Iced deserts

We love ice cream, sorbets, any iced desserts to keep us cool on hot days or as amuse bouches  here we collect some of our favourite iced desserts 

Coffee and Cardamom Ice Cream

Grapefruit and Pink champagne granita

Lavender & Honey ice cream

Cherry Ice cream

Elderflower & Lemon sorbet

Ferrero Rocher ice cream

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Coffee and Cardamom Ice Cream

If you like cardamom then you will love this ice cream if you don't click off to read something else...

50g espresso coffee beans

1 tbsp cardamom pods

pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

100g of golden caster sugar

300ml whole milk

250ml of double cream

• Wizz the coffee beans and cardamom till it becomes gritty but not a powder
• Add to the milk and heat till steaming then leave to infuse for 30 mins
• Sieve out the coffee and the cardamom  and add the cream and heat until steaming again
• Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy
• Add the warmed milk to the eggs and whisk constantly till all the milk is added
• Heat the coffee custard till it reaches 85c then allow to cool before adding it to your ice cream machine 

Chocolate pancakes with Rhubarb compote & Vanilla Ice cream

Pancake day this month and a girl just loves chocolate and with rhubarb still in season this makes a great combination.  I cant believe how fast my little girl is growing she seems such a big girl at 4 and half and it does not help seeing her up against Ella, she is just shooting up in front of my eyes and is so good in the kitchen now, so over to Sophie as she makes her lunch.

Ingredients
2 eggs
250g ricotta
125ml milk
100g flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
zest and juice of an orange
400g rhubarb
80g golden caster sugar

• mix the egg yolks,ricotta, milk, flour, cocoa, orange zest and baking powder
• whisk the egg white till they form peaks
• fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites
• cut the rhubarb in to small chunks and cook with the sugar and orange juice on a gentle simmer for 10 mins
• to cook the pancakes use a hot pan with a little oil and plop a big spoonfull onto the pan and spread out into a circle shape and allow to cook on one side before flipping over 

Serve pancakes with a nice big spoon of rhubarb and how about a big dollop vanilla ice cream you can find a recipe for home made ice cream at the bottom of this post

You can find a recipe for home made ice cream here

Breast milk Ice cream and other teething ideas

Well Ella is teething like a crazy baby and she loves to use her nashers and seems instinctively to know how to use them to.  Within the space of 2 weeks we have had 2 bottom teeth pop up so to ease the pain that might be going on for quiet a long time to come I have tried to think up a few more ideas that might be a bit kinder than dosing her up with bottles of Calpol and Nurofen which could be in heavy demand for a year or so as all the teeth pop out.  My concern to try and find some more friendly ways to sooth came after hearing about the high fructose syrups as well as the multiple parabens and synthetic dyes and the risks these can carry to small livers, i am not against using Calpol or Nurofen just everything needs to be in moderation.

Over the counter remedies
There are a few other items that can be bought over the counter like Ambersol anesthetic liquid to rub on the gums to provide fast numbing sensation.

Homeopathic remedies
There are also homeopathic teething granules that contain chamomile to also rub on the gums to ease pain and these have worked well on both my girls.

Amber Necklace
I am finding the Amber necklace seems to really be helping I have got Ella a mixed stone only because i thought it was pretty but the raw lighter cloudy amber is said to have a high concentration of Succinic acid in it over stones that have been polished, also some people can get irritated by Succinic so a mixed colour bead can look good and provide relief.  When next to the the skin the body temperature helps to release the Succinic an acid in the stones into the skin and bloodstream to help with pain relief and inflammation.

Massage 
Massage helps ease irritation of pain so I have bought Ella some 100% natural rubber toys some building blocks fun to play with in 4 colours with great corners and shapes on the chew as well as a cute 7 inch Sophie the Giraffe who is painted with food paints and is a great toy but has lots of great shapes from the little hoofs, long legs and horns on the head that just manage to work their way into the perfect places in little mouths to chew and massage.  You can also choose natural wooden toys to gnaw on.

My first toothbrush
I have also found giving Ella her first tooth brush really handy, not only to get her used to brushing teeth but she is pretty nimble at using this to massage her gums i got one with hand grips and Ella has fast turned this upside down to using the handle with the hand grips to massage with, it is also handy brushing cold water massaging and delivering cold relief.

Chew It 
Frozen bananas and cold carrots as well as chewy cold bagels all help stretch out soft gum tissue to help those peeping teeth push through.

Keep it cold
Gums can get warm from the teeth pushing up and stretching the soft gum tissue making it also very swollen so to keep gums cool and help give relief cold or frozen flannels or mesh feeders can be good but i have found 2 other good remedies using a good natural fruit pulp juice mix and a Zoku Slushy maker gives fast cold icy drinks.

Finally a treat for baby and a great way to save precious excess breast milk or just a way to give a lovely cold pudding and that is to make a yummy cold ice cream from breast milk.

Here is a recipe i have made for Ella,  Ice cream needs a high fat content to be ice cream and and this can be got from full fat milks, cream and egg yolks. Babies are fast growing sprouts that need lots a protein and full fat mlks and creams so this seemed just perfect.

150ml of breast milk
100ml of full fat milk
125ml double cream
2 egg yolks

• Put the milk and cream in a jug and warm up in the microwave for 2-3 mins warm NOT boiling.
• Whisk up the egg yolks till fluffy then pour gently the milk/cream so not to scramble the eggs
• Place back into the microwave for 2 mins checking all the time mixing till the mix coats the back of a spoon this is your ice cream baby friendly custard.  
• Add the breast milk i choose not to add this at the start with the rest of the milk as i didn't want the heat from the microwave to destroy any good stuff in my mamas milk 
• If you want you could add vanilla or strawberry puree for flavour and mix in before adding to you ice cream machine or hand mixing it every hour from your freezer knocking out any ice crystals, however i kept mine natural as it is sweet enough.     

Very Vanilla

Ice Cream Ice Cream we all love Ice Cream !!! Well everyone in our family does,  i have been saving for months and months for a fancy dan ice cream machine, making sure that for birthdays and Christmas i got vouchers too as a way to help out on the funding of the purchase and now making ice cream by hand and having to wait overnight for it to be frozen is now over as i can now whip up a batch in 30 mins WOOT WOOT hands in the air.

So to kick off this new gadget i went back to basics and made a vanilla ice cream, i will probably make this recipe a number of times trying out different cream and milk types like Cornish cream, maybe goats milk, im even tempted to use ricotta cheese and creme fraiche just to see how they influence the flavours.

For now i made this straight forward as you need a start point although i did use golden caster sugar and a lot of vanilla seeds from 2 pods making it very vanillary.

RECIPE
250ml full fat milk always full fat as you need the milk fat to give a great texture.
125ml double cream
2 vanilla pods
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt

This is a very basic recipe that can be found anywhere and is the traditional custard based type.

1 heat milk and cream till steaming
2 whisk yolks and sugar till fluffy
3 add warmed milk and mix and then heat again i did mine in the microwave checking every 30 secs to a min till it coated the back of a spoon.  You can also do this in a pan make sure you stir all the time though as you may get lumps, if you get lumps just sieve.
4 cool the mix then add to your machine or you can do this by hand by placing in the freezer and beat every hour with a hand whisk to break up the crystals, you may need to beat this 4 or 5 times then when this firms up leave over night in the freezer

Ferrero Rocher Ice cream

I can not tell you how amazing this ice cream is it really is a big WOW and satisfy anyone with a chocolate craving.  So Sophie and i are making this to try and chase the rain clouds away by making ice cream to get all summery and yesterday we made Cherry ice cream and marshmallow ice cream.

Ice cream recipe 

250ml full fat milk

125ml double cream

2 egg yolks

88g caster sugar

300g of Nutella paste 

12 Ferrero Rocher  cut them in quarters so there was more of a discovery of the lovely rochers

1 First of all you need to make an ice cream base by pouring the milk and cream in to a saucepan and gently heating until it steams.

2 Whisk the egg yolks and sugar and slowly pour the heated milk into the yolk while whisking then return to the heat and heat gently and stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.  Add the Nutella paste and use stick blend to mix in

3 Allow to cool over night 

4 Pour into a plastic container and put in the freezer.  If your making by hand like me then set your alarm on the cooker for 1 hour and every hour for 3 to 4  hours go and whisk the ice cream to break up the ice crystals your notice that the ice cream become more like ice cream after about 3 or 4 hours  after 2 hours add all your Ferrerro Rocher and carry on with the freezing process breaking up the ice crystals after each hour for a further 2 more hours and then allow to freeze over night.

Lavender and Honey ice cream and other ideas

I like this unusual ice cream and use it as  amuse bouche and love to watch the faces of my friends and family as they try and guess the flavour.

Ingredients
600 ml full milk
10 lavender heads
4 egg yolks
284ml double cream
180g honey

• heat the milk untill it starts to bubble around the edges. add the lavender sprigs , and remove from the heat to infuse for 30 mins  or longer.
• Whisk the egg yolks and honey into a bowl until thick. Strain the milk into a bowl and mix well 
• Pour the mix back into the pan and over a gentle heat stir to make a smooth custard which coats the back of the wooden spoon. strain in a bowl and cool 
• Whip the cream and fold it into the cool custard.  Put into the freezer and ever 30 mins give the bowl and whisk to break the ice crystals do this for 4 times till the ice cream freezes to an almost ice cream state and then place your mix into a box and leave to freeze overnight 

If you have lots of lavender you could always make a cushion and then pick a good big handful of lavender and dry this in the oven and stuff it inside the cushion to aid restful sleeping

Or maybe some make some cold press lavender soap the possibility's are endless

Raspberry ice cream

What better way to keep your cool on a hot day than eat home made ice cream in a nice hat


Here's a recipe for some rather naughty sweet raspberry ice cream.

Ingredients
400g of fresh raspberries
half a lemon juice
8oz sugar
2 eggs
500ml double cream
250ml full fat milk

Method
toss raspberries in 4oz of sugar and lemon juice and put in the fridge for 2 hours visiting ever now and again to stir, you will notice the raspberries will bleed and get mushy

whisk eggs until fluffy about 2 mins the add the rest of the sugar and whisk until blended, then add the cream and milk and stir again until blended. Mash up the raspberries add to mix and stir until blended

I use a large plastic bowl or jug and transfer my ice cream mix into this and place it in the freezer and visit it ever hour with my whisk to give it a darn good stir to bash out the ice crystals you will probably only need to do this about 3 times, transfer into some plastic tubs and leave in the freezer over night if you can bear to, if you do the ice cream is worth the wait.

If you cant be bothered to make ice cream how about sitting in a big bowl of water