Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Cranberry sauce ice cream and cookies


For my first ice cream and cookie pairing, I wanted to use the seasonally appropriate cranberry.  I love eating cranberry sauce, but there is always some left over and I just can't manage to eat more than a few tablespoons at a time.  The following recipes don't use a lot of sauce, but they will use up that little bit extra you have.  

Oh, and I fully intended on putting white chocolate in both recipes, but I totally forgot.  I'm including it, anyway, as an option because I think it would enhance both recipes.  If you experiment with using the white chocolate, please report back.

A final note before I get to the recipes, I like whole berry cranberry sauce, but the skins were a bit annoying in the ice cream. (I also don't like cherry ice cream for that reason.) They weren't an issue with the cookies.  Your mileage may vary, so if you are funny about food textures like I am, feel free to strain out the skins in your sauce.   


Cranberry sauce ice cream
adapted from O Pistachio, who adapted it from Simon Hopkinson's Week In Week Out

Regarding the sugar amount, cranberry sauces differ in their sweetness levels, so take the amount listed as a guideline and add it in a tablespoon or 2 at a time, tasting as you go.  

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

1 1/3 + cup (300ml)  full fat milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthways (or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract)
4 egg yolks
1 cup + 2 tsp (250ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 - 3/4 cup (150-175g) cranberry sauce
6 tablespoons sugar, approximately
4 oz white chocolate chips or chunks, optional

Directions

Pour the milk into a small saucepan.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Gently heat until it comes to a boil, whisking occasionally to disperse the vanilla seeds into the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand for at least 20 minutes. 

Beat the egg yolks with a fork in a small bowl and then mix in a little of the milk.  Transfer the yolk-milk mix into the saucepan.  Cook over a gentle heat, constantly stirring, until the mixture has lightly thickened - do not allow it to boil! (However, if you do, immediately remove from heat and either blend with an immersion blender or strain the mixture to remove the eggy bits.)

Refrigerate the mixture to cool for at least a few hours, but preferably overnight.  

Remove the vanilla bean and whisk in the cream and jam.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.


Cranberry Sauce Cookies
Adapted from Joy the Baker

These cookies are pretty light and are, according to Tara, the most delicious cookies ever!  Feel free to substitute any other type of jam for the cranberry sauce.

Yield: Approximately 24 cookies (I totally forgot to note how many I got, but 24 sounds about right.)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (1/4 cup + 2 Tb) cranberry sauce
1 cups white chocolate chips, optional


Directions

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger and salt.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and beat for a minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more. The mixture will be satiny.  Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the jam and beat for 1 minute more. With the mixer still on low add the dry ingredients and mix only until they are incorporated. You’ll have a very thick dough.

Spoon the dough by the rounded teaspoonfuls into a dish of granulated sugar. Toss to coat and place on a baking sheet, leaving about an inch between the mounds.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies will be only just firm, fairly pale and browned around the edges. Pull the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, the carefully transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

If necessary, repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.