Exotic and alluring saffron join forces with gingerbread cookie crumbles, creating a delicious Christmas-inspired frozen extravaganza! The base is reliable, eggless Sicilian gelato, which guarantees nice consistency and texture on par with the best custard ice creams.
Ingredients
300 ml (1.25 cup) cream
400 ml (1.7 cup) milk
50 ml (1/4 cup) sugar
50 ml (1/4 cup) honey
3 tablespoons corn starch (or equivalent type of starch)
0,5 grams genuine saffron powder
(optional; about 1 extra tablespoon honey (or, if you prefer, any other type of inverted sugar such as Agave nectar, corn syrup or their likes)
good pinch of salt
about 50-100 grams gingerbread cookies (crumbled)
Instructions
Mix 200 ml (0.8 cup) of the milk with the corn starch. Whip together, making sure there are no lumps left. Put aside.
Pour the rest of the milk, the cream, the sugar and the honey, the vanilla, the saffron and the salt in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar and the salt, bringing the mixture to steaming hot (but not to a boil). Now, add the milk-corn starch blend and whisk everything together.
On low-medium heat, still without quite reaching a boil, continue to stir for a few minutes (about five minute should generally do) until the mixture has thickened somewhat and any possible flavour-residues of the starch has disappeared completely.
Take off from the heat and let cool. Then, chill the base thoroughly in a refrigerator.
Towards the end of the churning, add the crumbled pieces of gingerbread cookies (or stir them into the finished ice cream: both ways work fine)
When chilled, freeze according to the instructions of your ice cream machine, adding the raisins and any remaining mulled wine to the base towards the end of the churning [if added too early, the raisins will likely sink to the bottom ...].
No ice cream machine? - No problems: Just still-freeze in your freezer!
Just take the chilled base from the fridge and put in in a freezer-safe container, cover with plastic film and the lid. Put the container in the freezer.
After about 45 minutes, take out the container and whisk through the base with a fork or similar, making sure to "even out" frozen parts and break up any large ice crystals being formed.
Return the ice cream to the freezer, then repeat the 'manual churning' about every 20-30-40 minutes (depending on your level of vigilance; you should preferably begin to churn more frequently the firmer the ice cream becomes) for about a couple of hours or four.
Recipe by ICE CREAM NATION at https://www.icecreamnation.org/2019/11/saffron-honey-gingerbread-ice-cream/