There is of course no law that says you can't eat ice cream all year round but it's definitely one of those summer treats....a sign that summer has come, something to be enjoyed, savoured & lingered over....maybe at the beach or just walking round town at the end of a long hot day.
A couple of years ago I bought an ice cream maker & have to say that once you have made your own, it is very hard, if not impossible, to think quite as highly of shop-bought ice cream again....there is just something about the rich taste & the wonderful flavor of home-made ice cream....plus of course you get to add all your favorite ingredients.
My family all love ice cream & we also all love totally different flavours....so when Waitrose invited me to take part in their "Ice Cream Dreams Challenge" recently, I accepted immediately!
Yesterday saw the last day of August & possibly the last day of summer in London if today's rain was anything to go by....and so it seemed like a very good day to create our ice creams.
And here are our choices, with some variations of our own :
Sea Salt & Honey (me)Canteloupe Sorbet (my husband)Cookies & Cream (my daughter)Blueberry (my son)I think ice cream is such a great dish to make with children....very simple & very delicious....and I don't think you can really go wrong with it, you can add pretty much whatever you like.
The sea salt & honey recipe that I chose was delicious & one I'd definitely use again....it's a whipped (heavy) cream & condensed milk basic recipe to which I added good sea salt & organic clover honey. I could have done with adding very slightly less sea salt (my fault entirely, I got carried away!) but it produced a very good, rather "grown up" ice cream, perfect for a dinner party.I used my KitchenAid mixer rather than my ice cream maker for this & it came out perfectly.
Melon was a flavor that we all loved in France this summer & the canteloupe sorbet recipe was easy to make & so full of flavor that we all loved it.This recipe has quite a few steps & you can't rush it but it was so worth it.
My children loved their choices of cookies & cream & blueberry....they used the ice cream maker & pretty much made it all by themselves which they loved doing :) My son added a variety of berries & my daughter a mixture of cookies & chocolate chips.
So great success all round....I came back from holiday just in time to pick the last of the apples on our tree & I am thinking of making some of this delicious sounding bourbon apple crisp ice cream or amaretto gelato to accompany some apple pie this weekend.
recipes.... 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 all ingredients were provided by Waitrose, click here for more ice cream inspiration....
