After a summer of absolute neglect regarding my own culinary adventures and blogging I seem to be on a roll at the moment. Having survived our annual vacation and annual scout camp, I returned to work somewhat shell-shocked, but now it seems, thankfully, that I've rediscovered my enthusiasm for many of the things I genuinely enjoy...
Last Thursday, for instance saw a moment of inspiration. I'd been gathering bits and pieces and finally I had them all, or so I thought! As I lay out the ingredients for my latest adventure I was smugly satisfied that the Book of Sweet Things recipe for an orange ice-cream would fulfil one of my all time favourite cravings. I love ice-cream, as in proper ice-cream rather than iced-desserts (vegetable fat desserts more like!), but I am particularly fond of orange ice-cream.
The ingredients for this recipe are very simple, relying on a traditional custard base made from full cream Tullamore Dairies Milk, 5 Free-range Egg Yokes, the zest of an Orange (scrubbed to remove any unwanted wax or pesticides),and my own Vanilla Sugar to which you add 50g Bitter Marmalade. The lightly whipped Double Cream and Jaffa Cakes are added later on.
Had the been in a box it might have been easier to find them, but these were smashed up in a plastic bag that I'd confiscated from one of our younger scouts on the last day of our annual camp. Reluctant to share his booty with the rest of us he'd hidden them in the bottom of his rucsack and the resulting mess was going to be thrown away. A light bulb had suddenly lit up in my head, I could use them...
Once the custard had thickened my patience (or lack of it) isn't always a virtue at this point, and I resorted to transferring the custard into my trusty pyrex jug and then pluged it into cold water. I find this is so much quicker than waiting for my cast iron saucepan to cool!
Now it was time to fold in the whipped cream and pour the resulting mix into the ice-cream maker.
Quite honestly this is the best part of ice-cream making. Not only do you get to watch the fruit of your labour turn into your favourite dessert, but you also get to clean the utensils!
Sometime around half way through the churning process you're supposed to add the chopped/shredded/crushed jaffa cakes, mmmmh.... The recipe calls for four 'shredded' Jaffa Cakes, in my case I picked out four intact orange jelly discs and a large handful of powdered biscuit base crumbs and shards of dark chocolate to add to the mixture...
Needless to say we'd to be patient at this stage. This, of course, didn't prevent us from 'tasting' the partly frozen ice-cream , although you've to be quick unless you want your fingers caught by the agitator! Tastings aside we did manage to transfer at least six large portions into suitably sized bowl before we shut it into the deepfreeze for a while, just to finish off the freezing process.
I can't honestly remember what we had for dinner that night, but I do remember what we had for dessert! It was just lovely. Even writing about it now has got my taste buds tingling! Best of all though, I was happy in the knowledge that there were another couple of scoops left over for another day. Imagine then how disappointed I was, after a horrid day at work to discover that my eldest boy had devoured my only source of solace hence the absence of photo's!
To add insult to injury I was later presented with the plastic agitator. It was mangled and in an unusable condition, thanks to Tilley the Sheepdog who just loves to chew anything and everything she can get her teeth on. I don't know how she got hold of it, but until I can locate a replacement it looks as though my ice-cream making days are over...
Showing posts with label Murphy's Ice-cream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Murphy's Ice-cream. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Polly's Ice-Cream Adventure...
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
free range eggs,
ice cream,
Ice Cream Ireland,
ice cream maker,
jaffa orange ice-cream,
Murphy's Ice-cream,
the book of sweet things,
Tullamore Dairies
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Polly says "Ah, this is the life...!"
Hi ya!
Just a quickie to say hello from Sunny Dingle!!! Yes, we do have sun and just a spot or two of spitting drizzle... every now and again!
Just had a lovely brunch including some of Margaret's Oldfarm sausages, lots and lots of tea and hopefully Murphy's ice-cream to follow. Found a wonderful takeaway in town last night and were lucky enough to catch last orders last night, all the way to bleedin' Kerry and what did we have for dinner? An Indian and Donna Kebabs! And it was so funny watching Gypsophillus-the-dog coughing this morning as she ate her breakfast out of one of the left over takeaway containers... (especially considering that she's quite a conoisseur of spicy food these days!)
The Rainbow Hostel is lovely! The staff are friendly and helpful, the rates are certainly affordable, considering the situation and the fact that we've full access to all the facilities, except the beds. The only draw back is that any washing has to be done by hand or submitted to the laundry service provided by the staff. I'm sure the cost is reasonable, but I'm probably too mean to pay for it anyway - we'll see! Ironically, the hostel not only has a cat, but her name is Gypsophillus too! It's inclined to be somewhat confusing when the boys call the cat and I turn around to see how our own girlie got off the lead...
I have to admit that it does seem a little silly to be sitting half in and half out of our eight-man tent, typing away on the laptop in the lovely Kingdom of Kerry rather than going down to the town, shoreline, harbour or Murphy's Ice-Cream Parlour. That said, this is our annual holiday and it's a time for rest and relaxation which comes in all forms, shapes and sizes including sitting in the garden of the Rainbow Hostel using their wifi, reading On Writing by Stephen King (which by the way is very good), The Rough Guide to Ireland, and generally dossing...
DG took himself, LB and G into the convenience store earlier on and brought back his copy of the Sunday Times affording a little bit of peace and quiet for the first time since 6.30am (we woke a little earlier than usual...)
That said, my new watch appears to have a dud battery in it for the second time since it was purchased. Last week I was woken by the sound of the Scouts chatting and playing the maraca at 5.30am. By the time I eventually came to and remarked on their outrageously early energy levels I was unceremoniously told that I was crazy - given the fact that it was actually 8.30am...
Still, isn't that what holidays are all about? Losing track of time and date, just like the Californian lady I was speaking to earlier on this morning! Ah, this is the life...
Just a quickie to say hello from Sunny Dingle!!! Yes, we do have sun and just a spot or two of spitting drizzle... every now and again!
Just had a lovely brunch including some of Margaret's Oldfarm sausages, lots and lots of tea and hopefully Murphy's ice-cream to follow. Found a wonderful takeaway in town last night and were lucky enough to catch last orders last night, all the way to bleedin' Kerry and what did we have for dinner? An Indian and Donna Kebabs! And it was so funny watching Gypsophillus-the-dog coughing this morning as she ate her breakfast out of one of the left over takeaway containers... (especially considering that she's quite a conoisseur of spicy food these days!)
The Rainbow Hostel is lovely! The staff are friendly and helpful, the rates are certainly affordable, considering the situation and the fact that we've full access to all the facilities, except the beds. The only draw back is that any washing has to be done by hand or submitted to the laundry service provided by the staff. I'm sure the cost is reasonable, but I'm probably too mean to pay for it anyway - we'll see! Ironically, the hostel not only has a cat, but her name is Gypsophillus too! It's inclined to be somewhat confusing when the boys call the cat and I turn around to see how our own girlie got off the lead...
I have to admit that it does seem a little silly to be sitting half in and half out of our eight-man tent, typing away on the laptop in the lovely Kingdom of Kerry rather than going down to the town, shoreline, harbour or Murphy's Ice-Cream Parlour. That said, this is our annual holiday and it's a time for rest and relaxation which comes in all forms, shapes and sizes including sitting in the garden of the Rainbow Hostel using their wifi, reading On Writing by Stephen King (which by the way is very good), The Rough Guide to Ireland, and generally dossing...
That said, my new watch appears to have a dud battery in it for the second time since it was purchased. Last week I was woken by the sound of the Scouts chatting and playing the maraca at 5.30am. By the time I eventually came to and remarked on their outrageously early energy levels I was unceremoniously told that I was crazy - given the fact that it was actually 8.30am...
Still, isn't that what holidays are all about? Losing track of time and date, just like the Californian lady I was speaking to earlier on this morning! Ah, this is the life...
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
Co Kerry,
Dingle,
Ice-Cream Ireland,
Murphy's Ice-cream,
Oldfarm Sausages,
On Writing,
Rainbow Hostel,
Stephen King,
Sunday Times,
Tullamore Scouts
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