The Boozy Ice Cream Season

For many of us this time of year is when we have to wrap up warm and keep out the cold. Hence why so many people like a little 'tipple' of alcohol to warm them up. It's a well known fact that alcohol raises the body temperature, as evidenced in the amazing story of Titanic survivor Charles Joughin which you can read here.

Returning to the present day and the inclination of many to enjoy an alcoholic beverage, have you ever tried boozy ice cream? I'm not talking about an ice cream that gets you drunk, no .... I'm referring to the many delicious recipes out there for making ice cream with an alcoholic content.

Take for example rum. I have a fabulous recipe for coffee rum and walnut ice cream. It only requires 4 tablespoons of rum which, when diluted into a mix of 1/2 pint cream and 1/2 pint milk really isn't enough to get you tipsy! However, it's the taste .... oh and what a taste! It's a perfect ice cream for after dinner on a winter's evening. And if your guests want a little more rum, just serve a tot alongside their after dinner coffee. Now there's an idea :)

Tip: Getting the measure of how much alcohol to put into an ice cream mix can be tricky. Too much alcoholic content will stop the mixture from freezing sufficiently and so risk spoiling the texture. Too little of course and you don't get enough of the flavor coming through. So it's great to have tried and tested recipes to follow - like mine! Good luck and I hope you enjoy your boozy ice cream.

Extra Tip: This recipe makes for a great homemade ice cream to serve over the Thanksgiving holiday. You can read more about ideas for Thanksgiving ice cream on my main site. Enjoy!

Sloe sloe quick quick sloe!

Fruit and alcohol are 2 great ingredients for ice cream making. Usually I make ice cream with some freshly picked fruit OR a touch of alcohol but sometimes it's great to include both :)

This is a great example for making sorbet:

Sloe gin and berry sorbet - this recipe was inspired by a friend who made some sloe gin. If you've never tried sloe gin you might be pleasantly surprised - I was! This particular homemade sloe gin was a rich color, almost terracotta and tasted really good. You can see it in the picture below in between the blackcurrants and redcurrants. The fruit was picked fresh from my own garden. Now that's what I call a batch of 'homemade' ingredients!

So how did I develop the recipe? Well, I took one of my other fruit-based sorbet recipes and worked out the amount of sloe gin I would need to use to make a good sorbet. Balancing the amount of alcohol with sugar and water (which make the sugar syrup so important to a good sorbet) is not always easy because both the flavor and texture of the sorbet can be greatly affected by too much or too little of either.

Anyway, my sloe gin sorbet worked out a treat and I'm delighted to offer you the chance to try my recipe here. If you visit the page you'll also get to see the sorbet freezing as it's being batched in my ice cream maker courtesy of a little video clip I made.

I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts on what makes a good, unusual sorbet. There's so much to choose from when it comes to sorbet ingredients - wine, fruit, spices, herbs and more.

Ice Cream Video - Sloe Gin Sorbet

Ice cream is always popular at this time of year. It may be cold with snow on the way but I find few people are deterred from enjoying an ice cream treat. That is why I regularly make a batch of homemade ice cream for my family, whatever the time of year!

Last week was one such occasion - I decided to make 4 batches of ice cream using my own ice cream recipes.

Recipe 1 - Sloe Gin Sorbet

Recipe 2 - Mulled Wine Sorbet

Recipe 3 - White Chocolate and Banana Ice Cream

Recipe 4 - Coffee, Rum and Walnut Ice Cream

All of these make ideal Christmas ice cream and the sheer variety means that there should be something for everyone - including adults partial to a little alcohol in their dessert!

Here is my sloe gin sorbet churning in the ice cream maker - within 20 minutes it was ready to serve.

Alcoholic ice cream has been in the news recently with one or two commercial ice cream producers launching some what they call "alcohol-infused" ice creams. Perhaps I'm becoming cynical as the years go on but I'm not so sure that commercially produced ice cream should be taking this route. After all, ice cream's predominant value has always been perceived as 'family' orientated. My own childhood memories of ice cream all relate to simple and innocent, fun-related things - from the first Mr. Whippy ice cream truck that came down our street to the first vanilla ice cream cone I enjoyed with a chocolate flake stuck in it - yum! If I were a child today, being confronted with the myriad of marketing techniques now available to commercial ice cream producers, I'm not so sure I'd be growing up with the same, wonderfully warm and innocent conception of the real fun of ice cream. My view? When a product is on a 'big stage' keep it simple and fun. If you want something more complicated, get into the kitchen and make it yourself at home - there are plenty of recipes out there!

Ice Cream & Sloe Gin - What A Mess!

I love ice cream desserts and it was almost exactly one year ago that I enjoyed one of the best I've ever tasted - Eton Mess, a glorious combination of meringue, forest fruits and vanilla ice cream.

The scene of this special ice cream dessert experience was the Windsor Castle pub, one of the most celebrated in central London and a favourite haunt of Old Etonians. It is also happens to be my close friend Mary's favourite place to enjoy a spot of lunch. So when visiting her again just last week, there was no doubt in my mind where she would suggest we went at midday!


For main course we both selected the asparagus and green pea risotto with fresh parmesan which you can see in the photograph - delicious!

"What shall we have for dessert?" came the question. There was no competition ... Eton Mess! This time, however, there was a difference. It had an added little 'kick' .... sloe gin. What a combination! What's more I think it even appealed to Chloe, Mary's cat, who accompanied us to the pub. Look carefully at the top right hand corner of the picture!

"Oh hello Chloe!" said the young lady serving us, reaching out to stroke her as we studied the day's menu. Chloe is indeed a very special cat .... a Bengal with beautiful markings that make her look like a miniature tiger and stunning bright blue eyes, she is also a fully qualified Pets As Therapy cat who does great work within the local community. No wonder she's a welcome regular at the Windsor Castle!