Rose Chocolate Chip No-Churn Ice Cream

One day it's 2013, the next thing you know you take a bite of something cold and delicious and it's 1901 - the last reigning year of her Majesty Queen Victoria. To me food and memories go hand in hand so why not eat something and live in little in the past in our great, maybe great great granny's memories.

In Victorian times it was popular and respectable to be an amateur botanist. Knowing flower names and plant leaves was the thing and I think we should reclaim this heritage - I do! I like to imagine ladies of leisure in their gardens eating rose ice cream and so I've updated my own made-up vision/memory call it what you like to fit today's summery days and I'm replacing mint chip with rose chip.

The combination of cream and condensed milk makes this a very creamy, sweet, non-ice crystally dessert made without an ice cream machine, which makes it easy to whip up no matter where you are as long as there is a freezer. It should be savoured in small bowls just like a Victorian lady would have done post tea.  ♥

Rose Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

adapted from BBC Good Food No-Churn Ice Cream 

1 cup heavy cream/double cream (240 ml)

½ cup sweetened condensed milk (120 ml)

*¼ cup dried culinary rose petals (I used these)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (3.5 ml)

1 standard size good quality milk chocolate bar, chopped into chips and flakes

In a saucepan pour the cream, condensed milk, and rose petals and heat on medium-low stirring to prevent scorching.  As soon as the boil is reached reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes then remove from the heat altogether  Sieve the mixture into a glass or metal bowl and press down on the rose petals to extract as much liquid as possible. Cover and refrigerate for approximately 2 hours or until thoroughly chilled.  When ready add the vanilla and whip on medium-high until the mixture thickens and peaks have a slight droop. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and in a shallow dish pour the cloud-like mix and lightly smooth to about a ½ inch thickness.  Alternately pour in deep bread-like pan if doubling or tripling the recipe. Cover and freeze for 4 hours or overnight.  

*I don't have a digital scale that can give an accurate measurement for the lightness of the rose petals. There are 4 tablespoons in a US 1/4 cup so I would use four level (15 ml a piece) tablespoon scoops of rose petals.

Other ideas:

Trade milk chocolate for dark, omit the vanilla to strengthen the rose flavour, add fresh fruit, top with crushed up sugared rose petals, add a dash of rose liqueur. Or! Do what I did after seeing a glimpse here of the magical life of Haleigh. Make the ice cream with or without chips and sandwich between two macarons and freeze for a French ice cream sandwich. ♥

Credits: Most pictures taken by my lovely friend Katie Loewen. 

Vintage Moon Cake

Today is my birthday and it's the last time I can say I will be in my twenties so why not make a 1920's inspired moon cake to celebrate! 

Moon Cake

(a goldy white cake)

 1 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup golden granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus extra to butter pan)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 egg + 3 yolks, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk, room temperature

baking paper and pen

(amounts coming soon in grams/ml :))

Preheat the oven to 350F/170C and prepare a round 9 inch cake pan with baking paper and butter the sides.  Cream the sugar and butter together with an electric mixer for five minutes.  Then add 1 egg at a time blending for 1 minute between each addition, making sure to scrape the bowl down every so often. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. In a small pitcher add together the remaining wet ingredients. Fold the dry and wet ingredients into the egg mixture alternating between the two. Begin with 1/3 of the dry ingredients and fold just enough to mix followed by 1/2 of the wet ingredients and continue the process. Pour the creamy slightly lumpy mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes then turn it in the oven. Bake for an addition 10-15 minutes or 30-35 minutes in total until a toothpick comes out with crumbs that are no longer wet or no crumbs at all! Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

With your baking paper and pen trace around your pan.  Cut out the circular shape and then draw the outline of a crescent. Cut out the crescent and use the remaining shape to use as a template for the cake. Position on the cake and cut around it to make your moon. :)

Frost and sprinkle with edible carnation petals painted with gold dust if you like. I used the strawberry whipped cream frosting here from the Joy of Baking.

Gatsby and Deco Cookies

I have been dreaming of making these Deco Cookies styled by the Jewels of New York ever since I saw them floating through the world of Pinterest. Here I have used a basic cut-out cookie recipe, but styled it like the Jewels have.  See their works of art here.  I really admire the team at Jewels NY because they not only make the kind of food you want to feast on, but also style it in a way that is elegant - focusing on all the right details.  

All dolled up I hopped on the tube with a plate of these cookies to have with my friend Yvonne before we went to see The Great Gatsby at the Gate Picturehouse of Notting Hill. The theatre made the movie complete with us sitting in velvet chairs in spacious rows with a little mahogany table in between for our popcorn as our eyes were dazzled. ♥

I find that cut-out cookie recipes usually come in huuuge amounts - here's a small batch to make a nice plateful of cookies.  Because I have no geometric cookie cutters I made a template of shapes I wanted and cut around them with a knife.

Decorating Cookies

5 TB of unsalted butter, softened (70 g)

5 TB golden caster sugar (90 g)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour (150 g) + extra for sprinkling

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Begin by creaming the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add the egg and vanilla until all the wisps are mixed. Stir in the dry ingredients all at once. It may not look at first like there is enough liquid to bind everything together, but keep stirring and it will begin to join. Take care to not overmix. Form the dough into one solid ball and refrigerate for at least one hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and prepare a cookie sheet with a layer of baking paper. Sprinkle your counter top generously with flour and roll your dough out overtop it. Cut or carve out your cookie shapes and place on the  sheet with enough room to grow. For small shapes bake for 5 minutes, for large bake 8-10.  Leave on the tray for a minute before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Frosting

1 cup icing sugar (100 g)

2 tablespoons of milk (30 ml)

1 tablespoon of corn syrup/golden syrup (15 ml)

natural food colouring

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until the mixture is smooth.  Separate the frosting into pretty little bowls and add a drop or two of food colouring. Do not ice until the cookies are completely cool. Sprinkle lovely things like flowers, bobbles, and poppy seeds while the icing is wet. Paint with gold dust when icing has completely set or else it will crack. 

♥ 

Violet's Strawberry Pearl Pudding

Here is part III of my Great Gatsby inspired recipes and it comes from a page in my grandma Violet's personal cookbook.  She was born in 1921 and I love seeing her as a little girl here with a bobbed haircut. We look like little twins! This is a dessert that I remember her teaching me how to make when I was little and I think I've always liked it because not only does it taste light and creamy, but it is such a pretty pale shade of pink. If you're like me you eat with your eyes first.  

I envision this dessert served in little shot glasses or other types of glasses that never really seem practical, but are too pretty not to have. I also imagine this alongside a sunny picnic basket or on a verandah where the breeze comes at all the right times. 

Really this dessert is strawberry tapioca, but I like associating it with flapper pearls thus it's new name came about.  In the 20's tapiocas were common and came in all flavours from apple to rhubarb.  Since this is strawberry it's important to pick berries that will give off a lot of juice and are top quality.  If you live in the UK like me you might find buying tapioca difficult, but Asda stocks it otherwise try online if you don't live in a country where tapioca is very prevalent.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. ♥ 

Strawberry Pearl Pudding 

(aka strawberry tapioca)

approximately 2 cups sliced strawberries (400 grams)

1/4 - 1/2 cup golden caster sugar (55 - 115 grams)

1 cup juice from berries + water (240 ml)

pinch of salt

1/4 cup small tapioca pearls (40 g)

1 cup heavy/whipping cream (240 ml)

Begin by sprinkling sugar over the sliced strawberries.  Start with 1/4 cup and stir together. As the sugar starts to dissolve and produce juice, sacrifice one strawberry to taste.  If it still tastes tart continue to add more sugar. You want to flavour the dessert with the juice so try to make as much as possible and adding sugar does this. Set berries aside at room temperature for an hour at least and occasionally stir to keep the juices flowing.  Then carefully pour the strawberries into a sieve to catch as much juice as possible to fill up 1 cup. If you are short some juice, use water to fill the rest of the cup.  Next take your tapioca and soak in water for 15 minutes. Combine tapioca, juice, and salt in a medium pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and then reduce the heat to low, simmering until the tapioca pearls are clear and the mixture is thick. Cover and refrigerate your tapioca and strawberries in two separate bowls for one hour. Next whip your cream until it has soft drooping peaks.  With one of the beaters, stir up the tapioca - it will be difficult and seem a little pointless, but do it anyway.  Add it to the whipped cream and whip with your hand until well mixed. Gently fold in the strawberries and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.