Violet crumble ice-cream for Australia Day!
My first attempt at Violet Crumble was a dismal failure as the honeycomb refused to set and harden despite following the recipe to the letter. I poked and prodded at the gooey mass for a good half an hour before calling my husband Stephen at the office in desperation for advice.
Nanette Johnson
'How long do I need to wait until this "whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold" turns hard'? I asked
'Anywhere between 20-30 minutes' he replied
'Well it's been that long and then some' I added in frustration 'and it's nothing but a billowing mass of goo'!
'Did you follow the recipe' ? he asked.
'Yes' I replied glibly.
'Was it Grandma's recipe'? he inquired.
'No' I replied 'I used whats-her-names recipe, you know the one with the convincing smile and TV series to match'.
'OK why don't you go ahead and make the ice cream and I'll make Grandma Jean's honeycomb tonight when I get home from work'?
'Ok' I muttered, my pride barely in tact.
'You make the honeycomb and I'll make the ice cream'.
Grandma Jeans Violet Crumble
This is Stephen's late Grandma Jean's foolproof honeycomb recipe. Grandma Jean was a proud Presbyterian, so I suspect her source of inspiration was the PWMU.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups of white sugar
1/3 cup of golden syrup
1/3 cup of organic honey
1/3 cup of water
2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
100g dark chocolate, melted
Method
1. Place the sugar, golden syrup, honey and water in a large, heavy based saucepan. Heat on a low until the sugar has dissolved, stirring all the time.
2. Turn up the heat until the mixture starts to bubble and boil try to keep the exact temperature for about 15 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and immediately pour the honeycomb into a lined baking dish.
4. Allow the honeycomb to cool and become hard and then gently break the honeycomb into pieces. I used the back of my ice cream scoop, but I'm sure a rolling pin would suffice. Drizzle the honeycomb with the melted dark chocolate and try not to eat it all as you want to stir some of it through the vanilla ice cream!
Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
600ml of full fat organic milk
600ml of organic cream, heavy
½ cup of raw caster sugar
3 organic egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Put the milk and the cream in a large saucepan and gently heat. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and the sugar in a large mixing bowl until thick and pale. Add the eggs and sugar to the hot milk and cream and whisk.
2. Continue to stir gently until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon or silicone spatula. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and when it is cool, place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Put the mixture in your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturers instructions.
4. Stir through the broken pieces of Violet Crumble into the ice cream and then freeze until required.
Nanette Johnson is a food and travel writer from Australia and Editor-in-Chief for Gourmet Worrier. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter
