Hello dear reader,

Yesterday I shared my new recipe for a softer version of a gingerbread biscuit.  You can see the recipe and my crazy gingerbread reindeer, traditional gingerbread man and Scottish gingerbread man complete with little kilt here.

One of my reasons for creating that recipe was that I was looking for a gingerbread cake that would be dry enough to use in an ice-cream and also to use as the base in a trifle.

When I was trying to find a gingerbread ice-cream recipe online most of them seemed to include raw egg or bought cookies or required an ice-cream maker.  I wanted something home-made, with no raw eggs, no need for an ice-cream maker and with more depth of flavour!

Here is my gingerbread ice-cream…

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Gingerbread ice-cream recipe
Gingerbread dough – use the gingerbread cookie recipe here, form into a rectangle & chill but don’t bake yet
150 ml (5 fl oz) double cream
150 ml (5 fl oz) milk
1 tbsp honey
3 – 4 pieces crystallised stem ginger

Preheat oven to 160ºC and line a swiss-roll tin with grease-proof paper. Remove the dough from the fridge, place it in the middle of the swiss-roll tin and push it down into all the corners.  It is easiest just to use your hands for this and it doesn’t need to look to neat on top as it will rise when baking.  Wet your hands first to prevent the dough sticking to them.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the tray and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out cleanly, with no sticky residue remaining.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then turn upside down on a cooling rack and gently pull off the grease-proof paper backing – it is easiest to do this whilst the cake is still warm.

Leave to cool completely.  All you need for the gingerbread ice-cream are the crispy edges of the cake, the rest will be used in the trifle I mentioned (recipe to follow in a later post).  Cut off the four edges of the cake, about 1cm in from each edge. Store the remaining gingerbread cake in an airtight container to use later in the trifle.

Roughly chop these edges into cubes about one centimetre across.  Place in a bowl and add in any crumbs as these add to the taste and texture of the final ice-cream.

Next take the crystallised stem ginger and chop into small pieces.
If you are a fan of fiery ginger, add more to taste.

Now to make the ice-cream, whip the double cream until quite thick and stir in the milk and honey.   Then fold in the chopped crystallised stem ginger and broken chunks and crumbs of gingerbread cake.  Pour the whole mixture into a plastic tub and place in the freezer for at least four hours.

Serve in pretty bowls…

This gingerbread ice-cream has a lovely sweetness and depth of flavour with an added tang from the stem ginger.  I love it and had to stop myself going back for anther bowlful! It will make a lovely light dessert after our huge Christmas dinner!

The trifle recipe, which uses the centre of the gingerbread cake as its base, will follow later this week on Vohn’s Vittles.

Vohn

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