September 17, 2008: Cookies'n'malted cream icecream

   

Spring affects different people in different ways. All it took was one 20 degree day to have Michael planning weekend trips away and a birding expedition within the city limits. Me? I had an overwhelming desire to pull out the icecream maker and get churning. The only problem was, there was no room in the freezer to store it. Pastry, spinach, bread and paratha were in the way. Oh, and two lunchboxes full of too-crunchy chocolate cookies. Whoops.

It took me a day or two to work out the obvious solution - cookies'n'cream icecream! By then I'd seen Steph's vanilla-malted icecream, so I set my sights on a choc-malt twist. I started with my favourite vanilla icecream base, went light on the sugar and added 1/4 cup of malted milk powder after the cream. After an hour or so in the fridge, I strained the mixture and poured it into the churner. Twenty minutes later I added about a cup of coarsely chopped cookies. Done!

   

This icecream was even better than I'd hoped. The crunchy cookie pieces soften but don't disintegrate as they float through the custard; the custard itself is velvety and rich. It's so rich, in fact, that one scoop is enough... at least until tomorrow night.