Christmas Pudding Icecream

I wanted to make Christmas pudding ice-cream and cleverly tick off a few items on my 101 things list at the same time, but instead I have had my first big FAIL since starting the list over a year ago!

I was gifted an ice-cream maker by a family member a couple of years ago and it's been sat in it's box in the attic pretty much since then because I figured it was too much faff, and you can make ice-cream perfectly well without one. But I did want to try a machine, to see what all the fuss was about, so I put it on my list of 101 things.

I unpacked and cleaned all the bits of the machine. I assembled it and switched it on - and it worked perfectly.

I froze the canister for the exact amount of hours recommended by the instructions for our freezer temperature.

I made the mixture and added the first spoonful whilst the machine was already churning, and guess what? IT STOPPED! It refused to move, regardless of several things I tried. I left it going for a while, thinking it might build up some momentum.

Then, it just stopped trying. It must have burnt out the motor or something, I guess. To say I was disappointed at this stage, would be quite accurate.

So next, I thought I'd scoop the mixture into a tub and freeze it, whipping it at half frozen to make it less tough. Not as easy as it may appear, because the ice-cream maker I was gifted was not just a run of the mill ice-cream maker - oh no - it was a special soft scoop dispenser ice-cream maker. This means that you can't scoop it, or pour it out of the canister. The only way to get it out of the canister is to open the dispenser bit at the bottom and the "soft scoop" just slides out in star shaped swirls. Except this was now impossible, because the freezing cold canister had frozen the bottom layer, leaving me with half frozen, half runny ice-cream mixture, with the churning thingy stuck and nothing coming out of the dispenser part!

I finally managed to get the mixture out of the canister, into a tub and into the freezer. It was a very messy, sticky operation.

The moral of this story (that I want to rant about anyway) is not to give people second rate appliances as gifts, however impressive you may seem in front of other family members who are unaware that it is, in fact, utter tat!

If you are considering buying an ice-cream maker, I suggest NOT buying this one. I took solace in reading that I was not alone in the reviews!

However...

Christmas Pudding Ice-cream is yummy, and better still - can be made entirely without an ice-cream maker or any other fancy gadget.

The recipe came from a magazine, several years ago. Of course - I adapted it!

100g raisins

100g sultanas

100g dried cranberries

6tbsp brandy

6tbsp cointreau

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp ground cinnamon

quarter tsp all spice

500g FRESH custard (bought or home-made from scratch), chilled

6 tbsp icing sugar

Place the dried fruit in a shallow dish. Pour over the brandy and cointreau and leave to soak for at least 2 hours.

In large bowl, combine icing sugar and spices and then stir in the custard.

Stir in the fruit and and remaining brandy/cointreau juice.

If you have a functional ice-cream maker then do your thing using the instructions for your model.

If you don't have an ice-cream maker (or yours goes wrong too) then put it in a tub and into the freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer, whisk, and return to freezer.

The ancient article also says "To serve, scoop ice-cream into bowls or pretty glasses, garnish with chocolate straws, if desired, and serve immediately".