Sunday, August 9, 2009

lessons learned from butter pecan ice cream


Lesson 1: Butter pecan ice cream is incredibly, spectacularly delicious.
Lesson 2: Don't overfill your ice cream machine.

I've been away at my father's cottage this week, and one upside (beyond the lake, the forest, seeing my family, and all that other minor stuff) is that he owns an ice cream machine! Not having one myself, I jumped at the opportunity to experiment. I wonder how much ice cream I can cram into a single week...

Anyhow, this recipe was absolutely fabulous. If you're looking for a rich ice cream to make, this is definitely one to try. The ice cream is sweet and creamy and flavoured with brown sugar and vanilla, and it's perfectly offset by the buttery, salty nuts. I know that sentence had too many adjectives, but they were all well-deserved.


Although it turned out amazing, there definitely were a couple glitches along the way. The first one was pretty minor, and basically just amounted to me being nervous. I cooked the custard at higher and higher heat, waiting for it to thicken. It never really did and I just gave up - next time I won't worry so much, and just take it to the recommended temperature.


The other issue was that the poor little ice cream machine couldn't quite cope with the vast quantities of liquid I poured into it, despite what it and Epicurious respectively claimed about the number of quarts involved. The result was that the ice cream never got quite cold enough - I think the photos make it pretty obvious that it ended up pretty liquidy (but you can pretend it's gelato!). It's also obvious that I have not mastered the art of photographing ice cream, but that should surprise no one, given that I don't seem to have mastered the art of photographing anything in particular.

In the end, though, this ice cream really was fantastic (after an overnight freeze it firmed up nicely), and I'd recommend it to anyone, especially with those corrections. Here it is!

Butter Pecan Ice Cream - Adapted from Epicurious
  • 1 1/3 cups pecans, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons salted butter, softened
  • scant 1/4 teaspoon salt (go easier on the salt if you don't like the salty/sweet combination)
  • 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast pecans in a shallow baking pan in middle of oven until fragrant and a shade darker, 7 to 8 minutes. Add butter and salt to hot pecans and toss until butter is melted, then cool pecans completely (they will absorb butter).

Whisk together brown sugar and cornstarch, then add eggs, whisking until combined. Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then add to egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly, and transfer custard to saucepan.

Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 to 175°F on an instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes (do not let boil). Note: I ended up taking this to 180 and it still didn't really thicken, so don't stress too much.

Immediately pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla, then cool, stirring occasionally. Chill custard, its surface covered with wax paper, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker until almost firm. Stir together ice cream and pecans in a bowl, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

Note: I would freeze the custard in two batches, unless your ice cream maker is superior to ours (which is likely).

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

on nut-toasting



I realized that after being somewhat preachy about the importance of toasting nuts, I didn't actually mention how I do it. Silly me. So, here is an honest rundown of my usual process:

Step 1: Spread nuts on tray and put in preheated oven.

Step 2: Forget there's anything in the oven, and wonder what that odd burning smell is.

Step 3: Throw out charred remainders of nuts and start over, paying slightly more attention this time.

I encourage you all to start with step 3.

But really, it is easy. Just spread the nuts on a tray - for easy clean-up, use whatever you'll be baking in next - and stick them in a 350 degree oven. Check from time to time, and you'll know they're done when they're fragrant and have a crisp snap when you break them in pieces. Usually I find that takes around 7 minutes, but it'll vary depending on your oven and your nuts. So be alert!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

blondies


Wow.


These were wonderful.


They were also kind of ugly. They don't make for spectacular presentation, as can be seen in the photo. I think blondies are sort of inherently unattractive, because a yellow block with dark chunks just isn't going to look super appetizing.


I had never made blondies before, having tasted one a couple years ago and written them off as dry and boring. But I'm moving soon, and I wanted to use up my various types of chocolate chips. Ignoring the fact that I would have to buy even more ingredients to bake these, I settled on this blondies recipe that includes them both!


Anyhow, if you like gooey, buttery desserts (this is obviously rhetorical), then these are the absolute perfect things to make. I loved them and couldn't stop eating them and had to rapidly give them all away. They turn out as slabs of what is basically melty butter cookie, studded with pecans and white and semisweet chocolate chips.

As for the recipe, I honestly wouldn't change a thing, I'm terrified to mess with something so delicious. My only notes are that the edges have a bit of a gummy texture, so I cut them off before slicing into squares (and then devoured all said edges! MWAHAHA!). I also think that toasting the nuts makes a real difference - I never used to, because I'm lazy, but it turns out it's super easy and very much worth it.


Voila!


Blondies -
from The New Best Recipe
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 scant teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with 2 pieces of foil or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

Fold in the semisweet and white chocolate chips and the nuts, and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, for 22 to 25 minutes. (Don't overbake!) Place the pan on a rack and let cool completely, then cut into squares (discarding edges if desired).