Guava and Prune Mascarpone Ice Cream with Honeycomb Topping

Back in the days before pop corn became a staple fare of cinema or movie-theatre goers, we enjoyed feasting on simpler snacks sold by street hawkers just outside, yes.. not inside, the cinemas. Snacks such as steaming hot chick peas (garbanzo) and sweet corn kernels, skewered Chinese/Asian pears pickled in brine, and sliced guavas sprinkled generously with dried prune powder. These street snacks still exist today, of course, but they are no longer consumed within the walls of a cinema. More likely, we'll buy them at the night market and snack all the way home, or else have the crisp fruits while strolling back to the office after lunch on a hot day.

Before I go on further, I just wanted to mention that I finally got myself an ice cream machine while on a short trip abroad. I lugged the heavy thing in my suitcase and prayed that it would not break and oh yes, for sunny skies too (it's been raining buckets here lately). Even though sniffles, coughs and sore throats still exist in parts of the house, I foresee many smiley, ice cream days ahead :-).

For my first ice cream adventure with the coveted machine, I wanted to recreate the flavors of one of our street snacks, guava dipped in prune powder. I didn't want to mess around with a custard base, so I settled for mascarpone to hold the flavors together and the mascarpone somehow made the texture of the ice cream that much better. Because fresh guava is so crisp, I had to cook it first to soften the flesh, otherwise it would just turn into rock-hard guava pieces likely to break your tooth once frozen. I blended most of the cooked guava to make the ice cream, but reserved some to add into the semi frozen mixture (right after churning) to retain some of that fruitiness.

The salty-sweet prune powder complemented and enhanced the guava ice cream well. To round off the dessert, I decided to make honeycomb shards for a topping and flavored this with prune powder. It was fun and ultra easy to make... all that whooshing, bubbling up reminded me of my days in the lab when things got really exciting, or out-of-hand, or both. LOL. Naturally, most kids love all this honeycomb stuff (remember Crunchie?) but just don't overdo it or the dentist will come after you with a massive drill!

Honeycomb shards

 

To my friends KJ and Layloo, both new moms and guava and prune powder addicts, this recipe is totally for you!

Guava and Prune Mascarpone Ice Cream with Honeycomb Topping
Makes: 3/4 litre
Ingredients:
250g fresh guava, peeled, cored and sliced into tiny chunks
50g sweetened prune powder
50g caster sugar
1/4 cup water
200ml milk
200ml mascarpone

Method:

1. Place guava chunks, prune powder, sugar and water in a deep pan and let it boil on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly until the guava turns soft and slightly mushy (similar to the texture of cooked apples). With a slotted spoon, scoop out 1/3 cup of cooked guava and set aside. You can chop these finer if you wish, as they will be incorporated later into the soft ice cream.

2. Add milk to the remaining mixture in the pan, let it cool slightly then blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.

3. Pour blended mixture into a bowl and whisk in the mascarpone until just combined. Pour into an ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.

4. Stir the reserved guava above back into the soft frozen mixture before placing it in an airtight container. Leave in the freezer to freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with prune honeycomb topping sprinkled on top.

Prune Honeycomb Topping

Makes: 125g

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar

1 tablespoon prune powder

4 tablespoons golden syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Put the sugar, prune powder and golden syrup into a deep cooking pan and stir to mix.

2. Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture melt, then turn into to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup - about 3 minutes.

3. Turn off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and the syrup will bubble up instantly into a big, fine cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.

4. Leave it to set at room temperature and then bash it with a meat beater or something solid, so that it splinters into many pieces. Sprinkle on top of ice creams or cakes and store the rest in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I SCREAMED! Gelatos That Confuse The Tastebuds

All these recent banana split posts on Foodbuzz featuring their fab home made/store-bought ice-creams concoctions have triggered some sort of uhh… I don’t know, ICE-CREAM envy(?) in me. Thank goodness it’s not banana envy, eh, because that would be some kind of difficult for me to deal with! Before I go any further, I'm using 'gelato' and 'ice-cream' interchangeably here because they're the same thing ... aren't they? Well, I'm not such a food snob to admit that I don't really know the difference. Perhaps I'll Google it up later.

Anyway, I brainstormed on some ice-cream flavour combinations and looking at what I came up with, you could be forgiven for thinking that I'm a member of a well-oiled Gelato Think Tank somewhere this side of the ocean. But you’re wrong, I’m just wired differently. Especially when it comes to food.

Without further ado, I introduce to you:

Roasted Capsicum and Vanilla Gelato

Ginger~Chocolate~Orange Gelato

I'm sure I'm not the first one on the planet to make these, it's just I haven't seen Haagen Daz come out with these combis (I know they do ginger, just ginger though). Now, before you think anything untoward about these rather odd couplings of flavours, let me assure you that they really do work, are utterly delicious and you are able to taste each of the distinct flavours of roasted capsicum (or bell pepper), vanilla, orange, ginger and chocolate.

Not having in my possession the famed “Flavor Bible”, I’m not quite sure how I came up with these matches made in heaven. Let’s just put it down to my scary imagination and the fact that I aced Chemistry at high school and college! *high fives*

Btw, I don't have an ice-cream machine to my name (BFFs: please take note), so I made these using the age-old method of freezing/whisking/freezing/whisking/freezing instead. It's really no hassle and I quite enjoy the feeling of anticipation!

Roasted Capsicum and Vanilla Gelato

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)

• 1 egg

• 2 egg yolks

• ¾ cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:
1. Slice the capsicum in half, remove the stem and seeds, and roast under a hot grill until the skin splits and the capsicum softens (about 10 minutes). Cool slightly and peel off skin, then chop into slices. Set aside.

2. Heat the milk and cream in a saucepan just to the point of boiling and add the chopped capsicum. Remove from heat and steep, covered, for 15 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla and reheat the milk and cream.

3. Meanwhile, whisk the egg and yolks in another pan until well-combined. Once the cream mixture is almost boiling, gradually whisk it into the eggs, constantly beating so that the eggs do not curdle. Gently boil over low heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Cool the custard mixture completely before churning either by hand or in an ice-cream machine. You can speed the cooling process by putting the bowl in an ice bath, but if you make your custard the night before like I did here, you can chill them overnight in the refrigerator and begin the churning process the next morning.

Some swirling action here.... and after 3-4 hours, Voila!

Ice-cream that tastes very cashew nut-like with a subtle peppery edge to it. Yes, it's really weird.

5. After I’m done chilling the custard, I put it in the freezer for an hour, take it out and stir the gelato to separate it from the edges of the bowl. I then blend with the hand mixer for about 15 seconds. I do this 3 times over the course of 3 hours then let the gelato freeze completely. If you’re diligent and willing to do this small task, take it from me, the results are better than the gelato in that swanky café down the high street!

Ginger~Chocolate~Orange Gelato

Ingredients:
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 (2-inch) piece of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 orange, squeezed for the juice
• 125g (4oz) dark chocolate, chopped

1. Heat the milk and cream in a saucepan just to the point of boiling and add the sliced ginger. Remove from heat and let it steep, for 15 minutes. Then carefully fish out the ginger bits with a spoon and set these aside.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg and yolks in another pan until well-combined.

3. Add the sugar to the milk and cream and reheat. Once mixture is almost boiling, gradually whisk it into the eggs, constantly beating so that the eggs do not curdle. Gently boil over low heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until it melts. Stir in the orange juice (strain for pips beforehand). I had a flash of inspiration at this point and decided to throw the ginger bits back into the custard! So glad I did, because these really added bite and enhanced the gingery-ness of the ice-cream. I mean, come on, it had to compete with the dominant flavours of orange AND chocolate!

Ginger bits, we LOVE you and therefore you're staying.

5. Cool the custard mixture completely before repeating the churning process in step 5 above.

Baby, churn ~ churn ~ churn ~churn...

The great thing about eating ice-cream at home is that you can just about plonk it in the bowl any old how and not have to worry about it having to look all fancy like in a restaurant. It still tastes exactly delish and you even have the liberty of licking off the bowl at the end!

I hope you try these recipes out and let me know if there are any other odd combi flavors out there that go well together. Happy days, people!