Indian Pudding Ice Cream

Happy November!

It's fitting that my mom's birthday falls in the same month as Thanksgiving; I'm so blessed to have her in my life. My mom is one of the friendliest, happiest, and kindest people I've ever known. She always goes out of her way for others, and my sisters and I use her birthday as an excuse to treat her like a queen.

My mom's passion for New England history is well-known. She grew up in the Midwest but loved visiting extending family back in Massachusetts, relishing the autumn colors, colonial history, and local flavors. In fact, she convinced my dad to move to Massachusetts soon after they married. And to this day, my mom still gets excited when she sees clam chowder ("chowdah"), Boston baked beans, or hermit cookies. But there's one hearty New England dish that she covets above all the rest: Indian Pudding.

You may not know what Indian Pudding is, as I rarely see it on menus outside of New England. But this dessert is older than the country itself. In the 17th century, the English settlers brought with them their love of English "hasty pudding" - a sweetened stovetop porridge made by boiling water or milk with wheat flour until it thickens. But since wheat flour was scarce, early colonialists substituted it for native corn meal (which they had nicknamed "Indian flour"), which they flavored with maple syrup or molasses. Over time, early recipes evolved to include additional ingredients like butter, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, and sometimes raisins or walnuts. Though the brown and lumpy porridge isn't exactly visually-appealing, it's the ultimate cold-weather comfort food.

One of my mom's favorite places to enjoy Indian Pudding is at Rota-Spring Farm in Sterling, MA. Their Indian Pudding ice cream (reviewed here) is my family's favorite flavor, and it's what brings us back to Rota-Spring Farm time and time again. Last month, my mom delivered the terrible news that Rota won't be making this amazing flavor anymore. Apparently, their distributor has stopped carrying the base for this flavor. Instead of just creating the base in-house, Rota-Spring Farm told my mom that they'd be pulling Indian Pudding off their menu. My mom was really disappointed, so my sister Carolyn and I immediately began talks of creating our own Indian Pudding ice cream.

A couple weeks ago, we had our chance to try out a recipe. Carolyn was visiting me in DC, and we put our heads together to develop and try out a recipe. There are dozens of recipes for Indian Pudding online, but Google yielded just two for ice-cream versions. Using one for inspiration, Carolyn and I spent Saturday morning cooking the Indian-Pudding base. We first spread cornmeal on a baking sheet, toasting it to a golden brown. After, we boiled milk and cream with molasses on the stovetop before adding egg yokes, sugar and spices. After the mixture reached 185 degrees Fahrenheit (to ensure we wouldn't get sick from raw egg yolks), we mixed in the cornmeal and left the porridge in the refrigerator overnight.

Carolyn and I are fans of mix-ins in our Indian Pudding, so we decided to add a popular one, raisins, to our ice cream. I've learned from experience that raisins freeze into rock-hard nuggets in ice cream, but soaking them in alcohol will keep the raisins soft. We chose dark rum and soaked the raisins for over an hour on Sunday morning. We then pulled the fully-cooled base from the fridge. After a quick whirl in the blender to get rid of any grittiness, we poured the mixture into the ice-cream machine. Right before the ice cream was done, we poured the raisins in. The result looked exactly like frozen Indian Pudding!



Indian Pudding Ice Cream with Rum Raisins
{Makes 1.5 quarts}
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cup light cream
• 3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/4 cup raisins

Directions

• The day before you'd like to eat this ice cream, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread the cornmeal out on a baking sheet and toast in oven until golden brown (about 12 minutes). Set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, bring the cream, milk and molasses to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Meanwhile, combine egg yolks, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Whisk until pale. 
• Slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking the entire time (my sister helped with this part). Then return mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until it's thickened and reached 185 degrees Fahrenheit (about 7 minutes).
• Turn off heat, remove saucepan from heat and transfer mixture to the large bowl. Stir in the toasted cornmeal, cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 6 hours). When you do this, pour the raisins in a small bowl and cover with rum. Cover and keep on countertop or in the fridge.
• The next day, pour chilled mixture into blender and blend on high setting for about 30 seconds. 
• Pour mixture into ice cream maker and freeze per the manufacturer's directions. If you're using a Cuisinart, this means 1) turn on your machine, 2) slowly pour mixture in, and 3) leave the thing churn for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, strain extra rum from the raisins. A few minutes before the ice cream is finished churning, add the rum-soaked raisins.
• Serve immediately or, if a firmer consistency is desired, transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm.

The verdict? Dare I say this ice cream is even more delicious than the one at Rota Springs? Because this is one of the best ice creams I've ever made... or even tasted. It's silky, sweet and rich. The dark molasses and cornmeal are in perfect balance, married by the warm fall-inspired spices. The flavor is reminiscent of gingerbread, but more humble and comforting with the cornmeal aftertaste. The rum-soaked raisins adds an fancy twist to this classic colonial fare. While this ice cream was cold, each spoonful warmed my heart. This recipe may require some patience, but I promise you that it's worth it.

Happy birthday, mom! Here's to many more. 

Big Scoops at Little Man Ice Cream

One of my favorite questions to ask people is: "If you couldn't live in the state you currently call home, where would you most like to move?"

Now, this is a difficult question for me to answer. If I weren't working in Washington, DC, the obvious places to move would be Seattle or Boston. I've lived in both places and have loads of family and friends there. But there is a third city on my list: Denver, Colorado.

From the first time I set foot in Colorado, I've been totally enamored with this state. The immense sky, the majestic snow-capped mountains, the local cowboy attire... I simply can't get enough. And the fact that Denver is home to one of my best friends, Elysia, and to the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) doesn't hurt ;)

A few weeks ago, K and I headed out west for our fifth GABF together. Per tradition, we spent most of the weekend up in the mountains at Elysia's parents' house in Idaho Springs. And - as always - I enjoyed the time with Elysia, her family, and Rupert (Elysia's lovable Great Dane) even more than the beer festival itself. Still, it was an epic GABF; the crowds were bigger and the beer competition was even more fierce. And as someone whose gluten intolerance prevents me from enjoying most beers, I was excited about the expanding gluten-free offerings.

No matter how many days I spend in Colorado, I'm never quite ready to leave. But this year, the bittersweet drive to the airport was sweetened by a pit stop at Little Man Ice Cream in Denver. Elysia had heard it was the best ice-cream spot in town, and she'd patiently waited to try it until we could go together. So about two hours before my scheduled departure, Elysia pulled up to a 28-foot tall cream can.

Little Man Ice Cream is a well-known ice cream shop in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver, and its massive cream-can structure has become a local icon. Named after the founder's father's nickname,  Little Man first opened its doors (or should I say windows?) in 2008. But despite being just five-years old, it's already earned a legendary reputation as one of the best ice-cream spots in Colorado. The ice cream is hand-made a couple blocks away, and Elysia says there is usually a long line at the ice-cream counter. Oh - and customers have something to feel extra-good about; Little Man guarantees that for every scoop of ice cream you buy, they'll donate a scoop of rice to developing countries. An ice-cream shop with heart? It doesn't get any better than that!

We parked, put the leash on Rupert, and approached the cream can. I loved how Little Man decorates its extensive outdoor seating areas with autumn "flair": pumpkins, bales of hay, and even a scarecrow. These little touches put me in a good mood and eased the disappointment when I read the day's flavor offerings and saw that Fluffernutter wasn't on the list. Elysia and I had made the rookie mistake of checking the flavors online while en route to Little Man. We both got our hearts set on the ice cream named after my all-time favorite sandwich. But, luckily, Little Man had about a dozen other flavors to choose from. Most of them were unique, although not as crazy as the flavors I saw last year at Sweet Action in Denver. Some of the Little Man creations that stood out to me included Crème Fraîche, Balsamic Strawberry, Dulce de Leche and Salted Oreo. In the end, Elyshia went with a small cup of Peaches-N-Cream, while I asked for a small cup with half Mexican Chocolate and half Banana Chip. We forked over $2.50 each and soon enough, we were walking towards the pumpkin patch with these beauties.

Left: Lysia's Peaches-N-Cream
Right: My Mexican Chocolate & Banana Chip

The verdict? First of all, kudos to Little Man for their generous scoops of ice cream. Too many trendy parlors charge big prices for teeny-tiny scoops, but that isn't the case at Little Man. While the patio was crowded, we found an open bench big enough for me, K, Elysia and Rupert (yes, he's tell enough to sit his butt on benches). From the first bite, the firm, dense creaminess of Little Man's ice cream won me over. This is not "light" ice cream, and the high fat content gave the ice cream a satisfying richness that left me full for hours. I expected Banana Chip to be my favorite, but it was Mexican Chocolate that stole the spotlight. You can taste the higher-quality chocolate Little Man uses, and the subtle cinnamon flavor added a nice earthy depth that tasted great on an autumn afternoon. The real bananas in the Banana Chip had a nice caramel-y flavor, and the big chocolate chunks added a nice crunch in every-other spoonful. Elysia loved that her Peaches-N-Cream was chock-full of tiny bits of real fruit. Still, Elysia and I had the same thought: Little Man's creations have all the makings of "out-of-this-word-AHmazing" ice cream, but we just wanted the flavors to be more intense. The cinnamon in Mexican Chocolate, the banana in Banana Chip, and the peach in Peaches-N-Cream were yummy but too subtle. But while Little Man could kick up the flavor a bit, but it's tough to beat the experience (or the company!) here. I can't wait to come back!

The Stats:
Little Man Ice Cream
2620 16th Street
Denver, CO 80211
(303) 455-3811
http://www.littlemanicecream.com