A luxurious twist on a childhood favourite, William Curley’s ice cream sandwich recipe switches the wafer for macarons, and chooses the most nostalgic ice cream flavours – rum and raisin and mint choc chip – for the fillings
Ingredients
For the rum-soaked sultanas:
• 250g of sultanas
• 100ml of dark rum
For the mint choc ice cream:
• 400ml of milk
• 100ml of whipping cream
• 20g of fresh mint
• 6 egg yolks
• 100g of caster sugar
• 150g of chocolate chips, dark
For the rum and raisin ice cream:
• 400ml of milk
• 100ml of whipping cream
• 6 egg yolks
•100g of caster sugar
• 60ml of dark rum
For the dark chocolate macarons:
• 8 egg whites
• 250g of ground almonds, sifted
• 250g of icing sugar, sifted
• 50g of cocoa powder
• 250g of caster sugar
• cacao nibs, for sprinkling
For the milk chocolate macarons:
• 8 egg whites
• 250g of ground almonds, sifted
• 250g of icing sugar, sifted
• 25g of cocoa powder
• 250g of caster sugar
• feuilletine, crushed for sprinkling
• 300g of milk chocolate
• 300g of dark chocolate
Method
1 The day before making, prepare the rum-soaked raisins for the ice cream. Add the sultanas to a saucepan of boiling water, simmer for 2–3 minutes then strain. Spoon into a sterilised jar, pour over the rum and leave to marinate for at least 24 hours.
2 To make the mint ice cream, bring the milk, cream and mint to the boil then leave to infuse for 2 hours in the fridge.
3 Prepare an ice bain-marie and bring the mint-infused mixture to a simmer. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is pale in colour.
4 Pour one third of the hot liquid – making sure it is not boiling – onto the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until the milk is fully incorporated. Return the mixture to the saucepan, place over a low heat and stir continuously with a spatula until the mixture thickens, coats the back of the spoon and reaches a temperature of 82–84°C.
5 Remove the custard from the heat and pass through a fine sieve into a bowl set over the ice bain-marie to cool rapidly. Allow to thicken in the fridge for 4 hours.
6 Follow the same process to make the rum anglaise, adding the rum once the mixture has cooled in the ice bain-marie. Allow to thicken in the fridge for 4 hours.
7 Line 2 trays with baking paper, place eighteen 6cm metal rings on each tray and place in the freezer until ready to use.
8 When the two anglaise bases have thickened in the fridge, churn the rum mixture in an ice cream maker, add 150g of drained rum-soaked raisins, then mix until the raisins are evenly dispersed. Remove one of the trays from the freezer and fill each ring with the rum and raisin ice cream, using a small step palette knife to level the top of each. Return to the freezer for at least 2–3 hours.
9 Churn the mint anglaise in an ice cream maker, add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly dispersed. Remove the unused tray from the freezer and fill each ring with the mint choc chip ice cream, using a small step palette knife to level the tops. Return the tray to the freezer for at least 2–3 hours.
10 Next, make the macaron mix. Place half of the egg whites in a mixing bowl with the ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa powder and beat to a paste.
11 Place the remaining egg whites and caster sugar in a separate bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth. Place the bowl over a bain-marie and whisk until the meringue is 65°C. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer (or continue by hand) and whisk until a stiff meringue forms and it returns to room temperature.
12 Using a spatula, fold the meringue into the cocoa paste until it is smooth. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 10mm nozzle.
13 Repeat the process to make the milk chocolate macaron mixture.
14 Pipe 5cm bulbs onto a baking tray lined with a non-stick baking mat (make sure you space them evenly as they will spread). You will need a total of 36 of each flavour to make 18 sandwiched macarons.
15 Sprinkle half the dark chocolate macarons with cacao nibs and half the milk chocolate macarons with feuilletine wafer to make the macaron lids. Leave the macarons to dry out for 30 minutes, then bake for 20–25 minutes.
16 To temper the chocolate, melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie until is reaches 54°C. Remove from the heat and allow to cool evenly to 27°C, then reheat to 32°C. Repeat the process with the milk chocolate.
17 When the macarons are fully cooled, dip the base of each milk chocolate macaron into tempered milk chocolate and dip the base of each dark chocolate macaron into tempered dark chocolate. Leave to set in a cool, dry area for 1 hour.
18 Before serving, de-mould the ice cream discs. Sandwich the rum and raisin ice cream discs between the milk chocolate macarons. Sandwich the mint choc chip ice cream discs between the dark chocolate macarons.
Recipe courtesy of William Curley, extracted from Nostalgic Delights, published by Quarto
