Growing up I don’t think I was really aware of having a favourite ice cream flavour, but now, looking back I think it would probably be mint choc chip. We didn’t have it that often as my two siblings always preferred chocolate, but I have very fond memories of being able to choose a mint Feast ice cream from the ice cream van or the rare occasions when mum would present a mint Viennetta ice cream slice rather than a homemade dessert after dinner.

Mint is quite a unique flavour and I think that fact it was usually always dyed a pale green colour helped with the attraction. Nowadays my ice cream preferences have become a bit more sophisticated with hazelnut or coconut and lime being some of my favourite (and hard to find) flavours.

Last weekend I ended up with two large tubs of yoghurt, having forgotten I’d already bought some, and in a moment of nostalgia I decided to turn one tub into mint choc chip frozen yoghurt.

I added brandy to the mix, not for flavour, but because I had read that adding a little alcohol to homemade ice cream will help prevent it from being too icy or freezing too solid, as it has a lower freezing point than water. I think vodka would be ideal, but as I didn’t have any brandy did the job perfectly. The resulting frozen yoghurt was smooth and creamy and certainly seemed to melt a lot quicker than previous ice creams I’ve made – this could be good or bad depending on how quickly you want to eat it.

Eating this ice cream brought back fond summer holiday memories of hot sandy beaches and playing with the water hose in the back garden. I also found the mint flavour really refreshing on a hot afternoon. One thing I discovered is that it is very important to chop your chocolate into very fine pieces. I left a few chunky bits in mine, thinking I was being generous and it would be nice to hit a big bit of chocolate, but in reality the chocolate was very firm and hard and I actually much preferred the smaller flakes of chocolate against the soft frozen yogurt, much better than the occasional big chunk that I had to crunch and chew.

Does anyone else have any ice cream flavours that bring back memories of their childhood?

Mint Choc Chip Frozen Yoghurt

Ingredients

500g Greek yoghurt

1½ tsp peppermint extract

50g caster sugar

1½ tbsp brandy

1/8 tsp green food dye paste

60g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Method
Set your ice cream to freeze*

Combine the yogurt, caster sugar, peppermint extract and brandy together in a bowl. Mix until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and add a little more sugar if you prefer it sweeter. (The mint and sugar should take more pronounced that you would usually like, as the flavours lessen on freezing.)

Take one tablespoon of the yogurt mix and combine it with the green food dye paste until the paste is smooth and well combined. Then stir this concentrated green yoghurt mix back into the rest of the yoghurt until you have reached your desired strength of green. (I like using the pastes as these are more concentrated and don’t add any extra liquid to your mix).

Pour the yoghurt mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufactures instructions. When it is starting to thicken and holds its shape and the finely chopped chocolate and leave to continue freezing and mixing until thick and softly set.
Transfer the ice cream to a plastic Tupperware container and place in the freezer to stiffen up for around 1 hour. If left longer, you may want to leave it to soften for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Note* If you don’t have an ice cream maker, simply pour the yoghurt mix into a plastic container and place in the freezer. Take it out every half and hour and give it a bit of a whisk to ensure an even freezing, until you’ve reached your desired consistency.

Recently I was having a discussion with a friend about buffalo milk. They were raving about its thick creamy taste and texture and couldn’t believe I had never tasted it. The next time I saw them they bought me a gift – a carton of buffalo milk. I was slightly unsure how it would taste. Buffalo are big hairy animals and I could image their milk tasting quite unusual and strongly flavoured, a bit like goats milk. However, on drinking a glass I couldn’t believe how fresh and clean it tasted. No goaty or animal taste to it at all. It was clean, rich and unbelievably creamy.

The milk was so indulgent and creamy that I decided to use the rest of it to make some buffalo milk gelato. Gelato is similar to ice cream, only its lighter as it’s made with a milk base, rather than cream.

I wanted the creaminess to be the star, so decided to flavour the gelato only lightly with honey and some chopped almonds. My idea was based on my love of creamy thick Greek yoghurt with honey and almonds, which always tastes lovely and fresh. The honey also added sweetness without having to use sugar.

After churning in an ice cream maker, the gelato had retained the buffalo milks freshness and richness. It was naturally not as thick or full on creamy as ice cream, but it was very refreshing. I found it also tended to melt a lot more quickly than ice cream, I suppose because it doesn’t have so much butter fat or any eggs compared to ice cream to help stabilise it.

The honey flavour was subtle but went very well with the freshness of the gelato. The almonds added a nice crunch too.

Has anyone else tried buffalo milk? I have recently discovered it in Waitrose if anyone wants to try some for themselves. Also, does anyone know why its called buffalo milk/cheese when (to my understanding, I may be wrong!) buffalo are the males and it’s actually bufala, the females who produce the milk? In Italy there is a cheese called Mozzarella di Bufala, which in 1993 was grated DOC status and in 2008 was awarded Protected Geographical Status. Maybe this means no one else can now call it Bufala?

Buffalo Milk, Honey & Almond Gelato

Ingredients

700ml buffalo milk

250ml full fat milk

100g honey

35g almonds, skin on

½ tsp vanilla extract

Method
Set your ice cream to freeze*Mix all the ingredients together, making sure your milk is well chilled first.
Pour this mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufactures instructions. It should be thick and softly set when done after about 45 minutes.
Transfer the ice cream to a large container and place in the freezer to stiffen up for about 30-60 minutes.
Scoop your ice cream into serving bowls, drizzle over a little honey and a few chopped almonds.

Eat and enjoy in the sunshine (if it ever reappears!)
Makes 1 litre ice cream

Note* If you don’t have an ice cream maker, simply pour the ice cream mix into a plastic container and place in the freezer. Take it out every half and hour and give it a bit of a whisk to ensure an even freezing, until you’ve reached your desired consistency.