One of My Many Addictions

As many of you may have seen from my wildly excited Facebook postings, I recently won an Ice Cream recipe contest.  I’ve only won one other competition in my life and that was for paper I wrote in college on the history of 19^th century English Church bands (entitled “Wake Up and Hear the Music” I was so cleaver, even back then).  So with this excitement,  a few people had requested that I post a recipe I had alluded to in my Cinnamon Ice Cream post about making a Deconstructed S’more.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve made this in passing and people always look at me a little strange. It’s a mixture of “That sounds DELICIOUS” and “How the heck did you think of that?” So, I’ll tell you. 

This had nothing to do with camping, or nights by the fire roasting marshmallows; this was purely a practical decision.   I’m pretty good a most cooking and baking related things, however  I am actually a really terrible S’mores maker.  I never get the chocolate soft enough; I always break the damn cracker, ALWAYS. The only thing I can do right is toast the heck out of the marshmallow.

Which leads to my next point, stay with me now, I only like marshmallows when they’re all soft and mushy (i.e roasted).  I’m pretty sure I could go the whole rest of my life without having to eat a room temperature marshmallow and be okay.

With this being said, I have a very large, very soft, very mushy spot in my heart for Fluff. Yeah, the whipped marshmallow stuff you get in plastic jars for $1 at the grocery store. I love the stuff.  I refuse to buy it at the store, because it’s kind of like the Pringles Commercials from back in the day “Once you pop, you can’t stop,” and I have to pick up another jar the next time I’m there, and another the time after that.  It’s not a joke, “Hi, my name is Alex and I’m a Fluff-a-holic.”

So, I’m addicted to Fluff, I always break the cracker and I can’t melt the chocolate.  After watching many an episode of Top Chef, I decided that there was a way for me to have this treat without having to totally mess it up- Deconstruction!

So I went online and started searching recipes for Deconstructed S’mores. And I came across a video that Chef Christina Lee of Recette in New York had made of her Deconstructed S'mores . It’s like they knew I was coming!

The video doesn’t give much by the way of instructions; it shows you a general way to make the ganache. But it gave me the idea for what I was looking for, AND it used fluff.  So I went on my way and began working on a Graham Cracker Ice Cream and tackling her Spicy Ganache. I should tell you, in her recipe she has a higher ration of cayenne to cream. I followed it the first time I made the s’mores and some of our guests with softer spice palates were in pain. I made some adjustments the second time around and it was the perfect combination of sweet with a little spicy.

I had a lot of fun researching and making this, and of course even more fun eating it (along with the left over fluff….)

Ingredients:

Spicy Ganache

12 oz of good Milk Chocolate (I always go with Ghiradelli)

1/3  TSP Cayenne Pepper

1 Cup Cream

Graham Cracker Ice Cream

2 Cups Milk
2 Cups Cream
8 Honey Graham Crackers, crushed(this should be one sleeve)
¾  Cup Sugar
4 Egg Yolks

Jar of Fluff, try to avoid knock offs, they’re grainy, original Fluff is much creamier. (don't laugh, I've done a lot of evidence-based research in order to tell you that, years of fluff tastings...the horror...the horror..). 

The night before you’re going to serve, make the Ice Cream.

In a sauce pan, heat the milk and the cream until it’s just about to boil. I recommend standing over it and stirring constantly, otherwise you may risk burning the milk.

When the milk is scalded, add the crushed graham crackers and stir until they are dissolved. This should be a minute or two.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the yolks.

Pour the milk mixture SLOWLY over the egg mixture and constantly stir, you don’t want to have milky scrambled eggs!  Once both of the mixtures are fully incorporated, then add them back into the sauce pan and cook on low heat while constantly stirring.

You want the mixture to become thick enough that if you placed a spoon in it and lifted it, the back of the spoon would be completely coated with the mixture.

You have two choices now; to strain or not to strain. If you crumbed your graham crackers small enough and you stirred the mixture really well and have no egg lumps, you can put the mixture in a bowl in your refrigerator and wait until it cools.  OR, if you’d prefer (or have lumps) you can strain the mixture.

Both times I’ve made this, I’ve never strained, but I also crushed and stirred until my forearms were tight; either way, whatever you do, get the mixture into the refrigerator and let it cool.

As with all other ice cream recipes I’ve made (I’m pulling this directly from the bottom of my Cinnamon Ice Cream Recipe):

Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you are using a Kitchen Aide Ice Cream Maker attachment, I recommend keeping it in the freezer for at least 3 days before you make the ice cream. You want the bowl to be absolutely freezing. The recommended 15 hours just isn’t enough. 

Also, I should warn. All of the manufacturer’s directions say that the ice cream will actually turn INTO ice cream while you’re mixing it. I have never found that to be the case. It will thicken up, and will look like the consistency of melting ice cream but you will need to put it in an air tight container in the freezer for at least 10 hours before serving.

So you’re about to serve dessert and you need to get that ganache completed. It’s really quick and really easy.

Scald the cream in a saucepan on medium high heat, exactly what you did to start the ice cream mixture. Add the cayenne pepper and mix until it’s dissolved.

In a separate bowl, add the 12 oz of chocolate chips and then immediately pour scalded milk onto the chocolate and stir until it becomes glossy.  This should take around 2 or 3 minutes. Let the chocolate mixture cool down and thicken. You can place it in the refrigerator to speed up the process; it should take around 20 to 30 minutes.

You can choose the plate this however you would like it. My one final recommendation, when you add the Fluff, torch it. You really really REALLY want to get that burnt marshmallow smell and taste in the dish. I mean, that IS what makes it a S’more, otherwise it’s just spicy chocolate and graham cracker ice cream, where’s the fun in that?