Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Homemade Burnt Almond Fudge

“SNELGROVE'S” BURNT ALMOLD FUDGE - HOMEMADE
BY: Kolby Day

3c. Half & Half
1c. Heavy whipping cream
1/2c. High quality baking powder (Ghirardelli recommended)

In large saucepan, pour in 1 cup of the half and half, whisk in baking powder. Once a
nice, thick liquid forms (no chunks!), place over medium heat. Add rest of dairy, heat
slowly to scald dairy until it barely bubbles - do not allow skin to form on top! While
heating, mix the following:

8 Large Egg Yolks
9 oz Sugar by weight or 1¼ C. - (actually just a little less than ¼)

Whisk yolks until creamy & light. SLOWLY add sugar - continue to whisk eggs
vigorously until eggs fall in ribbons off whisk.

When dairy bubbles, temper dairy into eggs - it will take about ⅓ of the dairy to bring up the egg temperature. Pour in rest of dairy. Return mixture to the saucepan. Heat over
low heat, stirring often until 170 degrees F is reached. Remove immediately from heat.
Custard should be nape (coats back of spoon). Place in a storage container. Allow to
cool for a while on counter. This prevents rapid dissipation of extract flavorings.

Once mixture has cooled add:
1t. Almond extract
1t. High quality vanilla extract

Store in fridge at least 8 hours! Do NOT skip this step.
Custard should be below 40 degree before you churn - ideally you want the mixture as
close to 32 degree before you churn - this will create small ice crystals preserving the
creamy texture of the ice cream.

Churn in small batches - fill the custard to about half your churner's capacity. It should
double in size as air is mixed into the custard. Do not allow to over-churn! (about 20
minutes depending on your churner). Note about churning - do not leave your freezing
unit in freezer more than 10-12 hours before churning. Do not churn a double batch!

Clean and refreeze your freezing unit at least 8 hours before churning another batch -
the quality will not be the same otherwise - trust me ;)

Once custard starts to appear like ice cream add a handful of roughly chopped roasted
& salted almonds (I prefer Trader Joe's roasted and salted almonds - they are pretty
close to the ones Snelgroves used.

Transfer soft-serve ice cream into freezer safe storage container. Place a small piece of
plastic wrap over ice cream, then cover with lid - this prevent freezer air from ruining the
texture of the ice cream. Freeze at least 3 hours before serving.
Enjoy!