Rum and raisin ice cream takes me back to my days growing up in South Africa and even then it was a challenge to find my favourite ice cream in stores. It was mostly sold in 2lt plastic tubs and because not many members of my family ate it, I always had to do a little bit of “begging” to convince my mother to buy a tub.
Nothing has changed really, I am the only one in my house who likes it and although I don’t have to “beg” anyone to buy it, I am now faced with the problem that it is not sold in Norway at all!
So, as I of lately had a craving for my favourite childhood ice cream, I did a little research and combined many versions into an easy recipe with a good amount of rum soaked raisins. My advice is that you soak the raisins in a dark rum the night before. I also prefer to use a darker rum as it adds to the color of the ice cream and gives a better rum taste.
Use a mason jar or any clean jar to soak the raisins in rum.
You should be able to draw a distinct line with your finger on the back of a wooden spoon to check the correct thickness of your custard mix.
You’ll need
- 1 x cup raisins
- 120ml x dark rum
- 1 cup x sugar
- 6 x egg yolks
- 2 cups x heavy cream
- 2 cups x whole milk
- 1 Tbsp x vanilla extract
Method
- Soak raisins in the rum overnight in a mason jar. (Shake every now and then to ensure that all the raisins soak up the rum)
- Combine the milk and cream in a heavy based pot and stir over medium heat until the mixture is warm and begins to steam, about 5 minutes.
- In your stand mixer, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar for about 3 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
- On a low speed, start by adding 1 cup of the warm milk/cream mixture to the egg yolk mix. (This tempers the egg yolks so that they do not cook and scramble)
- Whisk in another cup and make sure it is well blended with the egg yolk mixture. Finally add the remaining scaled milk and cream and make sure it is well blended in.
- Pour the mix back into your heavy based pot and stir constantly but slowly for about 5 minutes until the mixture slightly thickens. At this point you should be able to dip the wooden spoon in the custard and draw a distinct line with your finger on the back of the wooden spoon. Do not boil or mixture may curdle!
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- You have 2 options now : -
- First options is to cool the custard mix quickly by placing it into a bowl with ice to cool down.
- Second option is to cover the surface with clingfilm and place it in the fridge overnight to cool down.
- When chilled, stir the custard well and pour into your ice cream maker and proceed as per your manufacturers instructions.
- Before transferring the finished ice cream to your airtight storage container, add the soaked raisins and any rum that has not been absorbed into the ice cream mix. Make sure it is mixed in well.
- Transfer to an airtight container and freeze in your freezer for several hours before serving.
Tip : Often when making dishes where you only use the egg yolk, one tend to discard the egg whites. My tip is that you place them in a ziplock bag, write the date and amount of egg whites on it and place them in the freezer. I freeze mine for up to 3 months and they come in very handy when I want to make a pavlova. Simply thaw it at room temperature and use as usual.