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strawberry + crushed amaretti cookie ice cream

Published by fairfaxhill

Have you ever made no-churn ice cream? I was skeptical about this method, but after watching a few of my favorite chefs make ice cream without a machine, I decided this was something I had to try.

And guess what? I’ve confirmed that you don’t need special equipment to make delicious ice cream at home. No, really, not even a beater; just a little handheld whisk – and so can you! Have a large crowd to feed? Make sure to save this recipe!

After watching this Jaime Oliver video, I immediately knew this was the recipe I wanted to try. It has strawberry sauce, crushed meringue cookies, and dulce de leche – who could resist?

And the tray Jaime used to make it… Well, that was love at first sight for me, I had to get one just like it. Once the tray arrived in the mail, I was ready to make the recipe. It even had a lid! I love my new tray.

To ensure the berries were super fresh and ultra sweet, I bought them at the local farmers’ market on the weekend. I love any excuse to go to the farmers’ market.

Ready-made meringue cookies were hard to find, so I used Amaretti cookies instead. I thought they’d have a similar texture, a bit airy…

The Amaretti flavor combined with the strawberry sauce worked out great. So, if you can get these cookies where you live, I totally recommend them, and if not, you can go with store-bought meringues.

The only problem I had with this recipe was how much ice cream I ended up with, especially now that our household is shrinking with one kid off to college (I miss my baby girl!) and the other members of our family too busy to stop and grab a cone, a bit dangerous for me and my sweet tooth!

So, I’m contemplating making a huge sign that says “Free Ice Cream” to hang outside our door and get a box or two of sugar cones to hand out to anyone who walks by.

What do you think? Would you accept ice cream from a total stranger?

I read later that the ice cream can last in the fridge for about two months, so I may not have to do that after all. But if you are in our neighborhood and want a little sample, just knock on the door. I’m happy to share!

strawberry ice cream with crushed amaretto cookies
(serves 12)

ingredients

3 cups of strawberries (washed, hulled and sliced in halves)
½ cup sugar
2 Tbs. water
1 tsp. Balsamic vinegar (optional)
2 ½ cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)
1 cup crushed Bonomi Amaretti cookies

method
In a saucepan over medium-low heat make the strawberry sauce by melting the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. When the mixture has a nice amber color, carefully, add the strawberries. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the strawberries have reduced to syrup. (If using balsamic vinegar add it just after you add the strawberries.) When ready, strain the mixture through a medium-mesh sieve, and let cool completely.

Place the cream in a large bowl with the vanilla extract and whisk by hand until soft peaks* form, then stir in the condensed milk. Crush over the cookies and fold gently.

Pour the cream mixture into a freezer-proof container. Drizzle over most of the strawberry syrup, leaving pools of the syrup intact. You don’t want the strawberry syrup and the cream to blend together completely. Doing so will get in the way of the ice cream setting.

(BTW, I did not use all the strawberry syrup. I have about a cup left to drizzle on top of pancakes or waffles—yum!).

If your container doesn’t have a lid, make sure to place some plastic wrap or parchment paper right on top of the mixture before placing it in the freezer.

Freeze for at least 4 hours, or until set.

Notes:

  • Not sure what soft peaks look like? Watch the video.
  • Move the ice cream from the freezer to the fridge 30 minutes before serving so it is easier to scoop.
  • Serve it sundae-style with more strawberries, sliced bananas, crushed cookies, and strawberry syrup.
  • Experiment with other fruits and other types of cookies. Raspberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, blueberries or blackberries.
  • The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.
  • Want to learn more about making this kind of ice cream? Watch these videos by:
  1. Melissa Clark
  2. America’s Test Kitchen

a new sweater, ready to wear

Published by fairfaxhill

I believe there are two types of knitters, the ultra-careful ones that faithfully follow a pattern and will not give up until they “get it right,” and those that cannot help adding their own “touch” to every piece. These are the knitters that no matter how hard they try to follow a pattern, end up skipping steps, adding and removing stitches at random when they notice they’re off track, and see any mistake as a decorative element. They’ll also do anything to avoid ripping back!

I identify mostly with the first group. Typically, I choose a pattern because I love what it looks like in the photo of the magazine, website, or book it is in, and I’ll often go to great lengths to get the exact yarn that is recommended. A good example is the April Blouse I’ve been working on, where I scoured the Internet to find the same yarn and color I had seen on the @sandnesgarn brochure.

I’m also the type of knitter that needs to fix their mistakes. I would rather start over than have a mistake bug me forever. I blame my grandmother for this mindset. She would always say, “If you’re going to do something, you should do it right.” 

So, I tend to take each project as a small challenge, like a class I need to pass to achieve a higher skill level. 

Last Friday, I finished knitting this red jacket, which was an experiment to see if I could adapt a pattern using a different yarn and a slightly different gauge. 

Adapting a pattern was something I had read about, but never had to do. I was a bit nervous that my calculations wouldn’t work but decided to go for it anyway.

I must admit, this was a super low-risk experiment: The yarn I was using wasn’t too expensive and the pattern was pretty basic – a raglan construction knit in pieces that you then sewed up together– something I am quite familiar with.

The typical setbacks

I don’t think I’ve ever knit anything where I didn’t (at least momentarily) wonder if I was interpreting the instructions correctly. While working on this sweater, the instructions for making the sleeves slowed me down quite a bit.

First, I was trying to figure out if there was a special way in which to increase when knitting the half fisherman’s rib stitch, a stitch I had only used to make scarves.

Could you really increase only one stitch at each end and stay “in-pattern”? What type of increase should I use? Left-leaning, right-leaning, lifted increases? There are so many ways to do this. This led me down a rabbit hole of videos on Youtube.

Then, I had to decipher another part of the pattern. It said to increase every 8th and 10th row. Really? Hmm, that didn’t look right. I wish I had taken photos of the results. I ended up with pretty funny-looking sleeves! 😂

Thankfully, most patterns include schematics which helped me realize something wasn’t right. 

This is the instruction that confused me the most:

“After first inc. cont. in half fisherman’s rib. At the same time inc for sleeve shaping at each end 1 st. on every 10th row 8(4) times and 1 st. on every 8th row 0(5) times.”

What I did: I increased on every 8th and 10th row “at the same time,” making the increases super close to each other.

What I was supposed to do: Work the first 8(4) increases every 10th row and [THEN] work 0(5) increases every 8th row. 

After knitting and unraveling the left sleeve twice, I finally got it right on the third try.

Other minor setbacks during this project:
1- picking up stitches for the collar: I did this four times before I was happy with the result.

2- making the zipper band: For this, you had to turn your yarn into thinner yarn by removing some of the threads that made it up. This took a while but was totally worth it. It’s a cool new technique to add to my toolkit. 

3- installing the zipper: This step has the potential to ruin your whole project, so I took my time to pin the zipper in place and carefully trim the excess.

The sweater took a bit longer to complete than I imagined, but it fits and I think it looks pretty good (although I’m not so sure I like it with this white shirt).

I can see this becoming my cozy “walk the dog in the mornings or evenings” sweater. It’s quite warm and super squishy. It would be great for sitting around a firepit if we ever go camping again.

I still really love the look of the cotton version of the sweater, so I might knit it again in cotton to wear next summer. 

And now that I’ve dipped my toes in the world of pattern modifications, I think I would love to see if I can figure out how to add some pockets to this design.

Well, this feels like another completed class. And now it’s time to get back to work on the April Blouse! I have about six weeks left before summer ends.

These are two links I found useful while making this sweater:

  1. Installing a Zipper
  2. How to increase English Rib (Brioche)

Project Details
Pattern: Rebecca Knitting magazine #23. Pattern #3, Fisherman’s Rib Jacket
Yarn used for this sweater: Universal yarn Deluxe Chunky (bulky 7 wpi), 100% wool. Color: Autumn orange (23001, lot 10043), 100 g. and 120 yards/skein. Used approx. 900 g.