It’s the middle of winter but there is one dessert that is a must…..gelato, of course! Who doesn’t like ice cream!? Really, who? We can’t be friends if you don’t like ice cream, sorry! If you need to know one thing about me it is this…I basically eat ice cream every single day and if you need to make me happy – bring me ice cream! My second favourite dessert of all time is tiramisu (now you know where part of our blog name came from). It’s such a perfect dessert because it’s cheesy, creamy, tastes like espresso and cocoa and it’s the perfect “pick me up” after any heavy meal – and that is literally what tiramisu means! It was about time I combine my two favourite desserts of all time so I decided to put together a Tiramisu ice cream recipe.
The process of ice cream tends to scare people because fancy ice cream makers come with an entire book of instructions but it’s really one of the easiest things to make. I ventured into the art of ice cream making in the summer of 2013 for my Toronto MasterChef Canada audition. I made a raspberry gelato and I must have impressed them because I made it into the top 50! I haven’t bought any store-bought ice cream since! I don’t make complicated recipes so trust me when I say that anyone can do this. My 2 year old son even helps me out! Practising the ice cream base (the crème anglaise) is really the key to a good ice cream. You can taste your ice cream base and basically determine if your ice cream is a success or a fail. I will outline the ice cream base in the best way I can below but feel free to email dailytiramisu@gmail.comif you have any further questions or concerns! I am more than happy to share my love and knowledge of ice cream with you all!
You will not be disappointed with the result. If you like tiramisu this is like eating a colder and creamier version – how could anyone be disappointed with that!?
Here’s the recipe. I put the ingredients in order of how they are added to the recipe so I hope this makes the recipe smooth sailing for you!
Tiramisu Gelato
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: (3 hours – this is mostly the time required to cool the ice cream base in the fridge)
Yields about 2 quarts of ice cream
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, scraped
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 cups mascarpone cheese
Optional (but in my opinion, necessary) Mix-ins:
2 tbsp instant espresso and espresso finely ground
12 Savoiardi (ladyfinger) cookies
2 Brewed espressos
1/5 an ounce of brandy
2-3 ounces Bittersweet chocolate
Method:
1. Put the milk and cream as well as the vanilla bean scrapings and the vanilla bean pod into a heavy-bottom sauce pot on medium to high heat, stirring frequently. Make sure the liquid doesn’t boil – you want to turn off the heat right before it boils so watch it closely.
2. In the meantime, beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl to a creamy consistency. Then add the mascarpone cheese and whisk until fully combined and there are no lumps.
3. Once the milk and cream are at that pre-boiling point, shut the burner off and scoop out a ladle full of hot milk and add it to the egg mixture while whisking simultaneously. (This is a way of tempering the eggs so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs – while whisking you are cooling the milk and heating the eggs at the same time so the milk does not cook the eggs.)
4. Turn the burner back on to medium heat and pour the egg yolk mixture into the sauce pot while stirring constantly. Continue to cook the mixture on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon (about 5 minutes).
5. Set up a bowl with a sieve on top and strain the custard through the sieve. Put the bowl into an ice bath and let cool for about an hour. Once the mixture is cooled, put it in the refrigerator for a few hours, or ideally overnight.
6. Once the ice cream base is really cold, stir in the 2 tablespoons of the espresso flavourings. Scrape the ice cream base into your ice cream maker drum and follow your ice cream maker’s instructions.
7. To prepare the mix-ins, roughly chop the bittersweet chocolate and set it aside. For the savoiardi cookies, brew 2 espressos and add a dash of brandy. Then dunk both sides of the cookie into the espresso mixture and chop it up into small pieces. Set the mix-ins aside until your ice cream is finished the churning process.
8. Once your ice cream is a cool and a very creamy consistency, manually stir in about ¾ of the chopped bittersweet chocolate and the chopped savoiardi cookies. Add your ice cream to a freezer safe container and top with the remaining chopped chocolate and cookies. The ice cream will keep its fresh taste for about 3 days.
