Years back, I remember being very excited after having my first spoonful of Speculoos cookie butter. I was already a huge fan of Lotus Biscoff cookies (caramelized spice cookies), and now they come in a spreadable form that you can pair your toast with! Back then, it was reasonably hard to get your hands on a prized jar of Speculoos cookie butter, with each jar costing a hefty $11. Now, the Speculoos cookie butter fad has waned, and you can easily find a jar of cookie butter from any supermarket at a more reasonable price of $6.90. But it’s undeniable that cookie butter still tastes just as good as it did years ago. And it tastes even better incorporated into ice cream!
I used almost the same recipe as my honeycomb vanilla ice cream recipe, except that I decreased the cream to milk ratio this time round (as well as the sugar). Doing so will cut the richness and creaminess of the ice cream, which I thought would be a wise choice since the incorporation of Speculoos cookie butter will definitely make the ice cream very rich. And it proved to be the right choice. The rule of the thumb is: the higher the cream to milk ratio, the creamier the ice cream. Some ice cream recipes I’ve come across call for double the amount of cream to milk, something which I would not even dare try because I find that equal amounts of cream and milk already results in very dense ice cream.
Bear with me if you’ve read my Honeycomb Vanilla Ice Cream post before, as I will be reiterating the same steps in here. I also added a little stabiliser this time and it really did help in slowing down the melting time of the ice cream. But for homemade ice cream, skipping the stabiliser will be just fine. The egg yolks will also play a small role in delaying the melting time.
For successful homemade ice cream, take note of these few points:
– Place the freezer bowl of the ice cream machine in the freezer for at least 12 hours (but preferably 24 hours) prior to making the ice cream, especially so for Singapore’s humid weather. This is to allow the ice cream mixture (custard base) to freeze quickly while churning, preventing big ice crystals from forming.
– Similarly, always start with a chilled custard base. After cooking the custard base, cool it down rapidly and keep it refrigerated for an hour or so before churning so that the ice cream mixture freezes quickly.
– Avoid reducing the amount of sugar drastically or you may end up with icy ice cream instead of one with a creamy texture.
– When pasteurizing the eggs to kill bacteria, avoid heating the mixture above 75°C to ensure the egg yolks don’t get cooked and coagulate.
– For mix-ins like biscuits and fruits, avoid adding them to the ice cream machine too early to keep them intact and to prevent them from getting frozen solid. Add them towards the end of the churning process.
Making the custard base (ice cream mixture):
Boil cream, milk, half the sugar and vanilla paste in a pot till some bubbles break the surface, then turn off the heat. The temperature at this stage should be around 80°C.
Note: You don’t want the mixture to be boiling hot otherwise it will cause the egg yolks to cook and coagulate later.
Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar until evenly mixed.
Add a small portion of the cream & milk mixture (from the pot) to the egg yolk mixture gradually and mix evenly. After that, pour the mixture back into the pot and cook over low heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take just a few minutes and the temperature should be around 70-75°C.
Note: This is done to ensure any bacteria present in the egg yolks are killed. But going beyond 75°C may cause the egg yolks to cook.
Strain the mixture into a bowl that is put in an ice bath. Once the liquid has cooled, put the bowl into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before making the ice cream.
Take out the ice cream machine bowl from the freezer and put it into the machine.
Pour the mixture in and let the ice cream machine churn the liquid for about 20 minutes. Add Speculoos cookie butter at this point for the flavour to fully incorporate into the ice cream.
Towards the end, add biscoff cookie crumbs to the ice cream machine and churn for a minute or so. Transfer the ice cream to a container and freeze for a few hours before eating.
Creamy, decadent Speculoos ice cream infused with glorious bits of caramelised spice cookies! This is a guaranteed must-eat for all Speculoos and biscoff cookies lovers!
Sprinkle more biscoff cookie crumbs over your ice cream and you’ll be in heaven with every single bite. And I can’t reiterate how easy it is to make your own ice cream, especially if you already own an ice cream machine. So if you already have an ice cream machine sitting at home and has not been used for a long time, it’s time to put it to good use!
Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 300 ml whipping cream $3
- 350 ml milk milk $1.023
- 40 g sugar $0.101
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste $0.796
- 4 large egg yolks $0.40
- ½ cup Speculoos cookie butter $1.75
- 12 Lotus biscoff cookies crushed ($1.29)
Instructions
- Put the bowl of the ice cream machine into the freezer overnight prior to making the ice cream, or preferrably for 24 hours.
- The next day, boil cream, milk, half of the sugar (20g), and vanilla paste in a saucepot until bubbles start to break the surface. Turn off the heat. The temperature should be around 80°C here.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and remaining half of the sugar until pale.
- Gradually add a small amount of the cream and milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the egg yolks (to slowly warm up the egg yolks, preventing them from coagulating). Pour this mixture back into the pot, and cook over low heat for a few minutes until mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The temperature should be around 70-75°C here.
- Strain the mixture into a bowl that is put into an ice water bath. Once the mixture has cooled, put in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours before putting into the ice cream machine. If your ice cream machine is a very powerful one, you don't have to refrigerate your mixture.
- Take the bowl out of the freezer and place it into the ice cream machine. Pour the mixture into the bowl along with Speculoos cookie butter and turn on the ice cream machine to churn the mixture for about 20 minutes, until the liquid mixture becomes ice cream. Add biscoff cookie crumbs into the mixture towards the end (at around the 18-minute mark).
- Transfer ice cream to a container, and keep in the freezer for at least a few hours before eating. The ice cream will be harder if frozen overnight.
