Ice Cream: Bourbon vanilla with caramelized cornflakes and Scotch chocolate

It all started with a personality quiz on facebook.  Which comfort food are you?  I know it’s dumb and a waste of time, but I love procrastinatorial non-sequitur navel gazing as much as the next person, so I like to take those quizzes.  I almost never post the results, because who cares which Harry Potter character I am?  Only me.

But this quiz was different.

I answered a few questions and it spit out my result.

I am whiskey and cornflakes.

Is that even a thing?!  Whiskey and cornflakes?  That’s so specific.  I didn’t know it was a thing, but if it’s a thing, yes, I am that thing.  I am totally whiskey and cornflakes.  So I posted my result on facebook.

And then a friend said she had once had whiskey and cornflake ice cream, and then I searched for whiskey and cornflake ice cream, and found this recipe, but I don’t have an ice cream maker, so then I found this recipe.  And I was like, I can do that.

So I made it.  And it didn’t taste like bourbon.  So I doubled the bourbon.  Mmmmm and that was better.  And then I remembered the elusive Scotch Chocolate flavor of Steve’s Ice Cream that I never did manage to find, and decided to try a chocolate version of this no-churn ice cream with Scotch instead of bourbon.  And ohhhh, it was so good.

So without further ado or navel gazing, here are the recipes:

 

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Bourbon Vanilla No-churn Ice Cream
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup bourbon
• 2 cups heavy cream, cold straight from the refrigerator

Combine condensed milk, vanilla, and bourbon in a medium mixing bowl until well-combined.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks, so that when you removed the whisk, you can clearly see the lines formed by the whisk. Do not overwhip until it becomes butter.

Add the whipped cream to the bourbon mixture and gently fold together.  Pour into any freezable container, cover, and freeze until it becomes ice cream, 6 hours or overnight.

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That’s it!  It magically becomes ice cream.  Deliciously creamy vanilla ice cream with a note of bourbon.  Compared to Steve’s bourbon vanilla ice cream, I liked this better because it was creamier, and I preferred the bourbon I used (Bulleit) to whatever they used in theirs (something more floral).

It is fairly sweet though, when served alone.  It needs a hit of saltiness for balance.  Salted caramel topping would be lovely on this.  But you know what else is lovely?  Caramelized cornflakes.

 

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Caramelized cornflakes
(Adapted from New York Times)

• ¾ cup Kellogg’s cornflakes
• 3 Tbsp nonfat powdered milk
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 3½ Tbsp melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 275. Crumble cereal slightly and place in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine powdered milk, sugar, and salt, and then pour powder mixture over cereal.  Add melted butter and toss until cereal is evenly coated.

Spread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, or until golden.  Stir once in the middle of baking.

Let cool completely and store up to a week in an airtight container until ready to use.

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As you’re making this, it will seem like too much powdered milk.  Too much butter.  And then if you taste it plain, it will just seem buttery and salty with a little bit of sweetness.  You are definitely not making Frosted Flakes here.  It’s a different thing.

But on the sweet bourbon vanilla ice cream, oh yes, it’s amazing.  Just the right salty, crunchy counterpoint.

And then on to the chocolate.  Because for some people, it’s not dessert unless it’s chocolate.

 

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Whiskey Pam’s Scotch Chocolate No Churn Ice Cream

• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup Scotch whisky
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
• 2 cups heavy cream, cold straight from the refrigerator

Combine condensed milk, Scotch, and ¼ cup of cocoa powder in a medium mixing bowl until well-combined.

In a separate bowl, combine cream and the remaining ¼ cup cocoa powder.  Whip cream mixture to stiff peaks.

Add the whipped cream mixture to the Scotch mixture and gently fold together.  Pour into any freezable container, cover, and freeze until it becomes ice cream, 6 hours or overnight.

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This ice cream was everything I wanted it to be.  The bitterness of the cocoa powder completely offset the sweetness of the condensed milk.  And the Scotch flavor comes through beautifully in the nose, a perfect accent without overpowering.  To my palate, it needs no topping.  Just a perfect little scoop for that bit of sweet, bit of chocolate, bit of booze at the end of a meal.

Enjoy!