blissful eats with tina jeffers: Roasted strawberry ice cream with white chocolate milk crumbs

Now that summer has decided to shine on us, my mind has been turning to all the delectable flavors of the season.  With the Fourth of July upon us I naturally have been dreaming up all kinds of ice cream flavors to experiment with. 

My favorite ice cream comes from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams based in Ohio.  For the last few years we have mail ordered ice cream for special occasions and never regret spending the money for her amazing concoctions.  Lucky for me and you too, Jeni has created an amazing book that teaches you how to make her delicious scoopable treats at home.

Jeni’s techniques are incredibly unique since none of her recipes contain eggs.  She utilizes cornstarch and a small amount of cream cheese to create silky smooth custards.   Not only are her techniques one of a kind but the flavors she dreams up are out of this world, chocolate cayenne, toasted rice with black tea and coconut and beet with mascarpone and poppy seeds.  My ice cream maker is going to running on overtime this summer with all these amazing ice creams to experiment with.  Even better once you understand her basic recipe it’s easy to create your own.

I love to have cake with my ice cream so why not put the cake in the ice cream?  I made Jeni’s roasted strawberry ice cream and then folded in a batch of milk crumbs from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook.  Sweet, salty and utterly addictive, I love to eat them straight out of hand but they make a delicious addition to strawberry ice cream.  If you don’t want to be bothered with making the crumbs you can skip them, the ice cream is delicious on it’s own but they make it something special.  With the Fourth approaching I know that we will definitely have some of this ice cream on the menu, maybe it will be the only thing on the menu.  Happy holidays and be sure to visit me at www.scalingbackblog.com for more recipes and inspiration! 

Roasted strawberry ice cream with white chocolate milk crumbs

Adapted from Jeni’s Spendid Ice Creams At Home and Momofuku Milk Bar

Ingredients:

For the white chocolate milk crumbs:

½ cup milk powder

¼ cup flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup milk powder

3 ounces white chocolate, melted

For the roasted strawberries:

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced in half

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the ice cream base:

1 ½ cups whole milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

4 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

¼ cup buttermilk 

Method:

For the white chocolate milk crumbs:

Preheat oven to 250°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Combine milk powder, flour, sugar, cornstarch, and coarse salt in medium bowl; toss to mix evenly. Add butter; stir with fork until clusters form. Spread mixture evenly on prepared sheet. Bake until crumbs are dry and crumbly but still pale, about 20 minutes. Cool Milk Crumbs completely on sheet.

Add the remaining ¼ cup of milk powder to the cooled crumbs and toss together until it is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

Pour the white chocolate over the crumbs and toss until your clusters are covered.  Continue tossing every 5 minutes until the white chocolate hardens and the clusters are no longer sticky.

For the roasted strawberries:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Combine the strawberries with the sugar in an 8-inch-square glass or ceramic baking dish, stirring gently to mix. Roast for 8 minutes or until just soft and remove from the oven. Let cool slightly. Puree the berries and the lemon juice in a food processor. Measure ½ cup of the pureed berries; refrigerate the rest of the puree for another use.

For the ice cream base:

Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

In a 4-quart saucepan, combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat; boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Gradually add the hot-milk mixture to the cream cheese, whisking until smooth. Add the reserved ½ cup strawberry puree and the buttermilk and blend well. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister of an ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy. Fold in half the white chocolate milk crumbs.   Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.  Serve the ice cream with the remaining milk crumbs sprinkled on top.