STEEMIT CULINARY CHALLENGE #35 - The Ice Cream of my Dreams Now Exists

Move over Ben. Step aside Jerry.

I'm about to toot my own horn. This frozen custard knocked my socks off. Literally I found them on the floor all the way across the room. It's that good.

Toot.

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We shall call this creation...

Frozen Cinnamon Custard Loaded with Baklava and Chocolate Swirls

Believe it or don't believe it, but this ice cream flavor has been in my head for the better part of a decade.

Some time in the deep dark doldrums of graduate school, while procrastinating writing my thesis like a good budding scientist, I embarked on a series of daydreams. In one such daydream, I would create an ICE CREAM AROUND THE WORLD series of perfect pints.

The series of flavors would be premium ice creams loaded with huge chunks of good stuff, each with a theme of a different country around the world. These would be the kinds of ice cream you eat from the pint with a spoon while trying desparately to hide your enjoyment for fear that someone else will want you to share it with them.

I'll let you in on a few of the flavor ideas I daydreamed about:

The Italian ice cream would be espresso gelati with pieces of crushed cannoli shell and swirls of cannoli cream and mini chocolate chips. Not bad ey?

The Salvadoran ice cream would have a sweet plantain base, and chunks of alfajores and dulce de leche swirls.

So you see where I'm going here right?

Nearly a decade ago, I also daydreamed about what my Greek ice cream flavor would be, and until now, it has been patiently waiting for the right time to be brought into the world.

For this week's Steemit Culinary Challenge, hosted by the incredible @woman-onthe-wing, our guest judge is none other than @rouketas, a Greek in all of his Great Greek Greekness!

@rouketas, I humbly thank you for the excuse to concoct this indulgence nearly a decade in the making.

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For the Greek ice cream flavor, I envisioned what I present to you today: Cinnamon-flecked rich and creamy frozen custard, swirled with macadamia-cinnamon-chocolate sauce, and loaded up with chunks of crispy and chewy baklava. Good thing I had on hand some leftover macadamia-cinnamon-chocolate sauce AND homemade baklava, just waiting to be tossed into this amazing frozen custard.

Ooooh doggy let's get to the recipe!!

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The tricksters that they are, the masterminds behind this competition included a single rule, which is that those entering this contest shall not use an ice cream maker.

Challenge accepted.

I did some homework on how to produce creamy, not icy, ice cream without an ice cream maker. While there are several ways to accomplish this feat, I modified and adapted Kenji Lopez-Alt's no-ice cream maker vanilla ice cream methods to create the cinnamon frozen custard base.

Ok here's the recipe for

Frozen Cinnamon Custard Loaded with Baklava and Chocolate Swirls

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Ingredients

For the Custard Base:

• 12 oz evaporated milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 T ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 2T vanilla extract
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream

For the add-ins:

• 1/2 cup nutella, microwaved 30 seconds OR macadamia-cinnamon-chocolate sauce
• 8 pieces of baklava, coarsely chopped into chunks.

Equipment needed

• gallon-sized zip top bag
• small saucepan
• stand mixer or hand mixer with whisk attachment (or strong muscles)
• food processor

Directions

• In your stand mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon until the yolks lighten in color and the mixture gains a bit of volume.

• In the small saucepan over medium heat, bring the evaporated milk, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup cream to a simmer. Allow to simmer, stirring constantly, for approximately 2 minutes, and then remove from the heat.

• With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly, very slowly, pour the hot evaporated milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Do this very slowly in a thin stream, so that the egg yolks don't scramble, but rather so that the hot liquid tempers the egg yolks and forms a creamy custard.

• Whisk on medium speed until the milk and egg mixtures are well combined.

• Allow the mixture to cool completely in the refrigerator while you go get a pedicure.

• Once the milk and egg yolk mixture is cold, whisk the remaining 1 cup of cream until it has doubled in volume.

• Then, gently fold the whipped cream into the custard until it is just incorporated.
• Pour the whole batch into the baggie and stick it in the freezer for at least 6 hours, or until frozen.

• Remove your ice cream baggie brick from the freezer, and using your hands, bend and break up the frozen custard into meatball-sized chunks.
• Using your food processor, process the pieces in small batches until they are just smooth, and transfer half of the custard into the dish that you'll use in the freezer.

• Then, swirl the macadamia-cinnamon-chocolate sauce (or nutella) over the custard.
• Spread the pieces of baklava over the chocolate sauce, then add more custard, more chocolate sauce, and the rest of the custard base.

• Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving to your eager fans.

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This method has a few more steps than what you'd do if you used an ice cream maker, BUT, and I can't emphasize this enough, the result is SO worth it! Seriously this ice cream came out better than any ice cream I've made with my ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer, hands down. I might have to retire that unitasker from it's spot in my freezer!

The frozen custard is out of control good. The ice cream is sweet but not too sweet, and so creamy that it melts fast, so you need to gobble it up! The swirls of nutty-chocolate spread melt in your mouth, and the chewy flaky pieces of baklava, with the crunch of the nuts really seal the deal.

I don't often repeat a recipe more than once, unless it's a keeper.

This is a keeper.

The next time I need to impress my house guests, I will be making this ice cream. This recipe would be nearly as good with high quality store-bought baklava and melted nutella, but if you just so happen to have homemade versions of those on hand, well, you know homemade is always just a little better.

I'm so thankful for this challenge because not only did I get to realize a little daydream I had while procrastinating in graduate school, but I also learned my new favorite way to make ice cream, and it's WITHOUT an ice cream maker!

Double win!!

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, go ahead and check out my blog.

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All content and photos by @jaymorebeet, taken on July 21 and 22, 2017 with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II.