Cinnamon & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

There's just one photo this time, and not a very good one at that, I'm afraid... I've been trying to find an ice cream machine for months now without much luck. well, I finally ended up losing my patience and making it myself. You see, I've been craving really good quality ice cream for a while now, but again, no luck in finding any :( 

If you've already made your own ice cream, this probably isn't the most exciting post I've done. On the other hand, if you've never made your own ice cream, you HAVE to try this. You will never settle for store bought ice cream after this, I promise you! This is SO rich and smooth and silky and full of flavor that you'll never go back to that second rate stuff they pass off for ice cream in most stores.

I started off making vanilla bean ice cream, and then decided that I wanted something a little more complex. So I ended up adding the one flavor that I knew would pair well with vanilla - cinnamon, of course!! Thanks to the vanilla seeds, the ice cream has this gorgeously crunchy (I can't quite describe it any other way) texture, while the cinnamon adds a warmth and depth of flavor that you'll love.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Whole Milk - 500 ml

Double Cream - 500 ml

Caster Sugar - 8-10 tbspns (depending on how sweet you want it to be)

Vanilla - 1 pod 

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp 

Egg yolks - 8 (yes, you read right...:)

Score the vanilla pod lengthwise and remove the seeds.

Mix the milk, cream, vanilla seeds, vanilla pod, cinnamon powder and about 6-8 tbspns of sugar. Bring the whole thing to a boil, remove from heat and keep aside.

Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until its gone a pale yellow.

Take a ladleful of the hot milk/cream mixture and whisk it into the egg mixture. Repeat with 2 more ladles of the milk.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk.

Pour the egg mixture into the milk.

Cook on a very low flame for a few minutes until the yolks thicken enough for the mixture to go glossy and be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Take it off the heat.

Keep aside for a bit until its cool, then strain it.

If you have an ice cream machine, just follow instructions to chill and make ice cream.

If you don't have one, pour the mixture into a tray and chill in the freezer.

Every 20 minutes take the tray out, and using a ballon whip, whisk the mixture until you've broken the ice crystals and aerated the ice cream until it is smooth.

Keep repeating it until the ice cream reaches the desired consistency.

After this, you can transfer the ice cream into tubs and store in the freezer.

You could serve it with a lot of things, but I honestly think it tastes best on its own. Double portions!!

Pomegranate Apple Sorbet

Ice cream is one of those things I've loved ALL my life! (no, really, I was 2 months old when I first ate ice cream, ask my parents).. But I discovered sorbet only when I was 15 on a trip to France. Needless to say, I was hooked! Not to mention extremely upset for a while, when I realized that not many people even knew what sorbet was in my part of the world. Until I realized how easy it is to make, that is! I LOVE how cold, sweet and refreshingly tart good sorbets are... And I must confess, I tend to get a bit carried away when it comes to the tartness. So feel free to scale down on the quantities of lemon/lime/sugar that I've used....

You will need - Apples (I like using equal numbers of Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples), lime/lemon (depending on which is available), pomegranate, sugar, water. Simple, isn't it? :)

O.K., to get started, peel, core and dice the apples (medium-fine dice should do) Then in a saucepan, add the apples, sugar, juice and zest of the lime/lemon. Let the whole thing come to a boil, then lower the flame so that it simmers until its reduced by a third and the apples are tender. Let it cool.

In the meanwhile, you need to extract juice from the pomegranate. Either blend and strain or just use a juicer. Or, if you're pressed for time like me, cheat!

This is one of my favorite brands of pomegranate juice (read one of the ONLY brands of pomegranate juice available). And its SO much easier to just use this :) It tastes great too! Of course, it isn't anywhere close to as good as the real thing (according to the carton, only 33% of the whole thing is real juice), but it'll do for now... If you can take the time out to make fresh juice though, I would highly recommend you do so!

Measure out the juice while the apple/sugar/lime mixture cools. Once cool, blend all ingredients together. Strain using a strainer with not-too-fine holes. I used this colander type thing i found in the kitchen. It worked really well, because it kept most of the pulp in but took out all the unmanageable pieces.

Pour the mixture into a tray, and stick it in the freezer. Every 20 minutes, Take a fork and scratch up the whole thing, so there aren't any hard frozen lumps. Once you think its reached the right consistency, you can transfer the sorbet to tubs and freeze. I know it looks terrible now, but just wait until its done!!

Defrost for a few minutes before serving, so that the sorbet gets to a scoopable (yes thats a new word I invented :) consistency. Serve garnished with a sprig of mint/slice of lemon.

If frozen, it should last about 2 days I think. Sadly, I can't tell you if it'll keep any longer because whenever I've made it, 2 days is the longest its gone without everyone eating it up!

Oh and before I forget, if you really like mint, try add a few mint leaves chopped up/chiffonaded to the sorbet mixture just before freezing.

Recipe:

Ingredients

Apples - 2 (1 Granny Smith, 1 Red Delicious)

Lime/Lemon - 1 (Juice and zest)

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Pomegranate Juice - 3/4 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Peel, core and dice apples. In a pan, add the apples, water, sugar, lime/lemon juice and zest. Bring to a boil. Lower top a simmer and let the mixture cook until  the liquid has reduced by 1/3rd and apples are tender.

Let the mixture cool, add the pomegranate juice and blend well. Strain through a course sieve so that a decent amount of pulp is retained.

Pour into a tray. Freeze. Every 20 minutes, scratch the mixture up using a fork. Once it has reached desired consistency, either serve the sorbet, or transfer to tubs and freeze.