“I could get pissed on this”, he said.
Exactly the kind of reaction you want from a boozy, brandy blasted ice cream in the throes of romance.
The fact I haven’t featured this recipe as a Valentine’s Day specific recipe speaks volumes about my miserable pig side more than my romantic one, doesn’t it?
When the big VDay swooped around this week, to celebrate it on my Instagram, I featured my Buttermilk Ritz Chicken recipe in the name of true love being greasy fingered and crumb covered. This cherry kissed, rose infused ice cream was in my freezer the whole time and nope… I went for finger licking chicken.
But the fact I even made it to begin with still speaks volumes that deep inside me, there is a romantic person. Even if it does only show itself in flavoured frozen cream.
I’m a tiny bit obsessed with making my own ice creams and I make no apologies for the simplicity of the method, which I borrow from Nigella Lawson who has long championed the no-need-for-a-machine mentality of it.
This recipe calls for cherry brandy, but if you are not a consumer of the liquor, don’t fret. I have a recipe for a Cherry Brandy Soaked Carrot Cake which you could use up the bottle for. In fact, I would recommend making that first and then using the soaking liquor for this recipe. Perfect.
Empty 300ml of double cream into a large bowl and whisk until it thickens and is able to form peaks – but is not too firm and thick. You want it to be able to create peaks when you lift a spoon out of it, but not so firm that if you held it over your head it wouldn’t fall out.
Now empty in half a can of condensed milk and fold this in. You could always double the cream and brand and make a much bigger batch if you wanted to use the whole can. However, I like to make two different flavour ice creams at a time, so often save the second half of the can for a different favour.
Pour in half a cup of cherry brandy and fold this into create a pink-whispered cream.
In a pestle and mortar (or a bowl and a banging can of beans!) bash up a generous handful of frozen cherries until they create a cluster of both cherry chunks and dust.
Fold these into the cream.
Now pour in a capful of rose water (dead cheap from most supermarkets these days) and fold in. It’s the most romantic smell ever, I promise. It’s what you’d imagine an alcoholic fairy princesses pillow would smell like.
Pour the cream into a Tupperware box and slide into the freezer for 6 hours.
It is perfect on its own but laced with a chocolate sauce (I use one straight from a jar, Halen Mon’s to be exact) it is on another level.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 