The Pineapple Encore

And so we’ve reached the end of the year, and the end of fifty-two weeks of ice cream. I’ve had such great time making these, I’ve been inspired to make ice creams in flavours and methods I’d have never thought of, and even the not-so-successful ones have all taught me something. I end the year with mulled sloe ice cream. It’s the  fruit ice cream  using sloe juice as the fruit, and I put some mulling spices in my sloe juice to emulate spiced plum. Video:  https://youtu.be/_s-RN9Tewak?si=cQKP1c3zGMSAQ5cz And with that, I’ll be wrapping this blog up. But I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be posting videos regularly on my YouTube channel  The Pineapple Encore , and if you want to follow along subscribe to it. Fifty-two weeks of ice cream may be over but my journey as an ice cream maker and maybe even teacher is still in its early days. I hope to keep in touch with all of you as it goes on.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

For reasons that  the video  explains, I ended up making yeasted waffles this week rather than an ice cream. To be precise, I made what were called Flemish wafers to the exact recipe (barring a minor adaptation of the yeast) found in an 1822 book. Flemish wafers   Ingredients It’s best to make 750g or you can make a multiple of 750g, but I wouldn’t make a different amount because the eggs get difficult. 150g plain flour (20%) 5.63g dried active yeast - this is almost exactly half a tablespoon (0.75%) 187.5g whole milk (25%) warmed up 75g egg yolk (10%) - it’s one medium egg yolk per 150g total 75g caster sugar (10%) 1.88g lemon zest (0.25%) - it’s half a lemon well grated, more like a whole lemon if you’re like me and patchily grate 150g unsalted butter (20%) melted 112.5g egg white (15%) - it’s one medium egg white per 250g total You may notice that’s over 100% - it’s actually 101% - but the one egg white per 250g isn’t quite 15%, it’s more like 14%, so it all works out....

Remember  chestnut ice cream ? It was the second ice cream I made for this 52 week challenge, and it was delicious but so hard and grainy. Well, I’ve improved it. It’s not quite there yet, but it’s a vast texture improvement and I’m inspired to crack nut ice creams, pun absolutely intended. Ingredients 20% chestnuts 20% single cream 25% whipping cream 10% egg yolk (or 1 yolk per 150g of mixture) 15% caster sugar  10% water Method is basically the same as the original, just with the addition of water as it’s being whisked to a custard, and don’t pass it through a sieve. Video:  https://youtu.be/EV1p-byQVOo?si=hJsnJX4L_Q2SgWbk

There isn’t much that I either haven’t done in ice cream or that would be easy to do at this time of year, so coming up with an ice cream for Something New was tricky. In the end I settled on something that could also have fit next week’s theme depending on how you look at it. I classed it as new because I’ve never made ice cream like this before. This isn’t so much a recipe as it is me experimenting with two completely historically accurate recipes from the Gunters confectioners. There’s a surprising twist at the end if you watch the video. https://youtu.be/_d7MuwQ1xNw?si=TbXWaQhiEICaWjA2

I’ll confess, this is essentially a rehash of my  Royal week  ice cream but without the mixed peel to bejewel it. It’s the richest base I use and the flavouring lends itself nicely to the start of the festive season, plus this meant I could simplify my rich ice cream base.  Allspice ice cream For mathematical reasons, it’s easiest to make this ice cream in amounts that are multiples of 700: 700g, 1400g, 2100g… Ingredients 25% single (19% butterfat) cream 25% whipping (39% butterfat) cream 30% simple syrup (half water, half sugar; can also be treated as 15% water and 15% sugar) 15% egg yolk and 5% egg white (this equates to six egg yolks then a whole egg, which is why factors of 700 are easiest) Allspice - to taste  Method 1. Beat the egg yolks and whites together in a saucepan 2. Add the creams, syrup (or water and sugar) and allspice 3. Bring to heat whilst continually whisking; when a line can be drawn in the mixture on the back of a spoon the custard is ready 4. P...