‘Tis the season for gingerbread and pies, but why not make a ginger ice cream to go with that pie? Ginger Ice Cream and Pumpkin Pie were long lost lovers, you know. You should reunite them.
I read a lot of ice cream recipes–including several ginger recipes before concocting one that cooked the eggs but did not require 4 to 6 egg yolks (but what was I supposed to do with all those whites?). I mashed up Ben&Jerry’s vanilla (from a cookbook) with the ginger recipes from the Epicurious and David Lebovitz. I also took inspiration from a dairy free recipe.
Here goes:
Ginger White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream – by The Ravens Landing
2 eggs
½ c sugar
1/8 c honey
2 c heavy cream
1 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 in chunk of fresh ginger root, coarsely chopped or grated
2 T water
½ c crystalized ginger, chopped
½ c white chocolate, chopped
Preparation
In 3-qt saucepan cook ginger, water, sugar and honey over moderate heat stirring occasionally (5 minutes). Add half heavy cream and half milk and bring to a simmer.
Whisk eggs until fluffy.
Add eggs to the warm cream and ginger mixture and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula (or, to 170 degrees if you have a candy thermometer). Add the remaining milk and cream and the vanilla extract. Chill thoroughly. It will take at least 3 hours, but you’re better off if you can leave it for a day or a night. You can speed the process by putting it in an ice bath.
Now, you could just put it in the freezer. You will have ice cream, but it will be thick and hard. This isn’t bad, just depends on what you want from your ice cream.
Once the mixture is thoroughly cooled, put it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. While churning, add the crystallized ginger and the chopped white chocolate.
Voila.