Christmas Calendar 2013 Day 21 - Christmas ice cream

I decided to make a combination  of these recipes on ultra indulgent vanilla ice cream and mulled white wine  into a Christmas ice cream.

As I found the original recipe to be over indulgent due to the combination of 15% fat, high level of milk solids non fat and addition of artisan-style ice cream stabiliser, the fat content can easily be reduced from 15% fat to 3.5% using whole-fat milk instead of dairy whipping cream (which will also be good for your overall calorie intake during the Christmas season).

I was a bit uncertain on how long, I should infuse the milk ice liquid with the spices. Based on good discussion of this very specific issue with a work colleague with a background as chef, the common agreement was to infuse the milk with the spices, starting with 1 hour and taste it, before taking the decision about removal of the spices. I should not infuse for night-over, which was my initial thought, in order to avoid a too dominating flavour. This spice discussion was almost getting me "thrown out" of the lab at work, as I was talking too much according to the lab manager !!! Based on regular tasting, I decided to let the spices infuce the ice cream mix for 4 hour, before they were removed.

This blog post has been submitted for the Blogging Challenge "Cooking with Herbs & Christmas spices " December 2013 

Christmas ice cream "artisan style": 4-6 servings

• 627 g whole-fat milk, 3-3.5% fat
• 39 g skimmed milk powder 
• 96 g sugar
• 32 g glucose syrup as powder
• 6 g ice cream stabiliser
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamon seeds 
• 2 all spices seeds
• ½ dried ginger
• 1 star anise
• 4 cloves

1. Pour the milk into a small cooking pot.
2. Dry-mix the skimmed milk powder, sucrose, glucose syrup powder and ice cream stabiliser together. 
3. Whip the milk, as the dry-mix is added into the milk. 
4. Place all the spices in a paper tea bag, which is closed with a knot, before adding it into the milk.
5. Heat the ice cream mix over low-medium heat until hot, but not boiling.
6. Cool down the ice cream mix in the refrigerator, let the spice bag infuse the ice cream mix for 1-4 hour, before removing it. 
7. Let the mix stand for minimum 4 hours or night over. 
8. Whip the ice cream mix. 
9. Pour into your ice cream machine and freeze it into ice cream, which takes 30-40 minutes.
10. Store the ice cream in the freezer.