Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

I recently entered a Summer Bake-Off competition run by Nestle to win a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I’m sure I’ve said a bunch of times how much I want one, so the competition was just too good an opportunity to not enter! It’s currently in the judging stages, so I’ve crossed everything that I win…but in the meantime, this is the recipe I entered. I recruited some votes from work colleagues, so as thanks, I brought some in to work for them to try. And then charged them a gold coin donation to go towards my work’s Movember team. If you don’t know about Movember, check out their website, and all of the great work they do for various Men’s Health Charities.
 

Please note, the filling here makes more than enough for the biscuit recipe – but it’s difficult to halve a tin of sweetened condensed milk. So either make a few batches of the Snickerdoodles, or cheat and use pre-made biscuits to use up the rest of the ice cream filling. I normally use Arnott’s Malt-o-milks. Make a layer on a baking tray, spread the filling over the whole lot, top with another layer of biscuits and then freeze. When frozen, they ‘snap’ into individual biscuits.

 

Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

Biscuits
Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Ice Cream Filling

600mL whipping cream
1 can Nestle sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp Nestle malted milk powder

Follow the recipe in the link for the Snickerdoodles – making sure you flatten the biscuits well when shaping. Allow to cool completely.

In a bowl, use a hand beater to whisk cream until fluffy peaks form. Add the malt powder and beat further until fully incorporated. Then mix in the condensed milk.

Gently spread a decent amount of the ice cream mix onto a biscuit and place on a baking tray. Lay a second biscuit on top to make a sandwich. Continue until all the biscuits are used up. Freeze for at least 4 hours to set the ice cream. Enjoy!

Fathers' Day - Chocolate Beer Ice Cream

One of the funniest memories I have of my dad was from when I was in high school. As part of the Home Economics course, students used to occasionally sell their cooking to the teachers and staff at the high school. It used to raise money for the department and school, so my mum who worked in the high school library would often bring home various things they'd cooked. Generally, the food was pretty good.

One time, they did a proper fundraising drive and took orders for various individual sized pies by the dozen. Mum bought a dozen chicken, a dozen beef and a dozen apple pies that went into the freezer and as needed, would get taken out and heated in the oven. I came home late one night and felt like a chicken pie for dinner and going through the freezer, couldn't find any. Mum told me not to be ridiculous, they'd left one there for me. She came over to have a look and lo-and-behold, there was no chicken left, only apple. You could tell by the pastry shape cut and stuck to the top pie crust. Mum was completely flummoxed. Where had it gone? Which was when dad piped up, "I think I'm eating it."
"What do you mean, you're eating it? I just gave you dessert!"
"Yeah, it's a chicken pie."
"No, it's apple pie and ice cream."
"No. It's a chicken pie. With ice cream. I did think it was weird when you gave it to me."
"So why didn't you say something?"
"I don't know, it's good, so I ate it."

Now whenever I see chicken pies on a menu, I think of dad and his unusual dessert and can't help but laugh. So in honour of Fathers' Day, I'm making him this beer ice cream. I think it'll go better with chicken pies than vanilla ice cream! It's malty and rich and all sorts of delicious! Happy Fathers' Day!!

 

Chocolate Beer Ice Cream
adapted from here
355mL chocolate stout
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cacao nibs, lightly crushed in a mortar & pestle
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 large egg yolks
2 cups thickened cream

Simmer 235mL of the chocolate stout in a frypan until it has reduced by half, set aside to cool slightly. Put the remaining beer, vanilla, cream and crushed cacao nibs in a bowl, stir to mix. Add the reduced beer and mix well.

Prepare an ice bath, and place a large bowl in it with a fine mesh sieve over this.

Whisk the sugar, salt and eggs in a large saucepan until smooth. Then whisk in the cream & beer mixture. Slowly heat the mixture to medium high, constantly stirring until the mixture thickens. About 10 minutes.

Pour the cooked mixture through the sieve into the bowl in the ice bath and stir constantly until the mixture cools. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours until cold.

Churn in ice cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions, then freeze again until firm. At least a few hours. I did mine overnight due to time restraints.