Mint Ice Cream and Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies

Following on from last week's WKWE post which featured my visit to Frankie & Benny's and my dessert of chocolate brownies and mint ice cream, I promised a post with recipes inspired by this.  The chocolate brownie recipe that I'm going to include here is the second of many I hope to share, and is a flourless brownie that I found in Nigella Express, which makes it good for those who have gluten-free diets.  The mint ice cream recipe is from The IceCreamists by Matt O'Connor.

Flourless Brownies

Ingredients (to make 16 squares)

225g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
225g butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
150g ground almonds (optional)
100g chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius or gas mark 3.  Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.
2. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar, and let it cool a little.
3. Beat the eggs into the pan along with the ground almonds and chopped walnuts.  Turn into a 24cm square baking tin or, most sensibly, use a foil one.
4. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey.  Once cooler, cut carefully, four down, four across, into 16 squares.

Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients

250ml (8 fl oz) full-fat milk
125ml (4 fl oz) double cream
2 egg yolks
88g (3 1/4 oz) caster sugar
120g (3 3/4 oz) dark chocolate fondant mints, such as After Eight Mints, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Pour the milk and cream into a large saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to steam but not boil.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl until smooth.  Add the sugar and whisk until pale and slightly fluffy.  Gradually and slowly, pour the hot milk into the egg mixture whilst whisking continuously to prevent the eggs scrambling.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring frequently until the custard thinly coats the back of a wooden spoon.  Do not allow to boil.
3. Pour the mixture back into the bowl and set aside for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooled to room temperature.  For more rapid chilling, half-fill a sink with cold water and ice and place the bowl of mixture in it for 20 minutes.  Never put the hot mixture into the fridge.  Meanwhile, melt the fondant mints in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
4. Once the ice cream mixture is cooled, add the melted chocolate mints to the bowl, along with the mixture, blend with a stick blender and refrigerate, ideally overnight, but at least for 6 hours, until thoroughly chilled (at least 4 degrees Celsius).  Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions, or by hand.
5. When the churning is completed, fold in the After Eight mints with a spoon or spatula, and scrape the ice cream into a freezer-proof container with a lid.  Freeze until it reaches the correct scooping texture (at least 2 hours).
6. Decorate each portion with fresh mint leaves before serving.

What Katie Wants to Eat - week ending 19/09/14

For me, this week has been Freshers Week at uni, and for Freshers Fayre, I was going in circles around the student union building for the majority of Wednesday and Thursday, trying to recruit people to join the uni's musical theatre society, BUSOM, until we realised that a couple of people were stopping at our stall to sing along to songs from Frozen with us, so then we sang through the whole Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack (which we did for our main show earlier this year) together until Freshers Fayre finished.  I've also eaten a lot of sweets from the stalls at Freshers Fayre because they were free, so there was a lot of sugar involved.  On Thursday evening, I caught up with a couple of old school friends to go bowling (I was 2nd with 96 points, only one point behind the leader) and for dinner at Frankie & Benny's.  Anyway, although there are a lot fewer photo links this week, here's what food goodness has been tickling my tastebuds or made me hungry this week:

1. Chocolate brownies with mint ice cream - this is what I had for dessert at Frankie & Benny's on Thursday evening.  The brownie was soft and gooey, while the ice cream was cool and smooth in comparison to the whipped cream that the dish was also served with.  I might post a recipe I found for gluten-free chocolate brownies and mint ice cream in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that.
2. Candyfloss - unfortunately, my society's Freshers Fayre stall was around the corner from a free popcorn and candyfloss stall that had been set up by an external business, so every few minutes, we would see people coming past with either bags of popcorn or sticks holding a giant cloud of pink candyfloss.  Having not really had candyfloss myself for a few years, I took the opportunity to get myself a stick of free candyfloss on both days after lunch.  Although it was slightly inconvenient as I was having to keep the sticky candyfloss in one hand away from the society info cards in the other hand as I walked around to recruit people, I'd like more of this pink, fluffy cloud of sweet awesomeness!
3. Raw soft-serve ice cream at The Rawtarian - this recipe is super-easy and only needs frozen bananas, a couple of teaspoons of vanilla extract and a blender.  I think I'll use it to create a vegan-friendly version of the affogato recipe I posted a few weeks ago.
4. Ally's watermelon fruit-bowl is making me jealous.  Like strawberries and blueberries, I don't think watermelon will be sticking around here much longer this year in the UK, and will be flying south (to Australia, in fact) to wish Ally a very happy summer indeed.  Also, do we have Finn Cold Press juices here?  They look tasty.

So that's all for this week.  I'll be back next week with more food and possible post-Freshers Fayre news!