‘Cocktail’ Ice Creams For Those Who Love Frozen Dessert With A Spin
Most weekends, when pretty much everyone I know finds their way to the most coveted watering hole around town to get their cocktail and lowdown of information for the week that was, I prefer lounging at home and staring into my pantry cupboard or bar cabinet for the next interesting thing to do. Of course, like everyone else, I do savour a classic cocktail once in a while, but most times the thought of elbowing my way to the bar and waving a card in front of the bartender doesn’t seem like my idea of a great evening. That said, if I had to pick between having a cocktail or sinking a spoon into a tub of ice cream, I’d almost always pick the latter – until one day I concluded that I wanted to embark on an adventure of fusing cocktail flavours with dessert.
Ice cream – as fabulously creamy and rich as it might be – is not always meant to hit the sweet spot between being an element of celebration (like a cocktail) and catering to cravings that transcend a store-bought tub. Interestingly enough, some of my closest friends who wouldn’t cross paths with a cocktail would happily opt to eat an alcohol-infused frozen treat when invited to dinner, for the virtue of it being presented in a form they’ve always been familiar with! And so, when the moment arrived like a bolt of lightning, I put on my lab glasses and got to work in the kitchen, to come up with some classic but innovative flavours I could revisit even if I had no plans on fixing myself a drink.
Where It All Began
It wouldn’t be a far cry to say that I’m a fiend for pina colada – or more specifically, all things that include pineapple-coconut as combination flavours. Besides, having to host dinners often meant that running out of dessert options was inevitable. The kitschy cocktail, as fabulous as it is the way it is made, is almost always cloyingly sweet when ordered at bars, has synthetic flavours which really kill its charm and most of all, lacks any texture other than creamy, which could probably help make it more palatable. What’s next? Throwing together many things, grinding, mixing and a little bit of whisking – a couple of iterations, a lazy no-churn technique and lab rats who’d happily eat anything I make! Use whatever type of rum you’ve got on hand – anything but dark or spiced – in particular, white or coconut, since I use both interchangeably. Lo and behold, the Pina Colada Ice Cream was born.
For the recipe that serves three, we recommend 25 ml of white or coconut rum per serving.
Also Read: Alcohol-Infused Ice Creams For Your Cocktail Parties
What Came Next
For someone who cooks for people more times than I can count, love language can turn into annoyance in no time. And I say this with the utmost affection for the fussy friends who don’t enjoy their libation as much as they don’t enjoy a sweet ending to their meal. I was riding high on the wave of having cracked my first-ever cocktail ice cream recipe when I channelled this annoyance into creative thinking. How could I possibly make such friends happy but also keep my newfound interest going without hitting a dead end? Enter – the Margarita Ice Cream – also no-churn, one iteration and plenty of fear that the cream would curdle given the presence of citrus in the mixture. But we persist…and we succeed! And sometimes watching these very friends lick the inside of the empty container feels priceless in comparison.
For the recipe that serves three, we recommend 20 ml of tequila per serving.
One For The Vegans
If the chocolate factory we saw in the movies were a real thing, my version of it would be full of dairy – milk, cream, cheese, butter – you name it, and it would have probably been a river. However, being a considerate hostess means that I must and do take into account the restrictions my loved ones have, for reasons best known to them. You best believe I’m not one to compel them into eating something that they won’t be comfortable with, but how do I give them a taste of the experience without dairy being the epicentre of my amateur ice cream-making skills! A dilemma that was quickly resolved with the advent of the sorbet – a Cosmopolitan Sorbet at that. Dairy-free does not always mean fun-free or taste-free – and this ruby red sorbet is testament to that.
For the recipe that serves three, we recommend 10 ml of vodka per serving.
*Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
