Brown bread ice cream

Sounds peculiar; tastes amazing. Truth be told, brown bread ice cream is the reason I bought myself my boyfriend an ice cream maker. I first tried this several years ago at 32 Great Queen Street in Covent Garden; I wanted to try it again but have never seen it for sale. It's a really grown-up, creamy, malty concoction and I can't recommend it enough.

In this recipe, you make caramelised breadcrumbs which you mix to a pretty standard custard base. If you don't keep wholemeal bread in the house, a wholemeal roll from the supermarket will typically weigh about 100g. If you buy it a few days before you want to use it and let it go stale, it will be easier to turn to crumbs in the food processor. The breadcrumbs get added to the mixture right before it goes into the ice cream machine. They therefore need to be quite cold before using so they don't affect the freezing process. You can make them a few days in advance and keep them in an airtight container. Try not to eat them.

For the breadcrumbs

100g wholemeal bread or bread roll (not granary, seeded, salted, cheesy or any other fancy nonsense)
60g soft brown sugar
40g butter, melted
Pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)


1. Start by making your caramelised breadcrumbs. Preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted).
2. Tear your bread into small pieces. Blitz in a food processor until you've got mostly breadcrumbs with a few lumps. You don't want it too fine.
3. Add the soft brown sugar and blitz to combine. Add the butter and blitz again.
4. Spread the crumbs out onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.
5. Bake in the over for 25 minutes, mixing them up with a spoon halfway through.
6. When nicely toasted and caramelised, allow to cool on the baking paper (take away the tray to speed up the process). When completely cool, they can be used. If you're not using them immediately, store in an airtight container.


For the ice cream

4 eggs
80g soft brown sugar
40g caster sugar
1tsp cornflour
300ml double cream
200ml milk
1 tsp vanilla paste

1. Separate the eggs, keeping the yolks only.
2. Put the cream, milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.
3. Break up the yolks with a whisk, then add both sugars and the cornflour. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is creamy, or when beads of sweat form on your upper lip.
4. When small bubbles form around the edge of the cream, pour a small amount onto the egg mixture and whisk to combine. This makes it easier to add the rest of the cream, which you should now do, whisking all the time so the mixture doesn't curdle.
5. When combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and put the pan over medium heat. Cook the custard for a few minutes, stirring or whisking all the while. When it has thickened slightly, pour into a jug (this makes it cool more quickly, and easier to pour into your ice cream machine later). Leave to cool, and refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Immediately before churning, stir about three-quarters of the breadcrumbs into the custard. Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions and freeze until needed.
7. Before serving, sprinkle some of the remaining breadcrumbs over the ice cream for extra crunch.

Peach sorbet

I bought some beautiful dwarf peaches (AKA donut peaches - they look like they've been run over) this weekend. The whole flat smelled of peaches today, which told me they were ripe, so I made a lovely sorbet. Some sorbet recipes suggest peeling the peaches, which is a complete faff and wholly unnecessary - a quick pass through the sieve is far quicker, and you get the most out of each peach.

600g stoned peaches (around 8 dwarf peaches, 4-6 regular ones, depending on size)
150g caster sugar
Juice of half a lemon

1. Stone and roughly chop the peaches.
2. Add the caster sugar to 150ml water and place over a medium heat. When it comes to a boil, allow the sugar syrup to bubble away for three minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Blitz the peach chunks using a blender or stick blender. Add the sugar syrup and lemon juice and blitz again.
4. Pass the peach puree through a sieve, pressing all the juice through using a spoon. You should be left with peel and any bits of stone you missed - this can be discarded.
5, Churn the puree in your ice cream maker for 30 minutes (sorbets seem to take longer than ice creams) then freeze until you're ready to eat it.

Cherry bakewell ice cream

Cherries are in season now and they don't last long. They seem to get more and more expensive every year; this ice cream is a great way to make them go further. Mixing with almonds is a classic flavour combination, and they give a wonderful texture. The Amaretto really enhances the flavour, although it does affect the freezing. It will come out of the ice cream maker more liquid than usual, but will set firm in the freezer after a few hours.

225g cherries
100g caster sugar
50g icing sugar
1/4 tsp xantham gum
100g ground almonds
300ml double cream

1. Use a cherry stoner to pit the cherries.
2. Blitz in a measuring jug until pureed.
3. Add the sugars and xantham gum and blitz again.
4. Add the ground almonds and double cream and blitz a final time.
5. Churn in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Strawberry ice cream

This is so easy as it doesn't require any cooking - so you can eat it not long after making it. Try to get a good variety of strawberry. Elsanta is ubiquitous but terrible; it's bred for yield and colour, but not for taste. Anything is better than Elsanta.

300g strawberries

100g caster sugar

50g icing sugar

1/4 tsp xantham gum

Juice of half a lemon

300ml double cream

1. Wash, hull and halve the strawberries.

2. Combine the strawberries, sugar, xantham gum and lemon juice in a measuring jug and blitz with a stick blender.

3. Stir in the cream.

4. Pour the creamy strawberry mixture into the ice cream machine and churn until frozen.

Rhubarb, orange and ginger ice cream

This is a real treat with seasonal British rhubarb. I keep root ginger in the freezer and grate as much of it as I need. Simples. The xantham gum is a stabliliser and helps to emulsify the mixture. You can leave it out if you can't find it.

400g rhubarb

250g sugar

Zest of 1 orange

1 inch root ginger, grated

300ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 egg yolks

1tsp corn flour

1/4 tsp xantham gum

1. Cut the rhubarb into two inch pieces and rinse in a colander. Add to a pan with 150g of the sugar, the orange zest and the ginger. Cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes, or until the rhubarb is completely soft. Leave to cool.

2. Heat the cream and vanilla paste in a saucepan over medium heat.

3. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar, cornflour and xantham gum until pale and creamy. When the cream starts to bubble (but before it boils) pour it over the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time. 

4. When the eggs and cream are well blended, return to the saucepan, put back on the heat and stir for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

5. Once both mixtures have cooled completely, beat together then pour into an ice cream maker and churn according to the instructions.