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eni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer has almost every ice cream flavor and topping you could imagine. We love the Honey Butterscotch Sauce, which pours perfectly over Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Grab a spoon!
Excerpted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer. (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2011.
recipe
Honey Butterscotch Sauce Makes about 21⁄2 cups
When this sauce is in my fridge, I find myself sneaking spoonfuls right from the jar. Cold, it solidifies, but it melts on contact. It would be a dangerous filling for a chocolate truffle. Warm, it’s shimmering honey butter running over ice cream. It “butters” the Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry Ice Cream (page 62; best made without the black raspberry sauce in that case), and is a wonderful accent for Sweet Basil & Honeyed Pine Nut Ice Cream (page 76), Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (page 148), or any subtly scented flavor. It wraps the cake in our Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream (page 164), which is just the right flavor with everything else there. The flavor will depend on how dark the honey is and how caramelized you allow the honey and sugar to become. But, unlike caramel made just with white sugar, you can’t judge only by color: the honey makes the mixture golden brown from the beginning, so it’s hard to know when it’s caramelized. For the most flavor, allow it to burn ever so slightly. But don’t allow it to smoke much — if you see a few dark puffs of smoke beginning to waft off the surface of the caramel, quickly remove it from the heat and add the cream to stop the cooking. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 2 ⁄3 cup honey 11⁄2 cups heavy cream 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter Pinch of fine sea salt Directions: 1. Combine the sugar and honey in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is melted. Then cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally. The mixture will become foamy at first, then the bubbles will turn to huge glassine spheres and subside into smaller shiny bubbles. At this point, the sugar will begin to brown rather quickly; it will darken around the edges first and slowly begin to darken into the center. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to stir until the caramel is a deep butterscotch brown, then remove from the heat. 2. Carefully drizzle the cream into the caramel, stirring until completely dissolved. Add the butter pieces and stir until melted and smooth. Add the salt and stir well. Serve warm, or let cool and refrigerate. The sauce will keep for up to 2 weeks. 3. To serve, reheat, stirring, until the sauce is warm and fluid.
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“When I was a kid, we grew a lot of our own food and had our own honeybees. Honey is a really important ingredient for me, and you can do different things to it! This sauce is great with toasted sesame seeds for crunch, cayenne for heat, or cornflakes for fried ice cream.” — Jeni Britton Bauer, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
recipe
Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Makes about 1 quart
The exquisite cream flavor is lifted up and exalted by vanilla’s subtle hints of honey, jasmine, leather, and smoke. With an infinite number of ice cream flavors to make, you might think vanilla would not be high on our list to perfect. Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is no ordinary vanilla ice cream. We use a really nice Ugandan vanilla bean, but you can use whatever you find that you like. My technique produces not a typical “plain old vanilla,” but a richly scented, voluptuous, velvety, and unforgettable vanilla. Do not hesitate to serve it with some grilled peaches and raspberry sauce for the finest pêche melba imaginable. Of course, vanilla is a staple on cherry pie, and who doesn’t have a soft spot for vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, extra whipped cream, and Spanish peanuts (or my favorite, smoked almonds)? Ingredients: 2 cups whole milk 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 1⁄2 ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened 1 ⁄8 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 1⁄4 cups heavy cream 2 ⁄3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out, seeds and bean reserved
Purchase this ice cream under its new name, Ndali Estate Vanilla Bean, at retail locations, including Whole Foods Market, or at jenis.com.
Directions: Prep: M ix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Cook: Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla seeds and bean in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Chill: G radually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes. Freeze: Remove the vanilla bean. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.
Photograph from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.