SpiceDish Saturday {December}: Christmas Ice Cream

I have an apology to EB of SpiceDish (as well as our fabulous readers!). EB has been so great about getting us new SpiceDish Saturday recipes and I completely missed the boat on this one, waiting until the last Saturday (and last day) of December to post her gorgeous recipe...which she aptly titles "Christmas Ice Cream." December always gets me -- I just fall so behind! In my defense, I kind of celebrate the holiday from Christmas to New Year's so I think it will still work as a great New Year's Eve treat. AND this is a "to file" for next year as well -- you can practice and practice for another 360 or so days now to have it perfectly mastered for next Christmas. 


Oh, and speaking of Christmas, wondering what to do with that Christmas check you got from Grandma? Head over to SpiceDish's Etsy shop, SpiceDish Vintage and pick up a new dish for your daily bowl of ice cream...! It was just recently that I discovered that our dear friend EB also keeps herself busy with a shop of vintage treasures!

Oh fruitcake, the much maligned dessert of the Christmas season. It's become cliché to hate on this lowly confection. When given as a gift, a single bite may be washed down with real star of the season-- egg nog. Rich, delicious, adored by legions of cream swilling fans. How can the fruitcake compete? It can't. Poor cake. In the spirit of “If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!” I've decided to comine these flavors into what can best be simply called “Christmas.” Yes, “Christmas” flavor ice cream. It combines all the flavors of fruit cake and egg nog and tastes, of Christmas. 

Enjoy-

1 cup whole milk 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

5 large egg yolks 

3/4 cup sugar 

2 cups chilled heavy cream 

2 tablespoons dark rum 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/4 tsp nutmeg 

1/4 tsp cinnamon

4 cloves (whole)

1 pkg crystallized (candied) ginger

1 pkg candied fruits for fruitcake

Bring milk, cloves, several pieces of ginger (to your taste),  and salt to a boil in a  saucepan over medium heat. Turn to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Let steep for 1 hour at room temp.

Remove ginger and cloves. Rewarm the mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together yolks and sugar.  Gradually add about 1/4 cup of the hot milk, whisking constantly. Slowly add yolks and milk to the saucepan whisking constantly. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until mixture lightly, coats back of spatula. Place a mesh strainer over a clean bowl and pour mixture through. Add cream, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir until thoroughly combined. Cover and chill completely.  Once chilled, freeze in ice cream maker. 5 minutes before complete add the rum, a few tbs of the candied fruit pieces and a piece or two of chopped up ginger. (These should be added to taste, more ginger=spicier, more fruits=more to chew on).

The rum will keep the custard from freezing completely in the mixer so you will need to transfer it to an freezer safe container and let it harden for at least 4 hours.