Ah, spring – the return of the sun, lilac blossom, bees buzzing, birds nesting (on my outdoor blinds, unfortunately), occasional sudden spring showers, but everywhere new life and the promise of the long sunny days to come.
Or not.
Spring has certainly given of her capricious best this year. I sit here typing this at home – the front and back doors are open, the air is warm, scented and about 17C. This time yesterday it was 3C here and hailing – when it wasn’t trying to snow. Is it any wonder I don’t have any idea what to wear from day to day!
Regardless of the weather, I have decided to at least embrace the spirit of spring and begin honouring a promise I made to The Husband this year. I’m not a huge fan of ice cream, but I’m the only person in this house who isn’t. They all love it and like nothing more than the real, rich, creamy, calorie-laden, home-made iced treats that I only occasionally turn out. With my own personal focus on chocolate, I admit I have neglected the dessert needs of my nearest and dearest, but have determined to mend my ways, atone for past omissions and get back into their good graces with much more fresh made ice cream offerings this summer.
I turned over the new leaf with a particularly nice version that came to me while gazing glassy-eyed into the fridge one day, desperately hoping for some dinner inspiration. What my eyes fell upon instead was an almost full bottle of maple syrup which had been sitting on the door shelf for months. This was enough to distract my attention away from the main part of the evening meal, ultimately resulting in a trip to the Chinese take-away. However,I find ice cream can excuse quite a lot and ice cream combined with the very scrummy Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that I shared with you a few weeks back can turn a distracted domestic goddess into a culinary paragon in the eyes of her family!
And anyway, I think the addition of almonds and chocolate covers the important food groups and just about makes this a complete meal on it’s own, don’t you?
I’m lazy, so made this without cooking the custard and I know the idea of eating uncooked egg yolks freaks some people out, but it hasn’t hurt us yet. This whizzes up in no time with a food processor and, sandwiched between the choc chip cookies, it made a very special dessert for a Sunday lunch.
Maple Syrup Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 500 mls pouring cream
- 250 mls milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 200 mls pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- good pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a processor and whizz together until thickened.
- Pour into ice cream churn and churn until frozen.
- Place into freezer container and freeze until completely frozen.
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Barbara | Creative Culinary
Forget Florida; I think I need to summer in Australia. Our fall is getting chilly and winter is on the way. Yuck. LOVE summers in Colorado with their low humidity but we do suffer through some cold and snow to balance, that’s for sure.
This post made me chuckle…love your laissez faire approach; I’m the same way about eggs! And maple? You could put maple syrup on grass and I would probably wax poetic about it.
Amanda
Ditto here re the grass & maple combo, Barb. I adore the stuff and it broke my heart not to be able to bring great big jugs of it back from Vancouver earlier this year. Next time I’m making sure Canada is the last stop on a trip, not the first!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
I’d rather eat dirt than fake maple syrup but I do love the real stuff. I come from a place where my brother and I used to collect sap from sugar maples in the spring and my mother would protest and complain about how long it took to cook it down into syrup.
It was cold up here last night – we had the blanket on and we haven’t needed heat for weeks and weeks.
It’s nice and warm today, barefoot and really wanting one of these ice cream sandwiches!
InTolerant Chef
We had snow on the range out the front of our house too, it’s just crazy! I think I could freeze that delicious ice cream just by sticking it out on my front porch right now!
We generally get frosts here into September, but this is dragging on and on and I can hardly wait too get my tomatoes in before Sumner actually hits 🙂
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
This wewather is crazy! I never know how to dress nowadays. I ended up peeling my leggings and ballet flats off in the car today and ditching them for thongs! Some of this ice cream would have done quite nicely too! 🙂
Lizzy (Good Things)
Oh lordy… here I am trying to slim down ahead of Eat Drink Blog and you, my dear friend, blog a recipe for mouthwatering ice cream sandwiches! Gah…. delicious and thank you for sharing. We could see snow on the Brindabellas yesterday. The air is still very crisp.
Hotly Spiced
I heard it was snowing and I saw people interviewed on TV shivering and shaking as they were dressed for Spring not for a Northern American winter. It was so cold here on Friday. We on just made double figures. Like you, I never know what to wear and with the daily temperature swinging from 12C to 35C I seem to be permanently dressed in the wrong outfit. I agree with you – imitation maple syrup is deadly evil. Beautiful looking ice cream sandwiches xx
Kate
Snow calls for comfort food – anything with maple syrup would be ideal !!
Jennifer @ Delicieux
Oh Amanda they look so good, and so comforting! They would have gone down a treat here are it was quite warm yesterday. And I agree, imitation maple syrup is just horrible stuff. The real thing or nothing is always my motto.
celia
You have snow, and over here in Sydney, we’re sweltering! I just can’t pick this darn weather! Your ice cream sandwiches look very nice, and raw egg yolks from your backyard chooks are unlikely to hurt anyone! 🙂
The Food Sage
As i read this it’s 25-degrees in Sydney – perfect ice cream sandwich weather. They remind me of childhood. But your’s look far more tempting than those my mother dished up as an after tea treat! Lovely post, Amanda.