housekeeping

Picture by Marissa, read the info at the bottom of the post!

Not that kind of housekeeping! I’m not Martha Stewart, I don’t give a darn how you fold your sheets and I certainly hope you do NOT iron them! No, I’m talking about some minor “blog housekeeping” – Firstly, thank you to each and every one of you who have already commented in the last 24 hours, trying to help me reach my goal of 1027 comments by December 31, 2010. We are already up to 994 – fabulous! And somehow, by some wonderful miracle, the comments actually outweighed the blog spam today!

Secondly, for those of you who may have missed it or who live out of the Phoenix area, here is THE LINK to the S’Mores Party clip from yesterday’s Valley Dish. Great fun, too bad we were missing Connor, although I’m sure he was staying warm up in beautiful Flagstaff that Friday night. OK, housekeeping finished – on to today’s recipe.

Tonight I am teaching the second class of my 3-week series at Les Gourmettes. The theme this week is Christmas Eve Dinner and the dessert is gingerbread ice cream that is made into little balls and then rolled in gingerbread crumbs. YUM!

Gingerbread Ice Cream Balls

Gingerbread Ice Cream
1  1/4 cups whole milk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1  1/2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Dash of salt
3 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream

Gingerbread Coating
Purchased gingerbread
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Ice Cream: In a medium heavy saucepan bring milk, 1/3 cup brown sugar, molasses, grated ginger root, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt up to a simmer over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks together. Very gradually drizzle the hot milk mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly, until all the milk mixture has been incorporated. (Take it slow, you do not want your eggs to cook and turn into scrambled eggs!) Return the mixture to the pot and stir over medium-low heat until the custard coats the back of a metal spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl. Chill completely. (You may like to use an ice bath, as pictured, to speed up that process.)

Whisk the whipping cream into the custard mixture and pour into an ice cream maker. Churn according to ice cream maker’s manufacturer directions.

Remove ice cream to a plastic or glass container and keep frozen until ready to scoop. Makes about  1 quart.

Coating: Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out ice cream balls onto wax paper and place the baking sheet in the freezer until the balls are frozen and firm.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the gingerbread into 1-inch slices and place it on a baking sheet in a single layer. Toast in the oven for about 8 minutes, turn over, and toast the other side for about 6 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled, place the slices along with the 1/4 cup brown sugar in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Roll the firm ice cream balls in the gingerbread crumbs and return to a clean wax paper-lined baking sheet and freeze for at least one hour before serving.

Makes about 30 balls

So, I was in such a hurry to get this post up today (and quite late for me!) that I didn’t really look at the photo of the finished product very closely.  Marissa came home for a break between her double shift today, checked out my blog and said, “Mom, that picture of the ice cream balls is disgusting!” I did a double-take and oh my, was she right. So my darling daughter re-took the picture with proper food-styling techniques.  Here, in case you were lucky enough to miss it earlier today, is my Disgusting pic!  Now, scroll back up and look at Marissa’s, then back down and look at mine – ouch! LOL