Cherry Ice Cream (eggless, low fat and no cooking)

Cherry IceCream

Every time I came to a round number like 100 or 200 etc. with the recipe post count, it did not seem like anything to be honest. 400th post however, is different as it has been quite a challenge getting here. I cannot believe it has taken me so much time to come from 350 to 400 but in the end, I made it. Someday, probably few years from now, it will be 1000 :D!

Coming to the actual post, this is a special summer treat. It is incredibly hot here in UK (don't roll your eyes thinking I am from Chennai so why am I complaining). The trouble is that it seems easier to acclimatise to cold weather than hot and also that most British buildings are built to keep the heat in and hence not quite built for hot weather. Anyway, to keep us cool, especially my son, I have been making ice creams. The amount of artificial anything is next to zero in my homemade ice creams but still at the end of the day it is empty calories loaded with fat. I wanted to reduce the fat without compromising too much on taste and texture to a lesser degree. That is why, this recipe uses single cream instead of double cream. In a given recipe, use of double cream instead of single cream results in roughly over three times more saturated fat content and about three and half times the cholesterol when compared against the same dish using single cream. This I think is quite a lot. I had frozen cherries on hand and I find frozen fruits quite handy to make dishes and fresh ones to eat just like that. 

The result was a very different ice cream which to some extent looked like a sorbet. Usually, the fat content in the cream helps avoid crystallising but as we use much lesser fat than usual, the texture will look different from regular ice cream. In order to help it, we add pinch of salt and dots of vanilla extract which has some alcohol in it (oh don't worry, nothing that will affect the kids). Once you put it in your mouth, it will be much like regular ice cream. Make sure you rest it on the counter for five minutes or so once out of the freezer. It is important to give it a good whisk after about 2 hours into the freezer as this also helps prevent crystallising.

This has proven to me and hopefully will prove to you that low fat ice cream is not a myth.

Thanks to all my readers for visiting my blog. My thanks to my family as well, without them, this blog wouldn't have happened. I do hope my blog reach extends so my attempts to bring to the table healthy and yummy dishes benefits more people and also so I can learn from what they have to share.

Now for the recipe...

300ml single cream

1 cup greek yogurt

1 cup cherry, pureed

Pinch of salt

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Whisk all ingredients together for ten minutes and pour into freezer safe box, cover and freeze for couple of hours. Take out, whisk with fork and freeze again until set. The whisking is done for so long to incorporate air into the mixture to improve the texture.

Cassata Ice Cream (eggless home made ice cream)

Cassata Ice Cream

It probably sounds cliché but seriously I did not think I will manage to sustain my blogging for this long especially considering I am now a proud mother of two children. I must admit, it takes a lot of energy and drive to keep the blog going and getting better given the non availability of most important ingredient – time. With oodles of support from my family, I have managed to keep my interest going. I was trying to figure out what will be my 350^th recipe post on my blog although I had a few in drafts already. I wanted something simple but special. I had a cookie in mind, making it eggless, but later thought it may not be ‘the’ one. I had a tub of double cream to use up after my earlier ice cream experiment and put some thought into what to do with it. Bingo!

When I was little, my mom would take me and my brother to my grandparent’s house. It was not far off by any means but we always asked to be taken by auto. Some days my mom would steer us away from auto by tempting us with ice cream from Arun ice cream parlour on the way. It was almost at the mid point of the route so there would be no point nagging for an auto from there. Anyway, she was the one who suggested I try Cassata ice cream. It was such a delight to the eyes and mouth. The wonderful streaks of different flavours are probably the most attractive bit about this ice cream. I must however say that I was not a fan of the sponge that was part of the ice cream. I know, you are probably rolling your eyes because the sponge is one of the characteristic features of casatta. However, it was being made in my kitchen, I could have it my way. I then wanted to make this dish that has nice memories associated with it as my 350^th recipe. My mom always wonders what touch I have added to my dishes, especially milestone dishes. Thi recipe is no exception because this ice cream neither needs ice cream maker nor eggs. With very few ingredients, this dish is easy to whip up. That said, you could do with an electric beater or you need to sue some elbow grease. Alternately, you could use whipped cream readily available so save some energy whipping it.

Here are few notes about this recipe. The main problem with home made ice creams frozen in a regular freezer is the formation of ice crystals. These will be visible and also affect the texture of the end product and you will notice them while eating. Addition of alcohol will help lower the freezing point and prevent crystallisation; however, it may not be suitable if serving children. No doubt, if mommy makes ice cream, son obviously needs to try it. So had to find a different solution and it was a simple one. Addition of little salt does the magic, so do not skip the salt in the recipe. Surprisingly, this recipe does not need to be whisked after about 2 hours of freezing like most home made ice creams. I chose to make pista flavour, chocolate flavour and vanilla. The middle layer is pista but you probably don’t see that clearly as I did not add any green food colouring.

With thanks to all readers and my family for all the support, encouragement and warmth extended, here is the 350^th recipe...

600ml double cream (two tubs of cream)

1.5 tins condensed milk (a tin being about 400g)

2 tablespoon pistachio ground to paste

3 teaspoons coco powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Little over ½ teaspoon salt

Bring together double cream, condensed milk and salt. Divide into three equal parts

Add vanilla extract to one part and whisk until it becomes thick, it will look like melted ice cream

Pour this into a loaf tin or any other container of your choice.  I lined the loaf tin with freezer cover to make it easy to unmould. If using sponge in your recipe, put this at the bottom of the box/tin

To another portion, add the ground pistachios and whisk until it thickens and resembles melted ice cream

Pour this on top of the vanilla layer

To another portion, add sifted coco powder and again whisk until it thickens and resembles melted ice cream

Pour this on top of the pista layer

Freeze for about 12 hours

Cut into slices, serve and indulge

Kulfi Ice Cream

Kulfi Ice Cream


Like most kids, we loved spending time at our grandparents’ place. We were closer to our maternal side than paternal grandparents. My maternal grandfather used to work in the railways and lived in the railway quarters. Like many quarters, this one was buzzing with people almost all the time as there was always someone coming off shift. The most exciting part of our stay there was in the night time as that is when a kulfi ice vendor would come. He would come on a tricycle with a big metal pot in which he would keep the ice cream and would have put ice cubes and water surrounding the pot and insulate it with red cloth. He would them remove them from the mould and slice them and sell on banana leaf. I could never get enough of them but was always restricted as my parents feared we will catch a cold. To tell you the truth, I may not buy kulfi from such a vendor now fearing hygiene (I had no data to say they are unhygienic but it is just my fear) and make a fuss about it but back then, I never knew about all these and ignorance was bliss. I am glad I did not fuss then and enjoyed those yummy kulfi.

Apart from bringing back lovely memories, it is now extra special because this is the 200th recipe on my blog. What a journey it has been; so much learning, so many successes and so many failures in my kitchen; so many people I reach out to. Although my husband prefers to have ‘usual’ dishes and does not really like to have my experiments for a meal, he has been quite supportive by tasting almost everything I make and criticising it. My mother is not just a good cook but she does things in a jiffy and I have kept her as my benchmark for that. My grandmother shares loads of ideas especially traditional recipes of those days. My brother is quite critical about my whole blog itself but my sister-in-law tries recipes from it and once he says it is good, reveals it is from my blog. If one has got to do more than the routine chores and everyday duties, there has to be support and encouragement. I sincerely hope I will be given the strength and energy to achieve more milestones.

Anyway, here is the recipe...

1 tin sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups whole milk
3-4 tablespoons chopped nuts (pistachios, cashew, almonds)
1 pinch saffron

Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan until it reduces to about 75% and remember to stir every now and then

Add the condensed milk and mix well and simmer for about 15 minutes so it thickens and also add the saffron and nuts and simmer for few more minutes. I used couple of spoons of milk to wash down the condensed milk tin as well.

Cool completely, pour into moulds of your choice and freeze for atleast 12 hours.