8 Delicious Ways to Share a Little Ice Cream between a Lot of Friends

I was going to call this post Leftover Ice Cream but it sounds like an oxymoron. That is what it's about though!

In my book, Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, I explained that for my purposes the term ‘leftovers’ covers a variety of situations which are:

It is the Snippet situation to which I am referring here and these are my suggestions …

Affogato

This is a cross between a drink and a dessert. Affogato is Italian for “drowned” and in the foodie world usually refers to ice cream ‘drowned’ in coffee, in which case its full name is Affogato al Caffe.

Per person ...

1 scoop chosen ice cream
1 shot /30 ml espresso or strong coffee or whatever your choice is
1 tablespoon brandy or some other spirit or liqueur – also optional

2 amaretti or something suitable and crumbly – optional

~   Chill serving dish(es).
~   Put a scoop of chosen ice cream into each dish and return to the freezer for a few minutes.
~   Brew coffee or espresso.
~   Have ready chosen liqueur if using.
~   Crumble the crumbly thing if using.
~   Remove ice cream from freezer and swiftly and immediately pour optional liqueur and coffee over it.
~   Sprinkle with optional crumbly thing and serve.

Ice Cream Truffles

This is a good way to use up bits of leftover ice cream and impress people at the same time.

~   Have equipment and ingredients other than ice cream ready before you start.
~   Work quickly.
~   Get ice cream out of the freezer and scoop into small balls.
~   Immediately coat in something delicious and complimentary eg. cocoa, hot chocolate, crushed biscuits, ground caramel, chopped nuts, sprinkles, grated chocolate and so on.
~   Immediately refreeze till needed.

To be even more impressive serve with a little dish of chocolate sauce for dipping purposes.

 Ice Cream Filled Profiteroles

I used to have a husband that called these “poovy boirays” – no idea why, bless him. Traditionally, of course, these little choux pastry puffs are filled with cream and topped with chocolate but why not replace the cream filling with ice cream and drizzle the tops with a complimentary sauce of your choice?

Ice Cream Sandwich

~   Choose a very crisp and crumbly cookie/biscuit or one that is soft and cakey as these will both be edible from the freezer. Chewy biscuits might freeze too hard.
~   If purpose baking cookies slightly undercook to keep the texture right when frozen, and …
~   … sandwich whilst still warm with very cold ice cream which will slightly melt and soak into the cookie before setting solid in the freezer – even more goo-some!

~   Fill generously.

Here’s one I made earlier.

Ice Cream Cake

This is kind of a last minute thing.

~   Shortly before serving use a softened complimentary ice cream to fill and top a cake.
~   Pop back into the freezer for a few minutes for the ice cream to firm up.
~   Slice and serve.

Milkshakes – of course

Basic milkshake per person ...

2 scoops vanilla ice cream
250ml milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract – the real thing

~   Blend together in a liquidiser or food processor.

As I say, it is basic but of course you can do what you like with it, e.g.

~   Use different flavour ice cream.
~   Add honey, maple syrup, flavoured syrups or whatever would go well with the ice cream flavour.
~   Add fresh fruit.
~   Add fresh herbs or maybe a bit of chilli (particularly good with mango and/or lime).
~   Use less or more milk depending on how thick or runny you want it.
~   Top with whipped cream and/or chopped nuts, grated chocolate etc.
~   Add an appropriate alcohol – best if it’s a spirit, lager probably wouldn’t be that yummy!

Ice Cream Soda

Or Float, which is also known as a Spider in Australia! 

As with the other suggestions the ingredients will be dictated by the type of ice cream you are using.

~   Put a spoonful or two of your chosen sauce or syrup into a tall glass.
~   Loosen it with a splash of your chosen soda.
~   Stir in a spoonful or two of milk or cream.
~   Add a couple of scoops of your chosen ice cream.
~   Top up with more of your chosen soda; hopefully the mixture should fizz and froth delightfully.
~   Top with whipped cream and your chosen decoration be it a flake, sprinkle or a cherry on top.
~   Serve with both a straw and a long spoon.

Ice Cream Cocktails

Basically blend together complimentary liqueurs, fruits, sauces and ice cream and give it a suggestive name such as Lose Your Cherry (vanilla ice cream, cherry brandy and cream soda) or Fuzzy Navel (peach ice cream, , peach schnapps and orange juice).

This is an Ice Cream Mojito – mint ice cream, a good sloosh of golden rum topped up with soda water and garnished with a sprig of mint.

So now, if your little darlings are about to go back to school, leaving you with the responsibility of using up leftover ice cream you now have some ideas for what to do with it.

Have a look inside!

Make your Own Ice Cream!

If however you haven’t got any leftover ice cream and would like to make some I have written a book on an easy peasy no-churn method which makes deliciously smooth and luxurious ice cream.  In the book I give 100+ recipes plus every piece of information I can think of to help readers create their own gorgeous ice creams.

11 Delicious Things to do with Coffee

(in addition to just drinking it!)

A friend of mine in the BVI has a company called Rum, Sand and Sea through which he distributes all sorts of attractive gifts and souvenirs which have all been made in the Caribbean. One of these is Java'Mon coffee from the nearby island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands. Apropos of this Sam asked if I could come up with some good coffee recipes and I could!  (Incidentally this is why I have included American cup measurements in the recipes, which is not normal for me.)

As Da Java'mon say ~ Catch an IRIE feelin’

Coffee Caramel Syrup

I have added a little salt: my Dad used to add a pinch of salt to coffee and for years I didn’t understand why, although it did taste good. Now I am all grown up I realise that salt somehow reduces coffee’s bitterness and enhances the flavour – “Good Girl Daddy” as I used to say before I became so mature, some weeks ago, now!.

Double strength coffee is, of course, coffee made with twice as much coffee to water as you usually use (or half as much water to coffee, whichever you prefer!).

225g (1 cup) sugar
120ml (½ cup) water
a pinch of salt
240ml (1cup) double strength coffee

~   Set the coffee beside the stove.
~   In a saucepan over low heat stir together the sugar and the water till the sugar is dissolved and then bring to a boil. Don’t stir any more but when it starts turning colour you can swirl it about a bit.
~   Boil to a deep golden brown watching carefully, swirling occasionally.
~   As soon as it reaches deep golden brown all at once yet carefully (it will boil rapidly) add the coffee and stir over medium heat till the caramel has melted back into the coffee.
~   Add the pinch of salt.
~   Simmer stirring occasionally till the syrup has reduced and thickened slightly – about 5 minutes.
~   Cool.

Drizzle over ice cream, pancakes and so on, use to flavour milkshakes, frostings etc. or make ...

Coffee Granita or Sorbet

Freeze the above syrup and then ...

Granita is made by giving the mixture an occasional stir with a fork to draw the frozen edges into the softer middle. Return to the freezer, and repeat every half an hour or so till it is a mass of frozen crystals. The finished granita should be light and crunchy, give it a final scrape with the fork before serving to separate the crystals.

A sorbet is a smoother ice which can be churned in an ice cream machine for a soft texture but this can also be achieved without a machine by enthusiastic whisking by hand or with an electric whisk every 30 minutes whilst freezing or even better when completely frozen let it thaw slightly! I know – what a surprise! Break into large pieces and run through the food processor till smooth. Re-freeze till needed.  

Incidentally I've written a small ebook giving lots of sorbet info and recipes! ...

Caramel Coffee Frappe (posh milkshake)

3 medium scoops vanilla ice cream
about 8 ice cubes
240ml (1 cup) delicious coffee – chilled
120ml (½ cup) milk
2 tablespoons Coffee Caramel Syrup
whipped cream for topping
cocoa powder for dusting

~   Basically blend together everything but the whipped cream and cocoa in a liquidiser strong enough the crush the ice.
~   Pour into a large glass and top with cream and cocoa, however ...

If you are not sufficiently equipped to crush ice this way then wrap it in a tea towel, smash to pieces with a hammer or similar and put in the glass. Pour over the coffee mixture, or ...

Just put the whole ice cubes in the glass before adding the drink!

Ca Phe Sua Da – Vietnamese Iced Coffee

This is surprisingly delicious so don’t sneer till you’ve tried it! For a simple version stir together one part condensed milk and three parts delicious hot coffee. Pour this over the back of a teaspoon into a tall glass containing loads of ice cubes.

Irish Coffee (and derivatives) of course ...

Per person ...

A tot of Irish Whiskey (or other delicious spirit or liqueur)
1 tsp sugar
a cupful of hot strong black coffee
60ml (¼ cup) double cream

~   Warm a generous wine glass in warm water (this is to stop it cracking with the heat of the coffee) and put a teaspoon in it (so is this!).
~   Put the sugar and half the coffee in the glass and stir to dissolve the sugar.
~   Stir in the alcohol and then add enough coffee to come to about 1cm/½” below the top of the glass.
~   Stir then slowly pour the cream over the back of a teaspoon onto the surface of the coffee where it should float

Affogato …

… is Italian for “drowned” and in the foodie world usually refers to ice cream ‘drowned’ in coffee, in which case its full name is Affogato al Caffe. If using Java'mon coffee then it would  be appropriate to add rum, of course, and maybe sprinkle with broken sugar cake. 

Per person ...

1 scoop chosen ice cream
1 shot /30 ml espresso or strong coffee or whatever your choice is
1 tbsp brandy or some other spirit or liqueur - optional
2 amaretti or something suitable and crumbly – optional

~   Chill serving dish(es).
~   Put a scoop of chosen ice cream into each dish and return to the freezer for a few minutes.
~   Brew coffee or espresso.
~   Have ready chosen liqueur if using.
~   Crumble crumbly thing if using.
~   Remove ice cream from freezer and swiftly and immediately pour liqueur and coffee over it.
~   Sprinkle with crumbly thing and serve.

Dark Mocha Sauce

For ice creams, cakes, desserts in general or just eating.

80ml (⅓ cup) brewed coffee,
85g (½ cup) soft dark brown sugar
60g (½ cup) cocoa powder
pinch salt
30g (2 tbsp) butter
½ tsp vanilla extract

~   Whisk together the coffee and sugar in a small pan over medium heat till the sugar has melted.
~   Whisk in the cocoa and salt till smooth.
~   Finally whisk in the butter and vanilla extract.
~   Serve hot or cold (or warm) or like this with coffee ice cream (recipe in my no-churn ice cream book) and buttery cake croutons.

Coffee Meringues

See here for my honestly fail-proof recipe. 

Coffee Brittle and/or Praline

100g (½ cup) sugar

½ tbsp (or more if you like) ground coffee

~   Put a lightly greased baking tray standing on a wooden board or other heat proof surface beside the stove.
~   In a heavy based pan over low heat melt the sugar, shaking occasionally, till it starts to go see-through!
~   Keep watching and shaking, even swirling is an option but no stirring, till the sugar has turned a deep reddish brown.
~   Stir in the coffee and immediately plus very carefully pour onto the greased board.
~   Leave it completely and utterly alone (in fact spurn it!) till cold and hard.
~   Break into shards or crush into praline.

And a couple of savoury ideas ...

Ham with Red Eye Gravy - per person

a teaspoon of bacon fat
a thick slice of ham (a gammon steak perchance)
a pinch of sugar
30ml (2 tbsp) strong coffee

~   Melt the bacon fat in a heavy pan, cook the ham in it then set aside and keep warm.
~   Add the sugar and coffee to the pan and cook, stirring and scraping up any meaty juices.
~   Taste, season, dilute if necessary with a little more coffee or water and pour over the ham.

Coffee Rub for Steaks – enough for 4 steaks

3 tablespoons finely ground coffee
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tsp soft dark brown sugar
½ tsp crunchy sea salt
a little oil

~   Mix everything but the oil together.
~   Brush steaks with a little oil then rub and press the dry mixture onto them.
~   Leave a few minutes to absorb flavours then grill or fry as you wish.

Lots of other things can, of course, be added to this basic rub; cocoa is often used and chilli would be good with this, smoke paprika is another idea, garlic of course.  I’ll leave it to you.

Ice Cream for Breakfast!

I have found writing a cooking book to be a little fattening - the combination of having to "test" recipes by eating the results and sitting on my bottom all day has had a spreading effect. 

Luckily I have found the perfect antidote - proofreading.  I was on what, to me at least, seemed a tight deadline so forgot to eat and burnt off extra calories by stomping about a lot and talking to myself.  

So having sent the proofs off yesterday I had a rather luxurious and celebratory (albeit unseasonal) breakfast this morning - homemade Blueberry Ice Cream (made using my easy no churn ice cream recipe) with granola. Blueberries and granola are both considered healthy choices, after all!

Because of this I then ate a modest lunch ...

~  Menu  ~

Italian Herb Cornish Gouda on Toast

A small bowl of dipping soup

Glass of Red

You may remember I wrote about Cornish Gouda earlier in the month - lovely stuff and as I mentioned the Italian Herb variety is particularly good toasted.  I had a modicum of spicy tomato and bean soup leftover from last night so used this to dip my cheese on toast.  All very satisfying. 

For more ideas for leftover soup, some quite interesting, see here.

News from the Future

My aforementioned book was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available and is called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas, recipes, handy hints, cook’s treats, storage info, ideas of what goes with what that I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. 

Read more here!

Beans on Toast à la Mode

~  Menu  ~

Cheesy Beans on Toast

Red Wine

Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

I have had a very simple lunch today; cheesy beans on toast followed by ice cream and chocolate sauce.  The meal fit all the requirement necessary to qualify as a genuinely sudden lunch and was made of leftovers.

At first I thought I was just going to have cheese on toast but found half a can of white beans in the fridge plus an almost empty jar of my favourite pasta sauce.  Aha!  I heated the two together to make my own “baked beans”.  On toasted sourdough topped it with delicious Davidstow Cornish Crackler  and bunged under the grill till melty and lovely. It was very much like cheesy beans on toast only quite a superior version.

“à la Mode” 

The reason I have called this post “Beans on Toast à la Mode” is because I wanted to address a peculiar linguistic quirk of American chaps; their unusual use of the term “a la mode”.  I have always understood this to be French for “in the manner/style/fashion”, a way of doing things fashionably or perhaps in a way particular to a certain restaurant.  

Discombobulatingly enough in American “à la Mode” is generally taken to means served with ice cream!  I would have thought that if you wanted to say “with ice cream” in French then something like “avec la crème glacée” (don’t quote me on this) would have done the trick but there you have it.  

It is the original French meaning I intend in this post – I served my beans on toast in the style of our house in Cornwall.

Once in the Caribbean, for pure divilment, I put Home Smoked Seafood Platter "a la mode” on the menu (with cream cheese, parsley ad vodka ice cream) and watched their funny reactions, bless them. 

Talking of blessing them ...

Happy Fourth of July you guys!!

Very Quick Hot Chocolate Sauce

Speaking of ice cream my lunch pudding was also sudden.  There has been a small amount of leftover condensed milk in the fridge for far longer than there should have been.  As a test for my forthcoming book on leftovers (please see below) I melted it together with an equal quantity of dark chocolate and ate the resulting sauce over ice cream – just so that I could fully assess its qualities.  

Its qualities were – sweet, rich, lush, deeply chocolatey and it went fudgy and goos-ome as it cooled on the ice cream which I consider to be a good point.
  

News from the Future ...

My book was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available and is called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  

In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. Do we get pack each?

Channa Aloo ... perhaps

~ Menu ~ 

Crisply Fried Aubergine Slices topped with Greek Yogurt 
Chickpea and Potato Curry 
(Channa Aloo perhaps?) 
Various scraps of ice cream 
Coffee

This was the last day in our caravan for the season; the site closes tomorrow. Now we start our strange annual meanderings, hopefully leading up to a few months in the Caribbean but possibly not. I have tried, and succeeded, to almost run out of food so today himself had a bacon and cheddar omelette and I had the remainder of a bargain aubergine (perfect and only 10p!) I bought the other day. I shallow fried slices till crisp, topped them with the last tablespoon of Greek yogurt and ate them with a small curry I cobbled together.

Channa Aloo-ish

The curry was very simple – half a medium onion and 2 small potatoes diced and cooked in 1 tbsp olive oil, covered, over low heat till tender and starting to brown. I added 2 tsp Patak’s Madras Curry Paste, fried it for a couple of minutes and then added about 225 ml water and half a can of leftover chickpeas I had found when defrosting the freezer. I brought the curry to a boil, turned down the heat, covered and simmered gently whilst preparing my aubergine, which was also very simple …

Slice aubergine about 1 cm thick, season both sides and fry in olive oil over quite a high heat till crisp and brown and, as it happens, meltingly delish inside. They do absorb oil so add more as needed. Drain well on paper towel and top with a dollop of yogurt which not only compliments it greatly but also goes well with curried dishes. 

 When I was young and spry I always I disgorged my aubergines by salting and leaving them around for a while to remove their bitter juices. Now I hardly ever do so and am not sure if this is because: a) the value of disgorging was an urban myth, b) aubergines are now sold younger and sweeter, or c) I am older and can’t be arsed. As a prime example I did not salt the aubergine mentioned in this post and it was perfectly fine. 

If, however, you fancy a bit of disgorging this is what you do … ~ slice aubergine ~ put into a colander suspended over a dish. ~ salt the slices liberally and turn to coat ~ leave for about 30 minutes ~ rinse with cold water to wash off the salt and any extracted bitter juices ~ pat the slices dry with paper towel and continue with whatever you had planned for them. 

For dessert we ate up various scraps of ice cream from my ice cream book experiments including a very alcoholic Cherry Bounce ice cream and Caramel Chocolate Semi Freddo. Coffee completed the meal which was sort of lunch, honestly, but was not eaten till almost dark due to our frantic packing away and cleaning. I don’t think we’ll be having much for dinner – probably just a brandy for me and maybe some chocolate. After all everything needs finishing off!

Every few months for the last 16 or more years we have packed up everything and moved on and it is both an interesting and an irritating life. Sometimes I will think 

“where is my … palette knife, for example …, oh yes, 4,000 miles away (or wherever)” 

So inconvenient. On the other hand I often think 

“ooh goodie, not long till I see … my sister, my brother, my nieces and nephews, my friends, the hills of Northumberland, the tropical sun, our boat, my palette knife etc."

PS. Research has revealed that modern growing methods result in virtually seedless aubergines with no bitter juices. Ha – not my aging process after all.