Screaming for ice cream

September 22, 2008 - 4:55 PM by

I had one major desire on my recent birthday; to celebrate with an ice cream cake. This is a birthday custom that hearkens back to my Long Island, New York childhood, when most birthdays — once my mother stopped making her double-layer, German chocolate cake for special celebrations — were marked with a Carvel ice cream cake, which included several layers of ice cream, separated by generous layers of cookie crumbs and with the outside covered by cookie crumbs as well. It was absolutely divine.

aldo-in-taport-icecream.jpgIt’s been a while since I’ve sunk into one of those, so I was mighty pleased when my husband carried out an Aldo ice cream the other night, several luscious layers of chocolate-focused flavors, and covered in a fine layer of biscuit crumbs, although lacking the cookie crumbs in between the layers. It was great, a fine combo of flavors, with that slight crunch of cookies on top.

But. While the ice cream was definitely of better quality than Carvel — which, let us remind ourselves, is a fairly chemicalized soft serve — it’s a wonder to think that they charge so much — NIS 160 to NIS 180, depending on size — for what is a relatively simple cake. It got me thinking about the lavender ice cream that I once had at vegetarian restaurant Teenim in Jerusalem, and which I’ve been wanting to make all summer, and how one does put together an ice cream cake.

It’s not hard, just takes a few steps.

dry lavender.jpgFirst, drying lavender: Cut the lavender (which grows all over the place, as ubiqiutous as rosemary) just above the leaves, leaving as long a stem as possible. Tie each strand separately, then gather all strands together to create a bunch, but with air circulating between each stem. Hang the bunch of lavender in a dry, cool place for about a month. Mine’s been hanging for about a day, and I can already sense the lavender ice cream in my future.

Second, LAVENDER AND PINE NUT ICE CREAM (From the Jerusalem Post Weekend section), or try this one:

4 cups milk
2 cups 32% cream
4 Tbsp. dry lavender
11?2 cups sugar
8 egg yolks
4 eggs
2 Tbsp. rose water
250 gr. toasted pine nuts

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook the lavender with the milk and
cream. Don’t let it boil. Turn off the heat and allow to rest for 10
minutes. Strain.
In a mixer, whip the eggs and egg yolks together with the sugar until
fluffy and airy. Add the rose water to the strained milk and cream.
Add these warm liquids to the egg and sugar mixture, beating slowly
and continuously.
Prepare a cold “bain marie” (double boiler) with ice water (fill a
saucepan with water mixed with ice. Rest a – preferably metal – bowl
on top.)
Return to the heat (low flame) and whisk (with a whisk, not a spoon!)
until lightly thickened. At this point, transfer the liquids into the
bain marie bowl. Stir occasionally until cooled. Transfer into the
fridge. When the liquid is very cold, transfer into an ice-cream
maker.
When the ice cream is nearly frozen add the toasted pine nuts.
Transfer into a container and freeze.
NOTE
Dry toast the pine nuts in a saucepan before you start. Place in a
clean, dry frying pan, turn the heat up and shake. Remove when lightly
browned.
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, move the cream from the fridge
straight to the freezer. Whisk cream by hand every half hour/hour
until it is almost frozen. Add the pine nuts at this point. (If you
put them in earlier, they’ll all sink.)

3. Here’s an easy ice cream cake how-to, which really just involves scooping ice cream — or ice creams, depending on how many flavors you want — into cake pans, and refreezing before assembling. An easy way to ensure that your ice cream layer comes out in one piece is to line the pan with baking paper, and then use the paper to maneuver the ice cream layer onto a cake platter.

Tags: , , , , • Category: Food, General, Immigrant Moments 

Comments

2 Comments on Screaming for ice cream

  1. zeev sheinfeld on Thu, Jan 22nd 2009 7:35 PM

    2. my name zeev can u call me about to open ice cream carvel kosher in isreal
    347 7293989
    thank you

  2. zeev sheinfeld on Thu, Jan 22nd 2009 7:36 PM

    3. my name is zevi
    3477293989
    I want to open new ice cream stor in isreal

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