Knit an Ice Cream for Bag Books!

We all love knitting, charity projects and ice cream so this is the perfect project which encompasses all of the above and more as it's also a quick make!
We're asking people to make these beauties for multi sensory stories for use by a charity called Bag Books. To find out more about them please visit their website: www.bagbooks.org

I absolutely love using craft in a therapeutic way and how it can provide comfort, joy and happiness not only to the recepients but also to the people making them.
I really hope this is something you might enjoy making and heck... I'm even going to sit down and try to conquer my fear of knitting patterns...though I may have to ask someone to wipe my brow hold my hand while I learn to decipher the code!

Plus as it's not real ice cream that means ZERO calories so no worrying about the hips but it will in fact provide a warm fussy feeling and that goes straight to the heart!

©ilikelemons

You can find the pattern via:

i-like-lemons.blogspot.co.uk

Please send your makes to: Bag Books 1 Stewart's Court, 218-220 Stewart's Road, London SW8 4UB

Lemon ripple ice cream!

Well as it's still summer and the weather's feeling glorious we really wanted to post another ice cream recipe! Not that I need much convincing but I have to say that I'd never thought that I would make my own ice cream with such diligence!
The idea of having an ice cream maker at first made me think that it would become just another gadget sitting in the back of the cupboard... but far from it.
By having a little machine it's made it possible to experiment -as well as follow a few recipes- and it has been so much fun making up my own flavours. And one of my all time favourite -apart from chocolate of course- is lemon!
 Lemon is one of those flavours that you either love or hate. It's divisive but what you can't get away from is the cleansing and refreshing quality of lemons especially after a hearty meal so... this is just the tonic after a big eat! Though of course you can eat it on it's own and skip the meal entirely!

For this recipe I've added yogurt to the cream (a 50/50 split) as I wanted it to be less fatty then others made with just full double cream but it's still smooth, rich and packed full of flavour.
You can't see it in the photo but there's a "vein" of lemon curd running through it and lots of zesty lemon which looks inviting and yummy! A jolly, bright, mellow yellow treat for all...

Ah Lemons... use the best quality ones you can find/afford. Preferably Sicilian lemons would have been used but these are run of the mill veg market fodder but the ice cream still tasted amazing! I'm going to try this recipe again when I visit my mum as she has an amazing organic lemon tree in the garden...

For this recipe you'll need:
An ice cream maker; fear not if you haven't got one you can slightly adapt it so it can go directly to the freezer! I'll add the directions as we go along...
zest and juice of 2 lemons
100g of icing sugar
300ml of double cream -for straight to the freezer use whipping cream-
300ml of honey Greek style yogurt
3 tbsp of lemon curd

The ice cream maker method:
In a large bowl which all the ingredients together. Add to your ice cream maker and leave to thicken. In mine it took circa 30 minutes but please refer to your maker's manual.
Right at the end add the curd just so it ripples but doesn't  mix in completely. Transfer to a freezer safe container.

The freezer method:Whisk the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the sugar, lemon zest and juice to the yogurt and mix well. Take a small amount of your yogurt mix and add to the whipped cream so it's incorporated. Now gently fold the remaining yogurt making sure not to knock out too much of the air from the whipped cream.
Add the curd and mix just so it ripples but doesn't  mix in completely. Transfer to a freezer safe container.
Leave for at least 4 hours to set. Remove a few minutes before serving.

It's also a great base for smoothies and shakes... add fresh berries and whiz to make a refreshing summer drink or spooned over home made meringues with a generous sprinkling of flaked toasted almonds for a gorgeous desert...

We'd love to know what you think and if you've tried this recipe let us know.
Share your ideas, tips or how you've adapted this recipe to create your own in the comment section below... we'd love to try your recipes too!!!

Something for the weekend... make your own Ice Cream!

Finally the hot weather has arrived and London is prettier for it... so many gorgeous people in gorgeous summer frocks (and the boys look pretty awesome too... but not in frocks though!), it really is something quite extraordinary but the best accessory by far is some home made ice cream! But don't wear it... As I can confirm it is quite a task to remove a chocolate ice cream stain from a dress!

Because we love trying new things and as I am "babysitting" a friend's ice cream maker I thought I'd give it a go! I was thinking of trying a few fruity ones but in this household chocolate rules and so... I complied and made some super chocolaty stuff courtesy of the fab cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
I have to say that it got a huge thumbs up! Easy to make - even though I was slightly in a flap when I read the part of making a sugar syrup but it was more straight forward then it looked - and is so delicious... it's pretty close to a certain Danish Ice cream company but...better!!!
Though to me it was super duper it needed to pass my fussiest taste tester's approval which it did, he actually said:
"Wow, it's like eating frozen chocolate mousse!"
And if the other half's happy with it then mission accomplished so I highly recommend this recipe...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/superrichchocolateic_14295 

Easy Tiger, there's enough for everyone!

Plus as I had a bit of mix left over - it wouldn't all fit in the churner- which means the old noggin started to work overtime!
I couldn't just chuck it away so I thought about experimenting with it and as it had eggs and butter it was a perfectly good cake base so to the mix I added 2 table spoons of self raising flour. The consistency should be like that for a sponge cake mix but still quite runny.
I trialed one straight away and it was pretty good though what I found next would completely change the recipe and I can confirm that it's well worth the wait! The first trial was good... it was more of a gooey sponge cake which hey... I still ate and enjoyed immensely but take it from me be patient and it gets better!
What I found is that if you let it set in the fridge overnight that it becomes more of a souffle, chocolate fondant type of dessert and that is absolutely a winner with me!
So what you'll need to do is: fill your ramekins about 3/4 of the way, cover with clingfilm, leave over night in the fridge to set then zap in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds (if you're making 2 at a time and you have an 800 W microwave it'll take circa 30 to 45 seconds).

Let's just say that it blows all those "cakes in a mug" recipes out of the water... kind of reminds me of the Gü Desserts souffle pots! Warm, gooey, super dark chocolate heaven which will go amazingly well with the above mentioned ice cream... though you might go into a chocolate coma! Oh well... it'll be worth it!