Golden Nugget Ice Cream with Almond Shortbread Biscuits Recipe
Fun whether you are six or sixty plus, creamy homemade ice cream with crunchy golden honeycomb nuggets and nutty almond shortbread biscuits makes a great Christmas Day dessert but you’ll have to make it ahead of time.
Ingredients:
Honeycomb
Butter for greasing
200g caster sugar
5 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Ice Cream
600ml/1 pint double cream
2 tbsp spiced Rum
200ml/7fl oz condensed milk
1tsp vanilla
Almond Shortbread
350g/12oz unsalted butter
150g/5oz caster sugar
500g/1lb 2oz plain flour
150g/5oz almonds, toasted for 10-15 at 150 degrees
Method
Grease a baking tray with the butter and line with parchment paper. Mix the caster sugar and syrup in a heavy saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved. Try not to let the mixture bubble until the sugar grains have disappeared. Once completely melted, turn up the heat a little and simmer until you have an amber coloured caramel (this won’t take long), then as quickly as you can turn off the heat, tip in the bicarbonate and beat in with a wooden spoon until it has all disappeared and the mixture is foaming. Scrape on to the baking tray immediately but be careful as the mixture will be very hot.
The mixture will continue bubbling in the tray, simply leave it and in about 1 hr- 1 hr 30mins the honeycomb will be hard and ready to crumble or snap into chunks.
For the ice cream, whip the cream until it becomes thick, but not fully whipped. Carefully fold in the rum, vanilla and condensed milk and whisk the cream mixture until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.
Break up the honeycomb into small pieces and fold gently into the cream mixture. Transfer the ice cream mixture into a freezer container and freeze for at least eight hours; there is no need to churn this ice cream.
For the almond shortbread, preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.
Place the butter and sugar into a clean bowl and beat together until light and combined. Add the flour and the ground almonds and mix well.
Divide the mixture in half and roll each into a 3-4 cm log then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to cool for 20 minutes.
Once cooled slice the log in to 5mm discs and place on a parchment paper lined baking trayand bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked and golden.
Remove the shortbread from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
To serve, place two scoops of honeycomb ice cream into each bowl and place two pieces of shortcake on top or alongside.
This is a perfect dessert for any occasion but lovely as a Christmas or New Years treat, and the whole family will love it. Better than a Christmas pudding for me any day.
A very Merry Christmas to you all.
Photographed in a copper bowl from John Lewis and served on étoile home’s Pueblo fabric in Gold.
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I was recently reminded of something we used to make at summer camp called Bannock, an easy bread recipe that can be made on a fire using the last embers in a frying pan or wrapped around a stick.
I love how modern yet rustic this tart looks, it's an impressive dessert for any occasion, delicious served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and best of all it's really easy to make. You can replace the fruit and herbs with anything that's in season and voilà!
