Golden Gaytime "The Crumbs"

                                    golden gaytime "the crumbs'

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'It's hard to have a Gaytime on your own' 

Streets ice-cream advertising slogan

First released in 1959 a Golden Gaytime is an ice-cream centre, choc dipped and biscuit crumbed on a stick.

The flavour most identifiable with a Golden Gaytime is toffee and vanilla, although it was originally Strawberry Shortcake, Cassata Roma (I would have like to try that one!), Raspberry Rough and Turkish Delight before the 1970's saw the Golden Gaytime actually become a bit more golden with it's now iconic toffee/vanilla combo. 

Now days it's available in what most of think as original toffee/vanilla, on sticks, in tubs and as an ice-cream sandwich. Plus new flavours like Pina Colada, Choc Mint, Cappucino and Unicorn. 

And now for the "crumbs" the smart marketing department at Streets released limited edition tins of the crumbs that coat the ice-cream. Yep, a tin of crumbs. 

Open the tin and as expected "crumbs". Guess what I put in the Christmas stocking this year along with the *limited release vegemite! 

For Aussies this is the taste of Golden Gaytime, especially when you pair it with vanilla, toffee and a bit of milk chocolate. 

Think choc dipping cubes of toffee swirled vanilla cheesecake and topping with the crumbs, invent a cocktail and toffee dip the rim of a cocktail glass and dip into the crumbs, swirl toffee into vanilla yogurt and sprinkle on the crumbs... few choc flakes too if you are starting the New Year living dangerously. 

Any patisserie application where you would use Paillete Feuilletine flakes for crunch. 

My first try using them was coating the inside of a choux buns with milk chocolate, a scoop of store bought vanilla ice-cream and a good drizzle of toffee with the crumbs on top. 

I scrapped my usual toffee sauce, I love it but it belongs in a sticky date pud not summery ice-cream. Ended up going with a butterscotch sauce from Taste where I used golden syrup replace some of the sugar. It's a quickie to avoid hot days in kitchen over summer.

Butterscotch... moving towards toffee sauce. 

Ingredients

2/3 cups of pouring cream

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

1/4 cup of golden syrup (it can be maple or honey... each adds a hint of that flavour)

2 1/2 tablespoons of cubed butter

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

Method

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 minutes until well combined.

Watch for toffee rising up in pot, don't be tempted to multi task you don't want the toffee covered stove. Keep stirring to prevent catching. 

Increase heat and bring to boil, once boiling reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring often until sauce thickens slightly. Takes about 5 minutes. 

Once cooked the bubbles subside and you have your sauce.

Set aside to cool for a couple of hours. Serve at room temperature... swirling it over your creation... top with crumbs. 

This sauce keeps in an airtight jar in the fridge for a week or so. It does set firmer in fridge so bring to room temperature before serving.

*the tins of crumbs were a limited Christmas release... if you missed out try the end of this year or give Streets a call and see if a bakery near you can supply you with any from a bulk lot. 

Happy Baking :) 

Gingerbread Custard Ice-Cream

             you'll fall for gingerbread custard ice-cream

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If you haven't been raised with packet custard (or at least the cartons of pre made custard in the supermarket dairy case) you'll wonder what I'm waffling on about... but, but, but, even though it's not in the least bit "cheffy" there is something about the flavour that satisfies your inner child.

And that is what I'm going for today, by using a traditional custard ice-cream technique combined with packet custard and crumbled gingerbread men.

*custard powder; is a sweetened flavoured cornflour product that when milk is added and heated to correct temperature it becomes a custard sauce. Also used in baking, particularly shortbread type biscuits (cookies).

custard powder

Gingerbread Custard ice-cream

Ingredients

2 cup (500ml) whole milk (one cup for the packet custard, one cup for the traditional custard)

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

2 tablespoons of custard powder

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

1/4 to 1/3 cup of crushed up gingerbread men

Method 

1. Make the packet custard mixture by placing the custard powder into a small saucepan with a 1/4 cup of the milk to form a smooth paste. Gradually add 3/4 cup of milk and stirring constantly bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. It will be very thick.

smooth paste stage; you can see from the colour why you end up with a yellow ice-cream!

2. Make the traditional custard by heating the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan until small bubbles appear around the side of the saucepan. Remove from heat, stir through vanilla extract. 

3. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Place the made up packet custard in the bowl and place a strainer over the bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

6. Strain the custard into the prepared packet custard. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly.

7. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Stir through crushed gingerbread and freeze in an airtight container overnight to allow the ice-cream to 'ripen' and flavours to fully develop. 

Homemade ice-cream is firmer than store bought and can be difficult to scoop, remove ice-cream from freezer and place in refrigerator 20 minutes before serving to aid "scoopability".

We served it here with a warm toffee sauce, I thought it would great with fresh poached or roasted peaches... try omitting the gingerbread and pairing the custard ice-cream with your favourite dessert.

Happy Baking :)

You may also be interested in Mini Chocolate Cake Christmas Puddings

Liquorice Lovers Ice-Cream Recipe

                      liquorice lovers ice-cream

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Sad to hear that Darrell Lea is closing it's remaining 27 stores this month. The iconic Australian Chocolate and lolly maker has been producing much loved treats such as Soft Eating Liquorice and Rocklea Road® since 1927. However, all is not lost, under the new ownership Darrell Lea stands in local supermarkets and the like will continue to stock your favourites. 

For my Dad it's the original soft eating liquorice, soft sweet, rich with molasses and just a touch of salt. This ice-cream recipe today is for you Dad. 

Darrell Lea soft eating liquorice 

Liquorice Lovers Ice-Cream

you'll need an ice-cream machine for this recipe

Ingredients

200g good quality soft eating liquorice, cut into pieces

5 large egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 cups of thickened cream (in Australia this is whipping cream with a 35% milk fat content)

3/4 cup sugar

black food colour

*a prepared ice-bath... which consists of a bowl (or it could be your kitchen sink) with ice cubes in it. This is to speed even cooling of the custard mixture... you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs!!

cut liquorice

In a medium saucepan warm the milk, half the cream, sugar and the liquorice pieces. Bring to a simmer, remove pan from heat, cover and let cool.

strain mixture and discard liquorice pieces

Once cool, strain liquorice/cream mixture into a clean saucepan. Discard liquorice pieces.

In a medium bowl whisk egg yolks together. In a seperate bowl pour in the remaining one cup of chilled cream.

Gently heat the strained liquorice/cream mixture until it is just warm. Pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan over a medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

the second straining step picks up any egg residue left in the mix

Strain the custard through a fine seive into the chilled cream. Add black food colour if desired.

adding black food colour

after food colour is added

Stir constantly over the ice bath until mixture starts to cool, place bowl in refrigerator or freezer to chill completely. 

Once chilled churn in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturers instructions. Let the the ice-cream "ripen" by storage in the freezer overnight before eating.

*Note... I haven't added salt to the recipe as the liquorice released enough salt, however if the liquorice you are using is particularly sweet add a pinch of salt to the cream mixture at the start.

Happy Baking :) 

you might also be interested in baci chocolate ice-cream

or what about combed chocolate curls

Mini Ice-cream cone cupcakes

                     Mini Ice-cream cone cupcake

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone ~

Jim Fiebig

The inspiration for today's cupcake comes from the iconic Peter's Ice-Cream signs, that can be still seen attached to milkbar's in Australia today.

Remind me not to work with ice-cream when the weather is warm!! I was happy seeing my idea for a mini ice-cream cone cupcake come to life until I got to filling the cones part. The ice-cream was melting as I scooping it, ahhh haaa I thought, I'll freeze the scoops first.

I thought they were frozen??

Then I went to fill the cones and again the ice-cream started to melt, I froze the filled cones but now they have that "the ice-cream started to melt and it's been re-frozen look".

Apart from that, happy with how they turned out. The cones come from a recipe in David Lebobvitz's Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments . I made mini versions (finished cone 5cm/2 inches high), brushed the edge with melted white chocolate and sprinkled with disco glitter.

Melted white chocolate ready to be painted on top edge of cone

Next time, after checking first the weather & what is wrong with our FREEZER, I'll make an adult version by making a dark chocolate and hazelnut edge, fill with a scoop of Frangelico chocolate ice-cream and serve them in small choc hazelnut cupcakes...yum!

You could of course (and maybe I should have), filled the cones with a little piped frosting, marshmallow or even whipped ganache! 

That's it for today :)

Caramel Cheesecake Ice-cream Sandwich

Caramel Cheesecake Ice-Cream sandwiched between white chocolate and macadamia cookies.

43cel (109F); probably not the ideal day to bake cookies & churn ice-cream, but hey, I like to live dangerously!

Poor churn and freezer struggled with the heat and we were all like little kids with ice-cream dripping down our arms as we ate them ;)

I used canned caramel (Mark & Daniel do have a "thing" for it) in the ice-cream, but by all means you can swap it for any thick caramel dairy based sauce.

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 cup thickened cream

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla essence/extract

125 grams  (4.4ounces) Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

3 large egg yolks

2/3 cup (130 grams)  white sugar

1 can Nestle top 'n fill (Dulce de Leche)

Method

Open caramel can and remove 1/3 of the caramel to a small bowl, set aside. In a small saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring the milk, remaining 2/3 of the can of canned caramel & cream to the boil.  Remove from heat. 

Using heat proof bowl in a stand mixer or a hand mixer beat the cream cheese, egg yolks & sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Gradually pour the milk mixture into the whipped mixture, make sure you keep mixing so the eggs don't end up scrambled. 

Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and, stir constantly with a wooden spoon, cook until the custard thickens enough that it coats the back of a spoon. 

Immediately remove the custard from the heat and continue to stir the custard for a few minutes so it does not overcook.  At this point stir in the vanilla extract.  Cover and let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate the custard until it is completely cold.

Transfer the cold custard to your ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. Whilst it is processing stir your reserved canned caramel until smooth. Once the ice-cream has churned fold/swirl reserved caramel. Store in a covered container in the freezer until ready to fill the sandwiches.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

Makes 8 (10cm/4in) cookies for 4 large ice-cream sandwiches

2 cookie trays lined with non-stick baking paper

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla essence/extract

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp bi-carb (baking soda)

1/4 tsp salt

heaped 1/4 cup of chopped white eating chocolate

heaped 1/4 cup of chopped raw macadamia nuts

Method

Beat the butters & sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium until smooth, add egg & vanilla, beat until combined.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda & salt.

Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then mix in white chocolate & nuts.

Pre-heat oven to 175c (350F). 

Use an *ice-cream scoop to scoop 4 balls per tray, flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Chill the trays in freezer for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes, turning tray once during baking. Cool on cooling rack.

Once cool, sandwich caramel cheesecake ice-cream between 2 cookies, repeat until all four sandwiches are complete. Wrap in plastic wrap & store in the freezer.

*No ice-cream scoop or can't fit trays in your freezer?? 

Alternatively you can after mixing in the nuts and chocolate form the dough into a disc, flatten, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Divide dough into 8 portions, roll into balls, place on trays, flatten slightly with the palm of your hand and proceed with baking in a pre-heated oven.

cookie adapted from David Lebovitz The Perfect Scoop

The boy is good!

Still out with the spider bite, so I thought I'd feature my 17 year old step sons patisserie skills! 

Chocolate mudslide cookies
baked & photographed by Daniel Paxton-Zahra

Chocolate Peppermint Fudge Sauce over Vanilla bean ice-cream
all made and photographed by Daniel Paxton-Zahra

 Daniel has 6 days of High School left, culminating with Food Tech theory exam next Tuesday. See Daniel's bio and short film on the About Me page.