Tag Archives: caramel

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Irish Coffee Milkshake with Whiskey Caramel

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Yes, it’s another ice-cream-drink…and yeah, maybe it was lunch yesterday. I hope you don’t mind, I’m just in the mood for stripey straws and swift-sweet-tooth-satisfaction…plus, this one is different because of the BOOZE factor.

It’s no secret that this weekend is a BFD for lovers of all things green, and pinching, and Ireland, and Guinness,  and corned beef, and whiskey, and drunk-stumbling camaraderie. As a certifiable hermit, I’m not one for crazy, raucous partying, but I do like to get down with a festive, boozey, treat to share with my favorites (you all included!). Enter this milkshake. It’s dead-simple, I mean…I know we can all handle making a milkshake, so think of this as more of a suggestive guide, rather than a recipe.

We’re blending together store-bought coffee ice cream, a little milk mixed with a little espresso powder, some whiskey (if I had any shame, I’d be real and use certifiable Irish whiskey…but I didn’t), and a boozed-up homemade caramel sauce. This shake has some of my favorite flavors ever–I mean, whiskey and caramel should just be BFF’s, right? plus, coffee? Get out. This shake is a quick indulgence for one, but can be easily adapted to make a batch of impressive, crowd-pleasing treats. Pop in a straw and knock one back!

Irish Coffee Milkshake

Makes 1 milkshake. 

I’m sure you guys know what a milkshake is all about and exactly how you like them, so ratios below are just a suggestion. Shake it up, add mix-ins, do yo’ thing. 

2 hefty scoops of your favorite coffee ice cream

2-4 tablespoons of milk

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 ounce (or as much as you want) whiskey

whiskey caramel sauce (recipe below)

whipped cream to garnish

Begin by dissolving the espresso powder in the milk, add to a blender canister along with the ice cream, whiskey, and a generous drizzle of caramel sauce. Blend it up! Drizzle the inside of your glass with more caramel, pour in the shake, top with whipped cream and more caramel if desired. Cheers!

Whiskey Caramel Sauce:

adapted from THIS recipe.

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon golden syrup (or corn syrup)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 ounce whiskey

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, water, and golden syrup, gently combine. Heat over medium-high until the mixture becomes a syrup and comes to a boil. Continue to boil until the syrup becomes a deep golden, brown caramel color–as dark as you dare before it burns. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the butter, cream, and salt, until smooth. Return to heat if needed to create a smooth sauce. Whisk in the whiskey to combine. Pour into a heatproof jar and cool. Can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for a week.

 

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Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream with Cashews

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When I was a smallish child we lived in California, just a few towns over from The Jelly Belly factory. We did the tour a few times  with out-of-town family–that place smells insane like sugar. I always loved mixing the flavors to make other flavors–root beer float and the like. My mom would pretty much only eat those strange buttered popcorn dudes. This ice cream is a nod to that candy bean, though the flavor is less weirdo-artificial-movie-theater-bucket and more delicious popcorn nuttiness.

Even though I’m not a fan of the popcorn jelly bean, I am a fan of popcorn…and caramel and nuts. I mean, it’s just so perfect–salty, sweet, nutty crunchy. It’s like a salty-sweet-crunchy dream. This ice cream starts with a smooth and creamy popcorn base–there are 8 whole cups of popcorn in it! It wilts down to nothing, but leaves behind a cream that’s reminiscent of buttered popcorn, sans the butter plus the popcorn. I added a caramel ripple for good measure and sweet cashews for crunch.

This ice cream is crazy-weird-good. Even though it’s only January, it has me dreaming of late sunsets, ball parks and hot dogs, and summertime goodness.

Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream with Cashews

Salted Caramel Sauce // adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Prepare the caramel sauce ahead of time so it can cool to room temperature. Can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated in a lidded container. You will have leftover sauce, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to use it up :)

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon golden (or corn) syrup

1/4 cup water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt

In a measuring cup measure out cream and add vanilla, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat sugar, syrup, and water over medium-high until sugar is melted and turns dark golden brown in color (the darkest you can get it before burning is best–think whiskey/bourbon color). Remove from heat and quickly whisk in butter and half of cream until combined and smooth. The mixture will steam and bubble furiously, use a oven mitt or towel to wrap your stirring hand. If there are still lumps, heat gently until smooth. Add remaining cream and salt and stir until smooth.

Popcorn

1/2 cup popping corn

paper lunch bag

place the popcorn kernels in the bag, fold the bag top 2-3 times, microwave on high until the corn is popping like crazy, followed by 1-2 second pauses between pops–about 3 1/2 minutes. This may take some trial and error, just be watchful–you may have to pop it in 2 batches. This made me about 9 cups of popcorn–I used 8 and snacked on the remaining cup.

Popcorn Ice Cream // adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

2 cups heavy whipping cream

8 cups plain popped corn

2 cup milk

4 teaspoons cornstarch

2/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons golden syrup (or corn)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped cashews

caramel sauce

In a medium saucepan heat the heavy cream with the popcorn (the popcorn will basically wilt away, so if it seems like a lot, it won’t be), bring to a low boil, cover, remove from heat and steep for 1 hour. Sieve the popcorn cream through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on solids to extract as much cream as possible. Discard solids, you should have about 1 cup of cream remaining, if less add cream to make 1 cup.

Mix 1/4 cup of the milk with the cornstarch to create a slurry. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan mix together the popcorn cream with the remaining 1 3/4 cups milk, add the sugar, golden syrup, and salt. Heat the mixture and bring to a low boil, quickly whisk in the slurry mixture and return to a boil, whisking until thickened–about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl or clean sink basin. Pour the ice cream base into a gallon zip-bag and seal. Chill the base in the ice bath until cooled completely. Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Spoon 1/3 of the churned ice cream into a freezer container, drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with nuts–repeat 2 more times. Cover and freeze until firm–3 hours or more.

 

 

 

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Espresso Cream Puffs with Salted Chocolate Caramel

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Pate choux is a versatile kind of pastry. Rich and eggy, it can go savory to sweet and is the perfect foil for filling.

My very first taste of this iconic pastry was in cream puff form. My family is super social and loves a good party. As we know, good food and drink are just as essential for a good party as great guests are. I remember reaching up and sneaking cream puffs from my grandma’s kitchen counter while she prepped for parties. She would make sheet pans full of them, filled with chocolate and vanilla custard. My brother and I would eat them, not so sneakily, at the kitchen table, spinning slowly in the upholstered chairs.  To my kid brain, they were huge–the size of my hand–and so special and perfect.

These cream puffs are not nearly as large–so you can have 2 or 3 instead of 1–and I didn’t make a custard to fill them, which makes the recipe even less daunting. Though choux pastry may seem intimidating–the process is unusual–it really isn’t and having a recipe like this in your repertoire makes for lots of versatility.

Big Kitchen kindly sent me an iSi Mini Cream Whipper–which I used to make the espresso whip for this recipe. I’ve wanted one of these gadgets since I used one in my days slangin’ coffee drinks as a barista. It’s basically like a fancy whipped cream can, a la supermarket dairy cases, but better. You can fill it with your choice of whipping cream and control the sweetness. The whipper can be filled and stored, keeping the cream fresh for over a week, and keeping freshly whipped cream on hand for use as you like. While I love a softly, hand-whipped cream, the ease of use and the fact that it keeps your whipped cream fresh for days is a major bonus….plus, it’s pretty fun to charge the bottle with the tiny N2O chargers. 

**Note: I have to say it, Big Kitchen did provide me with this product to review. Don’t fret though, all opinions on this blog are always my own.

Pate Choux for Cream Puffs

from the perfect scoop.

1 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large, room temperature eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk

Preheat oven to 425 and line baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat.

Heat sugar, water, salt and butter in a small saucepan, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat and pour all flour into pan at once and stir vigorously until the dough pulls away from the pan and is smooth.

Allow dough to cool for about 2 minutes before briskly beating in eggs, one at a time, until smooth and shiny. Don’t fret if the mixture appears broken and does not absorb the eggs at first–keep mixing, it will happen. You should have a sticky, well-combined dough.

Either pipe or drop small (walnut) sized rounds onto baking sheet, spacing evenly (about 1 inch apart). Mix remaining yolk with milk and brush tops of cream puffs. Bake for 30 minutes or until puffed and browned. Turn off oven and leave for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Cool cream puffs completely before filling.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chips or chopped

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

big pinch of sea salt

In a small saucepan heat sugar with water to dissolve. Do  not stir through this process–swirl the pan if you must. Cook the sugar syrup until it becomes a dark golden caramel. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream, stirring with a  oven-mitted or towel wrapped hand–it will bubble and steam furiously. Continue to stir until combined well and smooth. Add the chocolate, stir until combined. Finally, stir in the butter and salt. Use warm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Reheat in the microwave in 20 second bursts after refrigerating.

Espresso Whipped Cream

As mentioned, I used a cream whipper for this, but totally feel free to whip it up any way you like. 

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1-2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Measure out the cream and whisk in the espresso to dissolve. Whip the cream however you desire–whisk, jar, beaters, mixer, or cream whipper.

To assemble: cut or tear cream puffs in half–reserving tops. Fill with cream, top and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve. Serve with Salted Chocolate Caramel.

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Demerara Caramels

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A few weeks ago I was contacted by The East India Company‘s Fine Foods department (yes, it’s the very same one established in 1600, read more about the modern EIC on their website). They were wondering if I would like to try one of their products.

My answer to free baking supplies will pretty much always be some version of, “hells yeah! …please.”

Anyway, I agreed and a few days ago I received a package containing some of their Demerara Sugar.

Demerara is a coarse, dry, raw cane sugar. This variety is particularly dark with a heady, molasses aroma. The smell coming from that bubbling pot of caramel was absolutely intoxicating–dark molasses, butter, salt, and a little vanilla…oh, it was heaven. Continue reading →