Dark Chocolate-Orange Ice Cream

Greetings, friends!

Well, I have had a massive week - I went on camp for 5 days, and gee it was hard work! I felt kind of guilty leaving you folk stranded out there, with nothing to read/bake from me, so for that, I apologise. And yet, on the other hand, I had a fabulous week, and I'm back now, so stop complaining!

 Thank you.

Good thing I had baked some treats before I went away, because I am too exhausted to even do my favourite pastime! But I'm sure I'll have more than enough time to bake now, what with my long holidays ahead.

Christmas is just a week away! This excites me, and frustrates me too. I have missed out on a week's festive preparations, and now I am struggling to keep up with all this cheer! I have not even got around to putting up my outside Christmas lights yet, and my house looks extremely plain and un-Christmasy. I'm sorry, house!

Perhaps I'll put up some Chrissy photos when the big day comes around. My Christmas tree is pretty damn impressive, if I say fo myself. One year I'd like to have a real tree. That would make me jolly indeed.

Ooh! The thought of having a real tree made my mind venture even further into Highly-Unlikely Land. Wait for it.... how amazing would it be to have a white Christmas!?

I love Australia, and our family Christmases are always lovely and summery, but come on - snow, fireplaces, hot drinks, etcetera etcetera - that would be phenomenal.

So... anyone want to fly me to Canada? Switzerland? No?



Well, I'll just have to show you this delicious ice cream to keep my thoughts cold, and to remind me that Australian summers are truly the bomb-diggity.

Alrighty - here goes.

{Recipe adapted from Serendipity Sundaes, by Stephen Bruce}

Dark Chocolate-Orange Ice Cream

Makes 1 litre

Ingredients:

2 cups full-cream milk

2 cups lite thickened cream

3 large egg yolks

1/2 cup caster sugar

270g good-quality dark chocolate

Juice and zest of half a large orange

Method:

Combine the milk and cream in large saucepan over low heat, and heat until warm. Once warm, add the chopped chocolate, and stir over the heat with a wooden spoon until smooth and the mixture is beginning to simmer. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium heat-safe bowl, beat the egg yolks and caster sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale yellow (2 min).

Add a quarter of the warm chocolate mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk until combined. Then, whisk the yolk mixture into the remaining chocolate mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened. DO NOT OVERHEAT. Nobody likes scrambled egg ice cream!

Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture into a clean bowl, and cool to room temperature. Then, stir in the orange juice (but not the zest). Place in the fridge and cool until chilled.

Once completely cool, freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker (according to the manufacturer's instructions). Just before you turn the ice cream maker off, stir in the orange zest, making sure it is spread evenly throughout.

Remove ice cream and store in an airtight container in the freezer.