Blueberry and Peach

Peaches are in high season in July. I have been looking out for sweet juicy peaches for a few weeks. I finally got a chance to go to the farmers market on the weekend and the peaches are great!

I brought them home and was thinking about how I could best enjoy them. I was overjoyed to found out that there is a big empty space in my freezer!  Time for making ice cream!

Blueberry Peach Frozen Yoghurt
(from Scoop Adventures with slight modifications)

2 cups (320 g) blueberries
6 small or 4 large ripe peaches, peeled and sliced (350 g)
150 g sugar
1 cup (8 oz) whole milk Greek yogurt
1/4 cup heavy cream
A few drops of lemon juice

Heat blueberries and half of the peaches in a medium saucepan over medium heat until soft and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Add sugar.  Remove from heat and cool completely and refrigerate.

Once fruit is cool, pour into a blender or food processor.  Add yogurt, heavy cream, and lemon juice.  Blend until smooth. 

Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the rest of the peaches half point of the churning time.  Transfer to a container, place plastic or parchment over frozen yogurt  (to prevent ice crystals) and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Where's the Polar Bear?

I feel miserable, hesitant, and busy these days.

Ever since I started taking baking and cake decorating courses, and have my own kitchen, my life has been changed dramatically.

I used to be a stylish girl who enjoyed going to the malls every weekend, spending money and time on cosmetics and reading fashion magazines every month. It's only normal to bring home at least 1 new piece of clothing every month. (No, I was never a big spender) When I was in University, going to the mall is a weekly event. My shopping buddy and I would go to a different mall every weekend to shop. Things only get worse when I rented her basement in my master years that if one of us wake up in the morning and felt an urge to spend some money, we would go wake the other up, get dressed, and jump in the car. I love the non-existent schedule. Those were the days.

Ever since I own my kitchen, things have changed. I started to spend my time and money on groceries and preparing dinner rather than clothes. I started this blog. I stopped shopping at the mall but end up spending my time looking every where in the city to buy plates, cake stands, and flatware. Things definitely started to get worse when last weekend I actually allowed myself to dress in an old t-shirt, jeans that doesn't fit properly and unmatched shoes when I go out. I would never let myself out of the door dressed like that 3 years ago. The only chance that might happen to me, I thought, might be when I have a kid. I was surprised when I looked into the mirror later that day to examine my fashion faux pas. My passion for baking has engulfed me and has taken all my personal time. I am afraid these days that sooner or later my passion for cakes will die down, probably because I hated that there's no time to take care of myself anymore.

That's just my little worry these days. Yet I know this won't happen anytime soon. I still stay up late at night to finish a cake, and sacrifice my sleep to finish icing some cookies. I have no regrets, but maybe drink a few more coffees than I should be.

It's mom's birthday in a few days. Last year I did a mango galette for mom. Since my recent purchase of an ice cream machine, I have decided to make a baked Alaska for mom.

I knew of Baked Alaska when I was little. To me, it's a mountain of ice cream flambe with alcohol. The fire and ice combination fascinated me. Do you know what a Baked Alaska is?

Ok, maybe my version is far from Heston Blumenthal's version. That's just a little bit time consuming to my busy schedule. But here's my simplified version:

Doesn't it look like a burnt floating island? Ah yes, this island has pokey spikes! (C beside me: "where is the polar bear?")

8" Dome Shaped Baked Alaska with Mango Ice Cream
Sponge cake
3 eggs, separated
1.8 oz sugar
0.2 oz cocao powder
1.6 oz all purpose flour
Instructions here.

Mango Ice Cream
Ice Cream base:
8 egg yolks
3/8 cups suar
2 cups milk
1-1/4 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup mango puree
2 tbsp raspberry liquor
Follow your usual ice cream making instructions. When the ice cream is done, hand mix is 1/2 cup mango puree mixed with 1 tbsp liquor of your choice.

Swiss Meringue
5 egg whites
200 sugar
Heat up egg whites with sugar over a hot water bath until it reaches 60C. Mix occasionally. The mixture should feel smooth to touch. Transfer to a mixer and whisk until stiff peaks, 5 to 10 minutes.

Assemble
Cut the cake into 2 layers. Pick one of the layers and trim to fit the top of your dome shaped mold. (You can omit this step and use the whole cake if you want.)
Line your mold with plastic wrap. Put the smaller piece of cake (if used) at the bottom and put in your prepared ice cream. It's best to coordinate your time and put the ice cream in the mold directly from your ice cream maker. Put the big piece of cake on top of the ice cream, and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 2 hours.
Fill your pipping bag with meringue. Take out your cake from the freezer and flip it over a cake board/serving dish. Unmold and take away the plastic wrap. Pipe the meringue on top of the ice cream to cover it entirely. Using a hand held torch, lightly caramelize the meringue. Serve immediately.

M for Mango

This was how the story goes:

I was at the supermarket doing my weekly grocery shopping and I saw beautiful mangoes on sale for $0.59 a piece. "It's only March, sure mango season starts earlier every year." I thought to myself. I resisted the temptation and walked pass the sea of mangoes.

Then I walked near the potatoes and then saw boxes of mangoes for $6.99. There's 16 in each box and much bigger than the 59 cents version. I have never seen them that cheap before. That I couldn't resist. I picked up a box and went to check out.

Then the cashier found out that there's no bar code on the box.
Cashier: "There is no bar code on the box, do you still want to buy it?"
Me: "Of course!" (Thought: "hell ya it's not my fault the box didn't carry a bar code!"
Cashier: "I can't scan it, do you want to buy it per piece."
At this point I am getting angry. Are you serious? Really. You can scan 16 mangoes individually and you can't find a box with bar code. And you dare ask me if I want to spend $9.44 to buy something that should only cost me $6.99?

She eventually got smarter and asked for assistance. Turns out that there are no bar codes on any boxes.

The mangoes were pretty raw when I brought them home. I like to wait until they mature a bit and starts to develop wrinkle skin. They are really sweet by the time I use them in the following recipe. Make sure you taste test to adjust the sweetness to your liking.

Mango Ice Cream
1 cup of 35% cream
3/4 cup half and half
3/8 cup sugar
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
4 medium sized mangoes / 2 cups puree

Method: Make creme anglais with the first 5 ingredients, cool the creme on a water bath. Follow the instruction of your ice cream maker to churn the ice cream. Add the mango puree at the last 5 minutes.

*Note: this recipe is best eaten fresh out of the ice cream machine. Due to the fruit content, the ice cream freezes very hard in the freezer. I had to defrost at room temperature for 45 minutes to be able to scoop it into a ball.

The Fog in London

I told you I am not a minimalist!

I have recently added a new member to my kitchen appliances collection. Please give a round of applause to my new ice cream attachment!

While I am desperately looking for a storage space for my new friend, (looking at the 1 cubic feet of box), I had to first look for a 1 cubic feet of space in my freezer. Well maybe not yet. I cleaned out some of the old frozen food and put my cleaned new attachment  in the freezer. Time to make some dinner with my frozen food. I will worry about storage later.

...24 hours later...

I still had no clue what flavour of ice cream I should make first. Nonetheless I couldn't wait but start my creme anglaise while I put my thinking cap on. Since I am new to ice cream making, I searched for some basic recipes online for vanilla ice cream.

The result? I ended up adding some earl gray tea in the creme anglaise and made London Fog ice cream.

Please don't ask me why or how Earl Gray + vanilla = London Fog. Last time I went to London their fog didn't smell like vanilla at all. I was only introduced by a friend if mine about her usual order at Starbucks.

So here you go, my cold version of London Fog. Some tea, vanilla and sugar can definitely clear the fog away!

London Fog Ice Cream
8 egg yolks
3/4 cups caster sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 vanilla bean
2 tbsp loose earl gray tea leaves

In a saucepan, on medium heat, bring the milk, cream, vanilla (scrape off the seeds and include) and tea leaves to boiling point but do not let it boil. Meanwhile, In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick.  Slowly temper the egg yolk mixture by pouring the hot cream onto the egg yolks mixture and stir to combine. Strain the mixture to remove the tea leaves and pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon.  Let cool completely on an ice bath. Churn the custard according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions.

Now that I have 8 leftover egg whites, it's time to make more macarons.