I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

More ice cream adventures.

Tub 49 & 50:

Yes this is two tubs, I ended up making twice as much as I needed to fill one tub, so I filled two tubs.

• 500g date paste
• 2 tablespoons Treacle (aka Molasses)
• 500ml full cream milk
• 8 tablespoons Natvia

The date paste was from a middle-eastern grocery. It was a brown slab of pure dateness, about the consistency of fudge or hard caramel. That is, I could cut it with a knife, but had to press down with both hands. So I cut it into cubes. It was very difficult to puree with the milk; if I hadn't been using a genuine Bamix I'm sure it would have broken my stick-blender. The motor got pretty hot, and it took quite a while. If I were to do this again, I would puree it one cube at a time instead of trying to do them all at once. The mixture ended up being quite thick, and a light brown colour.

I can't remember what setting I used on the Ninja Creami, but when it was done, the date-cream had been truly pulverized, it was almost liquid, like half-melted soft-serve. So I put it back into the freezer. When I checked it the next day, it had not frozen solid like every other Ninja Creami tub that I'd put back. No, it was actually a perfect ice-cream consistency, perfectly scoopable. Fascinating.

The taste was date. Date date date date. You couldn't tell there had been treacle added. And I realised that, while I like date, I don't like it enough to eat an entire litre of date ice cream. Ah well. You live and learn. I feel as if it needs to be eaten with vanilla sponge cake or pancakes - something to provide a lighter accent against all the dateness.

Time for another bit of ice cream. I had high expectations of this one.

Tub 44:

• 250ml strong coffee (prepared as pourover with 35g ground beans and 500ml water; the remainder of the coffee was drunk later)
• 100g Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate bar (melted)
• 7 tablespoons Natvia
• 125ml low-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon Guar Gum

I put this on the "lite ice cream" setting of the Ninja Creami. That may have been a slight mistake, because the machine wobbled and it scraped the sides of the container, carving off tiny slivers of plastic.

But it was rich and delicious and creamy. Maybe it could do with a bit more sweetener, but by the time my mouth was all cold, I wasn't noticing the non-sweetness as much. I'm absolutely certain that the Lindt is at least half the reason this is so yummy. This is an ice cream to be savoured.

Definitely worth doing again. Though I've run out of Guar Gum, so I'll have to try Xanthan gum instead.

More ice cream today.

Tub 39:

• 250ml fresh brewed pourover coffee (made up with 35g ground coffee and 500ml water; I drank the rest with milk later)
• 5 tablespoons Natvia
• 2 tablespoons powdered milk
• 250ml low fat milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Guar Gum

This was creamy and delicious; a good coffee taste without being overpowering or bitter. I don't think the powdered milk added much, I'll see how it goes without it next time. Yeah, there's definitely going to be a next time with this one. I added a mix-in of chocolate flakes, that was yummy too. All depends on whether you like tiny crumbs of chocolate in your ice cream. The chocolate flakes I'm using are rather high-end: Lindt Hot Chocolate Flakes, which, as their name suggests, are intended for making hot chocolate. And here I am, using them for the opposite thing! Still, I think it is a good use.

Trying two different kinds of vanilla flavouring, to see which one works better.

Tub 35:

• 100ml boiling water
• 1 tablespoon gelatin
• 400ml full cream milk
• 5 T Natvia
• 4 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

Tub 36:

• 100ml boiling water
• 1 tablespoon gelatin
• 400ml full cream milk
• 5 T Natvia
• 1/2 teaspoon concentrated imitation vanilla extract

Processed both of them on the "Lite Ice Cream" setting of my Ninja Creami machine. The imitation vanilla was strongly vanilla-y, but you could tell that it was imitation vanilla. However, once the tastebuds get numbed by the cold, you don't notice it as much. The natural vanilla wasn't as strongly vanilla as the imitation, but you could taste the undertones and the more full-bodied subtle flavour of the real vanilla, but again, once the tastebuds are numbed, you can't detect the subtleties as much (though they are still there). Both of them were nice and creamy.

I don't dare compare these to high-end vanilla ice cream though, because they will both die of embarrassment, going up against cream and sugar, versus milk and Natvia. But the natural vanilla milk ice is really rather nice.

I am pleased, because vanilla is the most difficult to get right. With other flavours, one can cover up their inadequacies with strong flavour, but with vanilla, the flavour is so light, that you notice all the other problems, like the "cream" not tasting right (because, for example, one used powdered milk), or the sweetener having an odd aftertaste (xylitol can do this), and so on.

So, hooray, I have vanilla! And once you have vanilla, there are so many other flavours you can make starting off with the same base.

Another one of my non-traditional flavours.

Tub 28:

• 500ml frozen carrot pieces, cooked in microwave
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 150ml orange juice
• 2 tablespoons of Natvia

Sorbet setting; it needed re-spinning a couple of times, but did get to the creamy rather than the crumbly. This was an amazing orange colour; no real surprise, they use beta-carotene as a food colouring. Definitely carrot flavour, with an underlying hint of orange. Unlike the peas, this did have a good texture. Before it melted, anyway.

When it comes down to it, though, honeyed-carrot isn't really a flavour I'm into, but I wonder if I did it with oat flour it would be more like a carrot-cake flavour? And if I used Brown Natvia instead of standard Natvia, whether that would add a toffee note? Brown Natvia is a new product, they say it's equivalent to brown/raw sugar in flavour.

More iced confections! What, you thought I'd stopped experimenting? This burst of experimentation will go on until I've reached the end of my list of things to try, or the end of summer, whichever comes first. (Current length of experiment-list is... eleven items, not counting the tubs which are currently in the freezer.)

Tub 29:

This one was an improvisation, because I had ordered fresh Basil and they gave me "lightly dried basil" instead (which had added oil and salt - ugh!). So I made a Basil infusion with what I had. And it was rather bland, so I added other essences.

• 500ml boiling water
• 4 tablespoons "lightly dried" basil

Steep for five minutes.

• 3 tablespoons Natvia
• 1/4 teaspoon Peppermint essence
• 1/4 teaspoon Lime essence
• 1/2 teaspoon Guar Gum

The first flavour that hits you is the peppermint, but there's an interesting spicy-herb aftertaste which is the Basil. I didn't notice the lime at all. This was also a little bitter, presumably because I steeped the dried basil too long. Making a milkshake with this removes the bitterness, and while it may dilute the flavour, it also reduces the numbing effect of the cold, so that compensates for the dilution.

I think this is worth trying again with actual fresh basil. And the peppermint is a good combination with it, so long as I keep the amount down to 1/4 teaspoon. Peppermint tends to dominate anything you add it to.

Yes, I did almond chocolate.

Tub 26:

• 250ml almond flour
• 2 tablespoons Dutch Cocoa
• 4 tablespoons Natvia
• 250ml hot water

Mixed together with stick-blender and soaked overnight in fridge.

Then added

• 1/2 teaspoon Guar Gum

Then froze overnight.

I added a mix-in of chocolate flakes after I'd processed it, but they didn't really add much to the ice cream. The ice cream itself was smooth and creamy and a milk-chocolate-ish flavour. If I wanted it more dark-chocolate I'd add more cocoa.

I am very pleased that the almond flour is working out so well. One merely has to make sure one eats the ice cream before it melts.

Technically not "ice cream", since it has no cream, let alone any dairy. I am amazed that something which has no cream, no dairy, no sugar, no gluten and is low-carb tastes so nice.

I think I forgot to give the verdict of the coconut-cream ones.

( Tub 16 )

( Tub 17 )

Spoiler: I did not like any of the following ones. And I had been looking forward to them too!

( Tub 21 )

( Tub 22 )

( Tub 23 )

Outcomes:

• If I do a recipe with actual cream in it, use an existing recipe with sugar.
  • Which means I won't be doing it unless it is for someone else.
• Definitely try Orange Candy Melon again, but next time just do a straight sorbet with just the melon and Natvia.
• Fruit sorbets mainly seem to do very well.
  • Mango - yes
  • Pineapple - yes
  • Orange - yes
  • Apricot - yes
  • Apple - no, but I blame the nutmeg
• Beverage sorbets have been 50/50 but it was a matter of my own taste.

So, here are some flavours I would like to make in future:

( Read more... )

Question for you all. When I had ordered the Oat flour (for the Christmas Pudding ice cream) they sent me almond flour instead. If I could make up a similar almond-y cream as I did with the oat flour, what flavours go well with almond? Chocolate would, but it would also overpower all the almond-ness (but it might make a good dairy-free "milk chocolate" flavour) Any other suggestions?

The Christmas Pudding Ice Cream basically worked. As often happens with this recipe, it melts far too quickly because of the brandy. Next time, less brandy. But at least the meltiness meant I could scoop it into a different container and mix in a couple of handfuls of dried fruit (because of course the original dried fruit had been pulverized). I only had a bit of a taste, because that is going to be my contribution to Christmas dinner.

The Leftovers-with-banana (Tub 13) had too much nutmeg and was too bitter. Even mixing in chocolate flakes did not help. Pouring maple syrup on top did help, so I suppose it needed extra Natvia. But then I'm not likely to do this again, if I'm doing banana, I'm more likely to be doing straight banana sorbet. Just need to remember to be light on the nutmeg if I add any at all. Ugh, so bitter.

The best part of the Pea-and-Mint Sorbet is the mint. Not that the pea is awful, it just has an odd sort of floury undertone. The second-best part of this sorbet is the colour. It is a beautiful natural green.

I am proud that I have proven it can be done, but I don't think I'll do it again. However, I definitely want to try making mint sorbet on its own, with fresh mint (and possibly mint tea made from dried mint).

Possibly mint might be nice with coconut milk? I'm personally rather picky about what flavours I feel go well with coconut, ever since I made some strawberry-coconut ice cream and found I didn't like it. Coconut with chocolate I'm certain will work, as would coconut with vanilla, but apart from that I'm not sure. Any suggestions?