Well…it’s been a while. Almost two years. Both for me writing on this blog and for the last time we’ve seen Game of Thrones. It feels like an eternity, and at least for the blog writing, I’m a little rusty. It took me over an hour to figure out how to get that photo just above the text here. The collage you see below took downloading no fewer than 3 programs to generate. I’ve still been cooking, but lost the spark to photograph and post on the blog that I once had, but I just could not miss the season premiere of the final episode of Game of Thrones. I trust that the cast and the showrunners and the writers are not nearly as rusty as me and that we are in for a season of intrigue, twists and unforeseeable turns, and, perhaps, a resolution.
This ice cream is the third ice cream Srini and I have created for Game of Thrones. Typically, Srini comes up with the clever names, and I riff a flavor from there. This time, I can truly say that the name was a joint creation. I originally came up with “An Ice Cream Has No Name,” envisioning an ice cream that was black and white, to commemorate the amazing Arya Stark’s growth during her time at the House of Black and White. I then realized that Arya is awfully close in sound to Oreo, a famously black and white cookie! Srini took this spark, and realizing that my ice cream was ultimately a swirl, created the final name. The white part of the ice cream, I suppose is more ivory in color and is a rich white chocolate ice cream. The black is an even richer dark chocolate ice cream, made darker by a hint of deep black activated charcoal (just for color, no flavor), and the ice cream itself is punctuate by shards of Oreo cookie chunks .
I used the absolutely amazing Stella Parks’ ice cream recipes from her even more amazing cookbook Bravetart. These ice creams are some of the best I have ever made. They are rich, and silky, and there is nary an ice crystal to disrupt the decadence on your tongue. I was able to make these back to back as a few years ago, Srini gifted me the absolutely incredible Breville Smart Scoop. The ice creams both start out as custard bases with the white chocolate ice cream having a full 7 egg yolks! 7! The dark chocolate ice cream only has 5, but it has two different types of deep, dark chocolate. It ended up so thick overnight, it felt more like classic chocolate pudding rather than a liquid ice cream base. The dark chocolate ice cream was made my making an ice cream base, then a dark chocolate syrup and mixing the two together. It is the most chocolatey chocolate ice cream I have ever had. Once both ice creams were churned up, I laid one next to the other in a thick layer, swirled them gently together with a chopstick, then sprinkled on coarsely broken oreos. I repeated with two more layers, until I had my beautiful black and white swirl. Tonight we will raise a spoon of this ice cream to all of our beloved characters for the final season premiere of a truly incredible show. This swirl is Oreo Stark of Winterfell, and she’s going home.
A Swirl Has No Name (a.k.a. Oreo Stark) ~ White Chocolate/Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with Oreo Chunks
| Prep: | Cook: | Yield: 2 quarts ice cream | Total: |
A delicious White Chocolate and Dark Chocolate ice cream swirl with Oreo chunks to celebrate the season premiere of Game of Thrones!
You'll Need...
- For the white chocolate ice cream:
- 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3.5 oz white chocolate
- 7 large egg yolks
- 1 large pinch kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- For the dark chocolate ice cream:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large pinch kosher salt
- 3 oz dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3 oz dark chocolate
- 1 tsp activated charcoal, food grade
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon spiced dark rum
- Mix-Ins:
- 1 sleeve Oreos
Directions
- For the white chocolate ice cream:
- In a large saucepan, mix together the milk and the heavy whipping cream over medium heat. While the milk mixture is heating, roughly chop the white chocolate and place in a heatproof glass bowl.
- Split the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise, and add to the milk and the heavy whipping cream.
- Once the milk reaches a simmer, turn off the heat, and spoon 2-4 oz onto the chopped white chocolate. Cover the milk and vanilla bean and allow to steep for about 30 mins.
- Stir the warmed white chocolate to allow it to melt. If it does not fully melt, microwave in 15 second bursts until fully melted and smooth. Set aside.
- Once 30 minutes have passed, remove the vanilla bean and set aside, but do not discard.
- In another large, heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Bring the milk and cream to a simmer again, and ladle in a few ounces of the warmed milk into the yolk mixture, whisking rapidly to combine and temper the egg yolks. Repeat 3 to 4 more times.
- Slowly pour the warmed yolk mixture into the simmerring milk/cream and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously with a spatula to ensure that the eggs do not scramble. Continue to cook until the mixture has thickened and registers about 172F on an instant read thermometer. Whisk in the melted white chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
- Strain the mixture into a large bowl, add back in the vanilla bean, and add in the tablespoon of vanilla extract. Gently press plastic wrap onto the entire surface of the white chocolate ice cream custard base, and refrigerate at least overnight. You may also cool this in an ice bath until it is 40F.
- For the dark chocolate ice cream:
- In a large saucepan, mix together the milk, yolks, sugar, and salt over medium heat. Stir continuously with a spatula to ensure that the eggs do not scramble. Continue to cook until the mixture has thickened and registers about 172F on an instant read thermometer.
- Strain the mixture into a large bowl, scraping out the pan thoroughly.
- Roughly chop the dark chocolate.
- In the same pan, mix together the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, activated charcoal, sugar, and cream and heat over medium heat. Whisk frequently, scraping the bottom of the pan as you go. Bring to a simmer.
- Strain the hot chocolate into the large bowl with the custard and whisk to combine. Add in the vanilla extract and the rum and whisk thoroughly. Gently press plastic wrap onto the entire surface of the white chocolate ice cream custard base, and refrigerate at least overnight. You may also cool this in an ice bath until it is 40F.
- To finish the ice cream:
- Set up your ice cream maker. If you do not have an ice cream maker with a compressor, you will need two ice cream canisters to make this ice cream.
- Make the white chocolate ice cream first. Remove the split vanilla bean from the custard base and scrape out all of the little beans from the interior of the pod and place the beans in the custard base. Churn the white chocolate ice cream base according to the ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions. Set aside in the freezer.
- Make the dark chocolate ice cream next. Churn the dark chocolate ice cream base according to the ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions.
- In a large container, lay down a thick stripe of white chocolate ice cream, covering roughly half of the base of the container. Cover the other half with dark chocolate ice cream. Swirl the center together gently. Sprink on some crushed oreo chunks. Repeat two more times.
- Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the ice cream.
- Freeze for at least 4 hours. Serve garnished with more oreo chunks and enjoy.
Additional Notes
Adapted from Bravetart by Stella Parks.
1 Comment
Looks delish. What dish/ pun can you come up with for those 2 dragons who flew crazily through canyons this evening?