Simple Provisions

As a teenager I worked in an ice cream shop and I made a lot of waffle cones. A lot. I wore a turquoise visor, white cotton gloves and rolled hot, sweet waffles around a metal mould to make cone, after cone, after cone. But I never made ice cream, and I haven’t since, because I don’t have an ice cream maker, nor the patience to stir or shake something every hour for too many hours.

Then I read about the magical combination of whipped cream, sweetened condensed milk, and a dash of alcohol. When frozen, this concoction turns into an indulgent, luscious, creamy ice cream, no machine or stirring required. If you can whip cream and have a freezer, you can make this ice cream in the morning, go on with your day, and serve up delicious home-made ice cream in the evening. And do it all again tomorrow, as I have done for the last three days…
Nigella Lawson does a coffee version of this ice cream, Martha Stewart has a bourbon and vanilla combo. I experimented with a double chocolate and a jaffa, which were both pretty good, but the one that has had family members sneaking in to the freezer for just another taste is the Coconut Choc Ripple.

I appreciate some crunch in my ice cream, it’s exciting to eat. Inspired by the Aussie classic Chocolate Ripple Cake I lightly bashed up some biscuits with a rolling pin and stirred them through the whipped cream and condensed milk. The artery-hardening combination of sugar in the condensed milk and a glug of alcohol stops the mixture from going solid when frozen, keeping it at a perfectly scoopable consistency with no icy bits or hard lumps. I used Triple Sec for my alcohol component, which gives a vaguely orange flavour that I like with the chocolate biscuits. I also added some coconut essence, which you can get at the supermarket. The flavours are very strong before freezing, which is good as the cold numbs everything down, and no one likes insipid ice cream.
With the ingredients mixed together, you simply pour it into a freezer-safe dish (loaf tins work well, or old ice cream containers or metal mixing bowls) and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours, or overnight. Taking the ice cream out of the freezer a few minutes before serving makes it easier to scoop.

The resulting ice cream is very sweet, so small servings go a long way. You could go all out and make an ice cream sandwich with a scoop of ice cream nestled between two leftover biscuits. Or go crazy with the toppings. I like to serve mine with crushed biscuits, crushed coconut chips and a glace cherry on top. It’s indulgent, delicious and so easy it’s rather dangerous to know. Home-made ice cream is now in your repertoire.

Coconut Choc Ripple No Churn Ice Cream

Makes about 800ml

Ingredients

• 300g double cream
• 175g sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons coconut essence
• 2 tablespoons Triple Sec or Cointreau
• 9 Arnott’s Choc Ripple biscuits, plus extra for toppings

Toppings of your choice: try coconut chips, glace cherries, sprinkles and crushed Choc Ripple biscuits

Method

Pour cream and condensed milk into a bowl and add the coconut essence and Triple Sec. Whisk until the whisk leaves trails in the bowl and forms soft peaks.

Place biscuits into a bag (zip-lock bags work well for this), close the top of the bag and lightly bash the biscuits with a rolling pin. These biscuits crush very easily, so don’t hit too hard, you want some nice chunky bits in your ice cream. Stir the biscuits through the cream mixture.

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Take out of the freezer a few minutes before serving to make it easier to scoop. Serve with your favourite toppings.

 

This post was originally published on Kidspot as part of the Voices of 2014 competition.