Sophisticated ice cream for all lovers of goat cheese, figs and Cognac.
Ingredients
125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
300 ml (300 gram / 1 cup) soft goat cheese
550 ml (2⅓ cups) milk
50 ml (1/5 cup) cream
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons of corn starch
About 100-200 grams of figs (dried or fresh; quantity depending on your taste) saturated in French Cognac (about 4-6 tablespoons of Cognac should suffice)
Instructions
Soaking the figs in Cognac
Chop the figs in smaller pieces, put them in a cup or other suitable container and pour over about 4-6 tablespoons of Cognac. Let the figs soak up the Cognac at least for a few hours in the fridge, possibly longer, stirring them occasionally during the process.
Preparing the ice cream
Whisk together 200 ml (about 0.8 cup) of the milk with the corn starch, making sure that there are no lumps.
Set aside for now. Blend the remaining milk and cream, the sugar, and the the salt in a sauce pan. Warm until steaming hot on medium heat. Now, blend in the corn starch mixture with the rest of the ingredients in the sauce pan. Barely reaching a boil, cook and stir for about five minutes, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Reduce the heat and continue to stir for another five minutes until the mixture has thickened even further and any “floury” taste (from the corn starch) has disappeared.
Take off from the heat and let the mixture cool down. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, then whisk in the goat cheese, making sure that there are no lumps. Freeze according to the instructions of your ice cream machine (or still-freeze without an ice cream machine, as described in another post on the blog).
Towards the end of the churning, put in the Cognac-soaked pieces of the figs. Alternatively, you could also mix them into the ice cream with a fork directly after the churning.
Put the ice cream in a freezer-safe container, cover with plastic film and a lid, and store in the freezer.
Notes
Depending on your own preferences, it is advisable to taste the ice cream base to make sure that the flavours of goat cheese and/or Cognac do not strike you as overbearing. Too much Cognac-soaked figs could also threaten to destabilise the ice cream (it may not freeze properly if too much alcohol is added).
However, also keep in mind that flavours tend to be muted by cold - compared to just churned ice cream, an ice cream that has spent a few hours in the freezer may taste less overpowering.
Recipe by ICE CREAM NATION at https://www.icecreamnation.org/2012/03/goat-cheese-ice-cream-with-cognac-figs/