I admit having one too many sweets for the past several weeks that my body wants needs something healthy before I send myself into a permanent state of diabetes. I was perusing through several markets and stumbled upon Hippie Chow Granola from Kansas City. They make all-natural granola that doesn’t taste too sweet and not artificial. I ended up having their entire line since I was in a granola kick and try to think of ways to have granola in interesting ways.
Traditional way to eat
Of course, the traditional approach to eat your granola with yogurt. I gussied up my yogurt by having a mixture of fresh, unsweetened blueberry purée and strawberry preserves (about 3:1 ratio), add on the thick, tart, Greek yogurt, layer on with more fresh blueberries, yogurt, and finish it off with the said fruit and Hippie Chow granola. The granola is delicately sweet, added a desired crunch to this creamy breakfast (or you can pass off as a snack) dish, with plenty of dried cranberries, almonds and pecans (for the Original mix).
This is great and all but I want granola in a different fashion. Since I love ice cream (with a twist or an improved version of what’s existing out there), I thought of making a breakfast inspired ice cream with this delicious granola and came up with…
Boozy breakfast ice cream
The boozy breakfast ice cream! Admittedly, it’s not that alcoholic that it would send you to the moon. Even if I tried adding a bottle of any liquor, the ice cream would not freeze.
My thought process behind making this ice cream was basically the fact that I love vanilla ice cream and I know it works with almost any flavor. Hippie Chow’s Original granola is subtly flavored with honey and cinnamon so I can play with the vanilla flavor card. My favorite vanilla ice cream recipe is from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. I made some alterations to bridge this ice cream with the granola so it’s not too sweet and balance out the granola, Cognac and spiked maple syrup. I used a fancy, aged Cognac into the custard so its flavors would come through without adding a lot of alcohol and the spiked maple syrup is to play on the breakfast component and the alcohol.
This ice cream was creamy, rich, vanilla-y with subtle crunchiness and flavor from the granola peeking out when you take a bite. If ice cream was accepted as a breakfast item, I would eat a small bowl of it every morning.
So, here’s my recipe…
Boozy Breakfast Ice Cream
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop
Yield about 1 quart (1L)
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
135 grams of granulated sugar (approximately 0.675 cup; I prefer to use a scale when it comes to baking/making sweets of any kind)
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons Courvoisier 12-Year aged Cognac; optional, if you prefer not to have the subtle flavor of booze
1 cup of Hippie Chow Original Granola
1 tablespoon Noble Tonic 01 Bourbon Barrel Matured Maple Syrup
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.
2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.
4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.
5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and remove the vanilla bean. Stir over the ice until cool, add the Cognac, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.
6. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
7. After churning/freezing your ice cream, pour the semi-soft custard into a large mixing bowl, add the granola and maple syrup and fold carefully yet work fast before your ice cream melts. Transfer to a container to freeze overnight.
For more photos of my experiment with Hippie Chow, please see below:
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Information:
Hippie Chow
http://www.hippiechowgranola.com
Available in the local New York City area at Dean & Deluca locations or directly from them online.
