Midwinter's Ice Dream

 

Ice cream was once a seasonal treat, reserved pretty much for summer. That was partly because the refrigeration and transportation systems that allow foods to be grown and shipped all over the world, all year long, didn’t exist. It was also because some confectioners thought it unnatural to eat ice cream in winter.

The foremost ice cream maker in 18th-century Paris, M. Emy, was one of them. He thought ice cream was strictly a summertime delight. However, he was a pragmatist. So when his boss asked for ice cream in January, Emy made wintry ice creams with chocolate, coffee, or warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. Or he served ice creams prepared with the preserves he’d made the summer before when the fruits were at their peak of perfection.

Today, most people think it’s perfectly natural to eat ice cream all winter long. Of course, I agree. But I do like following Emy’s seasonal approach. So, like him, I make wintry ice creams with spices, coffee, or jams and marmalades prepared, admittedly not by me, when the fruits are ripe and bursting with flavor. Orange marmalade works particularly well. 

I make (or buy) strawberry or peach or raspberry sorbets and ice creams in spring and summer. In autumn, I turn to pear or pumpkin-pecan ice cream.

When the wind chill is part of the weather forecast, I warm up to spicy ice creams flavored with ginger or nutmeg. I choose deep, dark chocolate in December. Caramel or burnt sugar or dulce de leche all have the bittersweetness that’s perfect for January. The combination of coffee and chocolate feels right for a frosty February night. To every thing there is a season – even to ice cream.

Coffee with chocolate-covered espresso beans

This is my idea of a midwinter’s night dream ice cream. 

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup finely ground espresso or dark roast coffee
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2  cup chocolate-covered espresso beans

Combine milk and cream in saucepan and warm over low heat. Add the ground coffee, stir and heat until it’s about to simmer. Shut off heat, cover and let the mixture steep for half an hour or so. Give it a stir from time to time.

Half fill a large bowl or saucepan with ice or ice water and set aside.

In another saucepan, whisk egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Strain the coffee mixture carefully to get rid of the coffee grounds, then rewarm it. Stir it very gradually
into the egg mixture. When it’s all incorporated, cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the spoon. Do not let it boil.

Place the pan of coffee custard in the bowl with the ice or ice water and continue to stir until it cools.

Cover with plastic wrap pressed against the surface so it doesn’t form a skin on top. Chill for at least 12 hours.

Put the coffee beans in a zip-lock bag and smack with a rolling pin or a heavy bottle until they’re chopped up. Set aside.

Churn the ice cream mixture in your machine, following manufacturer’s instructions. When it’s almost ready, mix in the chopped chocolate-covered coffee beans. Store tightly covered in freezer until ready to serve. Makes one quart. – Ice Cream: The Ultimate Cold Comfort, Jeri Quinzio, 2006

 

 

 

Comments

[Kathy Flynn]

Jeri, the astounding flavors of ginger, clove, cinnamon, chocolate and fruit preserves will wake anyone up from the Northeastern winter doldrums!!! They sound terrific! You have presented some very tempting complimentary and inspiring tastes .....

Let's hope that readers use ' a midwinter’s night dream ice cream' recipe for a pleasurable dessert. The recipe defines a very rich base, which. I infer, is essential to 'ice cream'.

Is there another medium which can incorporate these same flavours/additives ; but would not require the rich ingredients of your recipe?

Thanks, Kathy

[KMWall]

It's snowing outside and I was just thinking of ice cream, so I turned to this blog and voila. What is it about winter that makes New Englanders turn to a bowl of cold? This is time of year that I wish I had an ice cream maker, not in the summer. Great ice cream is everywhere in the summer, but right now I want it in MY kitchen, not out in public. I have some leftover Indian Pudding and I was trying to recall if it was Mrs Lincoln Dainties or some other very late 19th century/very early 20th century, very New England cookbook that had a recipe for Indian Pudding Ice Cream...ice cream maker has just moved to the top of my wish list.