Udders Ice Cream

Do you remember my ice cream making days back in France ? Do you remember much fun I had experimenting with new flavors ? I had obviously forgotten cos I didn't pack my ice cream maker when we moved. Silly me. Anyway, back in those days I love adding alcohol to my ice cream - my favorite then was peach & rose wine. Doesn't that spells summer ?

Given my bias towards alcohol laced ice cream, it's no wonder that I'm in love with this charming little ice cream shop next to United Square called Udders that serves flavors like baileys & bourbon, rum rum raisin (double shot rum) & lychee martini (Adelyne I'm thinking of you).

A huge blackboard fills up an entire wall. A wide range of flavors are listed & customers are encouraged to vote for their favorite flavors to be considered for R&D. As you can see, there is a whole section devoted to liqueur flavors - now you know why I love this place. Reading the board has stirred up my ice cream making mojo - I need to get X to bring over my ice cream maker.

I love everything about this place. They even have cute names for their flavors like gila melaka, green tea-rrific & tira-miss-u

You can be sure they'll be seeing a lot of us.

Udders
155 Thomson Road
(next to United Square)

Cookies & Cream

These here are vanilla pods. Maybe because of laziness or because they look a little menacing, I haven't gotten round to using them. For my ice cream, I just use vanilla essence. Since we have a bunch of them sitting at home, it was about time to showcase these for my attempt at re-creating Haagen Dazs Cookies & Cream.

Remember the chocolate chip cookie ice cream that I made a while back, well it was a prelude to the Cookies & Cream which is our all time favorite. The problem I hadn't made it before was that we couldn't get Oreos around these parts. When I was in Geneva, I practically grabbed every single box I could get my hands on.

Presenting my very own Cookies & Cream.....

Cookies & Cream

400ml milk
400ml heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
150g sugar
1 vanilla pod
8 pieces of Oreos cookies, crushed

1. Heat the milk in low heat

2. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise. Scrap off the seeds into the pot of milk. Throw in the rest of the pod & let it infuse for 15-20 mins

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks & then add in the sugar. Mix well.

4. Remove the milk with the vanilla from the stove & pour into the egg mixture. Mix thoroughly

5. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot & over low heat, stirring constantly for about 10-15 mins. When you can run your finger across the back of the wooden spoon & comes up clean, the custard is done

6. Sieve the mixture & discard the vanilla pod. Let the custard cool down over a basin of ice water or just set aside for several hours

7. Pour into ice cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions

8. 5 mins before it is done, pour in the crushed Oreos

9. When done, pour into a container & freezer overnight before serving

Mango & Peach Sorbet

Even tho I've been churning tubs & tubs of ice cream, I have yet to do any sorbets. The heat has finally fueled my need to make some sorbets. I started with a simple peach flavor but it wasn't documented cos it disappeared so fast. The Girl has clearly forgotten about her favorite green tea ice cream & now pledge allegiance to sorbets. Not that I blame her.

For the next round, I wanted to mix things up a little. I had a mango in the fridge so I decided to do a Mango & Peach Sorbet. Love the combination. Refreshing. Flavorful. Now go make some too.

Mango & Peach Sorbet

1 ripe mango, remove skin, seed & diced
7-8 peaches, remove skin, seed & diced
juice from 1 lemon
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sugar cane syrup

1. Add the sugar, syrup & lemon juice to the fruits

2. Puree the whole lot

3. Pour into ice cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions

4. Then chill over night

5. When sorbet is all gone, repeat process

I was recently given a crate of nectarines (which are basically peaches with smooth skin). You know what I'm going to be doing with them.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

I've come to the realisation that I cannot scoop ice cream to save my life. Please don't tell anyone that I used to work at Haagen Dazs and don't let the sloppy looking ice cream fool you cos this is really delicious.

Anyway I've wanted to do a Black Sesame ice cream for a long time but had to wait for X to bring home some black sesame seeds. When he finally did last weekend, I made it right away, using the usual custard base & grounded the sesame seeds to powder.

It's now my new favorite flavor. I like the fact that you can bite into the little sesame seeds but X mother didn't like them sticking to her teeth so if you're like her, make sure you ground it finely.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

300ml milk
300ml heavy cream
5 egg yolks
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g black sesame seeds, ground into powder

1. Combine milk & heavy cream in pan. Heat over low flame.

2. Break the egg yolks & mix well with the sugar.

3. Remove milk & cream from stove & add in the eggs. Stir well

4. Put back on stove & heat over low flame. Make sure it doesn't boil. Stirring constantly. Once the custard thickens (if you run a finger over the back of the spoon & get a clear path, it is ready), remove from heat.

5. Sieve the custard (despite best efforts to stir, some egg lumps could occur). Then add 1 tsp of vanilla extract & black sesame seed powder.

6. Leave this to cool completely or chill in the fridge.

7. Then pour into ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Mango Ice cream

I hadn't lost interest in my ice cream maker yet. It's just that I've been so busy I haven't had time to try new flavours. Besides I've been making the same flavours cos the Girls loves green tea ice cream & X loves cookies so that's what I've been making over & over again.

I need to get them interested in other flavours. Mangoes, or rather good mangoes are really hard to come by around these parts. I've been meaning to try making mango ice cream for a while now so when I saw some the other day, I quickly grabbed them into my cart.

The taste was great - full of mango flavor but it wasn't creamy enough. Somehow the water content in the fruit makes it a little icey. X is of the opinion that it's better to make sorbets with fresh fruits. I'm not convinced. I'm going to keep trying.

Mango Ice Cream

2 mangoes, diced
150g sugar
300 ml heavy cream
300 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks

1. Add 3-4 Tbsp of sugar to the mangoes. Cover & keep overnight in the refrigerator

2. The next day, over medium heat, simmer the mango pieces with the sugar syrup. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove and cool.

3. Set aside about 1/3 of the mangoes. Puree the rest with sugar syrup in a blender or food processor. Cover and chill for an hour.

4. Heat the milk in low heat just as it's about to bubble. Remove from heat. Add the beaten 4 egg yolks & the remaining sugar. Put it back over the stove & over low heat, stir until it thickens.

5. When done, strain it with a fine sieve. Then set it aside to cool completely 2-3 hours or put it over an ice bath.

6. Mix in the mango puree & the cream (whipped lightly).

7. Process in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer's directions. In the last 5 minutes, add the remaining 1/3 of the mangoes that you had set aside earlier. (I do this cos I like to bite into chunky fruits in my ice cream. You can ignore this & just puree all of it in step 3).

8. When ready, remove from ice cream maker, pack into a container & freeze for a few hours.

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream

I've been having so much fun with the ice cream maker. It has even infected X - he, of course has an industrial size ice cream maker & has attempted to make some on the boat.

Right after my success with green tea ice cream, the next flavour I wanted to attempt was cookies. After all one of my favorite is Haagen Dazs Cookies & Cream & they don't sell it here.

I used the basic custard recipe but just added 4 Tbsp of vanilla to it. The crushed cookies were added about 5 mins before the ice cream is finished churning in the machine.

This turned out even better than the green tea ice cream !! Strangely enough, the cookies were not great but when mixed with the ice cream, heavenly. I can imagine what it would be like if I got my hands on some good quality chocolate chip cookies. Only comment was X prefers bigger chunks of cookies (will remember to crush them less the next round). I don't think we need to ever buy any ice cream again.




On the other hand, my attempt at blueberry ice cream didn't turn out so great. Instead of using the basic custard recipe, I tried with only heavy cream. Although it looked great (bright purple), it tasted too much of cream & not enough of blueberries. Back to the drawing board. I'll put up the recipe only after I'd gotten it right.

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream

250 ml milk
250 ml heavy cream
180 g sugar
5 egg yolks
4 Tbsp vanilla
4-5 chocolate chip cookies


1. Beat egg yokes then add in the sugar
2. Heat milk in a small pan over low heat. Do not boil
3. Remove from fire & pour in the egg mixture
4. Put it back over the stove & continue cooking over low heat. It is very important that it does not boil else you'll end up with bits of scrambled eggs. Stirring constantly until mixture thickens. This is how I check - I'll tilt the pan & if a thin film stays at the bottom of the pan, it's ready.
5. Remove & strain through a fine sieve.
6. Let this cool completely.
7. Lightly whip the cream & add 4 Tbsp vanilla. Add this to the cold custard.
8. Pour into ice cream maker & prepare as per instructions. Add the crushed cookies 5 mins before the cycle ends.

Home made ice cream

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a hidden treasure. Hidden in the basement of X's parent's house was an ice cream maker, literally collecting dust. It was practically brand new. His mum used it once, lost the manual & had not used it since. Needless to say, I hijacked it & couldn't wait to start making my own ice cream.

I downloaded the operating manual & trolled the net (god bless the internet) for ice cream recipes. The very first flavor that I wanted to try was green tea ice cream. The first 2 attempts were disasterous cos the green tea powder didn't dissolve properly & I cooked it over too high heat. But once I got it right, it was so good. Creamy flavorful ice cream.

This is so exciting. I can't wait to try different combinations & have fun with the ice cream maker. X is already suggesting tomato & olive oil sorbets (??) & nutella ice cream. Stayed tuned for more ice cream experiments.

So now don't you agree that I found a treasure.

Green tea ice cream
















2 Tbsp green tea powder
180 g sugar
3 egg yolks
250 ml milk
250 ml heavy cream

1. Mix the green tea powder with sugar
2. Beat egg yokes then add in the sugar + green tea powder
3. Heat milk in a small pan over low heat. Do not boil
4. Remove from fire & pour in the egg mixture
5. Put it back over the stove & continue cooking over low heat. It is very important that it does not boil else you'll end up with bits of scrambled eggs. Stirring constantly until mixture thickens. This is how I check - I'll tilt the pan & if a thin film stays at the bottom of the pan, it's ready.
6. Remove & strain through a fine sieve.
7. Let this cool completely. Some recipes suggest you put it over an ice bath. I've done it both ways & unless you're in a hurry, it's okay to let it stand aside until it cools.
8. Lightly whip the cream & add to the cold green tea milk mixture.
9. Put in ice cream maker & prepare as per instructions.

Yummy green tea ice cream....hmm looking at this picture made me realise that I need to buy a proper ice cream scoop.