable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard but you can still scoop some and eat it rather than waiting 15 minutes for it to thaw out.
The book this recipe is from is Ample Hills Creamery – Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna. Thanks goes to pinterest for pointing me in the direction for this book. It was by sheer luck that I was browsing ice cream photo’s as you do, that I spotted a caption saying new ice cream book from Ample Hills Creamery. The inner cookbook collector was unleashed as I set upon the hunt for this book. It has not long been released here in the UK and was thrilled to have been bought it by my lovely boyfriend.
Let’s dig into the ice cream to find out what’s going on in here, firstly the base. The base is a simple one which takes no time to make whatsoever. It includes, sugar, skimmed milk powder, milk, cream, egg yolks and last but not least toasted marshmallows. Yes, that’s right, toasted marshmallows gets immersed into the base!! Oh my gosh, so yummy. This is one of the bits that didn’t go to plan when I first made them, don’t over toast them or they may end up bitter and they’ll turn the ice cream base a brownish colour instead of a creamy, golden hue.
I toasted mine for 10-15 minutes until just golden brown. You blitz the ice cream base with the toasted marshmallows to combine it. I didn’t blend mine 100% smooth, there are some nice little crunchy bits of marshmallow running through the base which makes for a delightful surprise when you come across one.
Graham cracker crust chunks get dispersed into the toasty base. The recipe makes way more than you need to into the ice cream but you can eat it as it is and sprinkle some on top too. To make the biscuit part of the s’more theme you need to blitz down some digestive biscuits (or graham crackers) then whisk with some sugar, skimmed milk powder and cinnamon. Melt butter and cream cheese then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix together then with your hands squish everything together. You want a compact mixture as you want to be able to slice it instead of crumbling. Stash in the freezer for 1 hour until solid. Once it’s solid, slice into bite size chunks refrigerate.
Last but so not least is the milk chocolate swirl. Mmm, again you won’t need all of this in your ice cream you can pop it in a bowl and stash it in the fridge. In there it will thicken up and become a thick, fudgy, milk chocolate ganache. Fabulous when eaten off a spoon. For this all you do is break up some milk chocolate and put it in a medium-sized bowl, heat some cream, pour it over then stir until the chocolate has been fully melted.
Combine these three scrumptious components and you’ll be faced with a smooth, creamy, toasted marshmallow laden ice cream, swirled with a dreamy divine chocolate swirl and embedded into this iced creation will be nuggets of biscuity gold. A heavenly take on the classic campfire treat.
Yields – Just over 1 litre (1 quart)
Ingredients
{ice cream base}
- 100 (1/2 cup) Caster sugar
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) Skimmed milk powder
- 360 ml (1 1/2 cups) Whole milk
- 360 ml (1 1/2 cups) Whipping cream
- 2 Large egg yolks
- 280 grams (10 ounce) Large marshmallows
{graham cracker crust}
- 420 grams (3 cups) Ground digestive biscuits
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) Caster sugar
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) Skimmed milk powder
- 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 180 grams (3/4 cup) Unsalted butter
- 55 grams (2 ounces) Cream cheese
- 1 teaspoons Nielson Massey Pure vanilla extract
{chocolate swirl}
- 170 grams (6 ounces) Milk chocolate, chopped
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) Whipping cream
Method
{ice cream base}
- Prepare an ice bath in the sink. In a medium saucepan whisk together the sugar, skimmed milk powder and the milk until smooth. Stir in the cream.
- Set the sauce pan over a medium heat and add a thermometer. Cook, stirring often with a spatula until the mixture reaches 110F (45C). Remove the pan from the heat.
- Place the egg yolks in bowl and gently whisk briefly. Add 120ml (1/2 cup) of the hot mixture to the egg yolks gradually, whisking to tempering them. Add everything back to the saucepan and return to the heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 165F (75C). Place the saucepan in the ice bath and leave, stirring every now and again for 15-20 minutes. Pass through a sieve into a storage container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or completely cool.
- When your ice cream base is nearly cool, pre-heat the oven to 205C,400f and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Spray with cake release spray. Place the marshmallows on the tray, spacing well apart and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Place the cooled ice cream base in a blender jug and add the marshmallows. Blitz until combined, leaving a few chunks. Transfer back to the storage container and place in the fridge until needed.
{graham cracker crust}
- Line a 12 x 18 inch rimmed baking tray with parchment paper, set aside. Whisk the digestive biscuits with the sugar, skimmed milk powder and cinnamon. Melt the butter and cream cheese together over a low heat and pour into the dry ingredients.
- Mix together then with your hands squish everything together. You want a compact mixture as you want to be able to slice it instead of crumbling. Spread the mixture onto the baking tray, patting down to compact.
- Stash in the freezer for 1 hour until solid. Once it’s solid, slice into bite size chunks refrigerate.
{milk chocolate swirl}
- Break up the chocolate and put it in a medium-sized bowl, heat the cream, pour it over then stir until the chocolate has been fully melted.
{assembly}
- Churn the ice cream according the manufacturers instructions and when near completion add however much of the graham cracker crust as you’d like. Scoop into a storage container the swirl through the milk chocolate ganache. Again, add as little or as much as you want.
- Chill 8-12 hours or until firm.
* *
This is my second recipe for S’mores July, check out the others:
Notes
* Recipe from Ample Hills Creamery – Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna
* Digestive biscuits are interchangeable with graham crackers, use whichever you have to hand.
* This will last for 1 week, stored in the freezer.
* Store in a plastic tupperware box with a well sealed lid.
* Store the graham cracker crust in the fridge for up to one week.
* Store the milk chocolate ganache in the fridge for up to one week.
Tagged: Ample Hills Creamery - Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna, Chocolate Swirl, Digestive Biscuits, Graham Cracker Crust, Ice Cream, Marshmallow Ice Cream, Marshmallows, Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate Swirl, Round The Campfire Ice Cream, S'more Ice Cream, S'more Month, S'mores, S'mores July, Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream, Toasted Marshmallows
