If you’’re a die-hard liquorice fan then this ice cream is for you. Flavoured with the powerful sticky extract that comes from boiled liquorice roots and sold as hard sticks or pellets in some markets and speciality food stores. The lady at Borough market let me know a little goes along way and to grind it into a powder before using it with recipes. Checking the strength of the liquorice flavor I tried one as a candy, but after about thirty seconds (maybe even less) I had to discard it, very intense, sweet and bitter… powerful stuff.
Since making the ice cream and depending how intense you like the flavor of liqouorice, best to gradually add the ground liquorice and taste for desired strength when heating the milk and cream. With this recipe used half an ounce of ground liquorice and this made it (for my palate) a little intense to eat on its own, but I really did enjoy it with a drizzle of fresh raspberry sauce on top. The combination of raspberry and liquorice seemed perfect and my daughter who’s a big fan agreed too. It’s a rich ice cream so a little satisfies and best served in small scoops. You can make the ice cream black if you wish but you would need to add lots of food coloring… I am sure kids would approve. And if liquorice ice cream is not your thing, you could always try Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips or a dairy free ice cream made with Bananas and Mangos.
Liquorice Ice Cream Drizzled with Fresh Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients:
400ml whipping cream
200ml full-fat milk
6g to12g of ground liquorice pellets
4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
pinch of sea salt
For the fruit sauce:
200g fresh raspberries
icing sugar, to sweeten (optional)
How to make:
Pour the cream and milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the ground liquorice. Gently heat the liquid, while stirring to dissolve the liquorice. Heat to near boiling and remove from heat.
Combine the egg yolks, sugar and sea salt in a bowl, whisk until the mixture is pale and thickened. Gradually and slowly, whisk the hot liquid into the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture back into a clean saucepan. Over gentle heat and stirring constantly, cook (about 8 minutes) until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Do not let the mixture boil at any stage or it will curdle. Remove for the heat and cover with a lid. When cool, place the mixture into the fridge and leave until completely chilled.
Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine following the manufactures instructions… mine took about 30 minutes. Remove the freshly churned ice-cream to a freeze safe container, cover and freeze for a further 3 to 4 hours until firm.
To make the sauce: Place the raspberries in a bowl and mash with a fork. Pass through a sieve to remove the seeds. If desired, sweeten to taste with icing sugar. Chill in the fridge before drizzling over ice cream.
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I love liquorice, anise, fennel flavours. I need to find some of those intense pellets, then I can see all manner of delicious desserts happening. Thanks for the inspiration….
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Yes Sandra I would expect you could use this liquorice flavoring with many recipes. I guess you could find some on line or if you have a specialty food store them might have some. A little goes a long way:)
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Hi Moya, I too love liquorice. I don’t know that I have ever seen those little pellets, though I think I know where I could find them – my favourite shop. Love the idea.
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Hi Glenda, I wasn’t looking for liquorice at the time but when I came across it at a market, decide to buy some and try it out. Hope you find them 🙂
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