I’d promised the children a taste of the best ice creams in Paris during the summer holidays. With dismal July temperatures, ice cream wasn’t top of the menu. So as soon as that ball o’ fire returned after our UK Roman trip, it was destination Ile Saint-Louis for Berthillon ice creams. First, I had to cure that away-from-home macaronivore itch and make a batch of apricot and lavender macarons. Had I developed a twitch? A hint too much of powdered colouring fell in the meringue. Och. Who cares? The taste and look were there. Do you really want 101% macaron perfection?
Berthillon is an institution. So much so, that come August – finally in the wonderful heat of the City of Light – their doors were… closed; shut; fermé; on holidays; en vacances; like most of Paris. Luckily, the celebrated ice creams and sorbets were being served by their more commercial neighbours. One of the ice creams on the Berthillon list was Glace Plombières, packed with candied fruits.
As my lucky parents-in-law live near Apt, the world capital of candied fruits in the Luberon, I’ve an excuse to use Mother-in-Law’s generous bulk supply from KerryAptUnion’s factory: candied orange peel strips, lemon peel cubes, glacé cherries and – my favourite – their candied ginger. Instead of hanging around Ile Saint-Louis for Berthillon to reopen, it was easier to make Plombières ice cream at home. Reaching for my favourite French coffee-table cookbook, France: the Beautiful Cookbook by Gilles Pudlowski with recipes from the Scotto sisters, that was it. Perfect.
- Ten egg yolks? Fabulous: whites for macarons.
- Serve with apricot jam? Ideal: I’d just made a batch of apricot and lavender jam.
- En plus, the recipe didn’t even require an ice cream maker
- But it didn’t use candied fruits.
So I ‘ad-Apt-ed’ it, making individual portions for dessert rather than one giant ice cream. This will make a light, fruity, stress-free dessert to have on your menu at Christmas time.
Plombières Ice Cream Recipe
In 1858 Napoleon III met Count Cavour (Prime Minister of Sardinia) at Plombières-les-Bains in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France. As they were secretly negotiating the Treaty of Plombières, the chef apparently made a wee mistake with the custard so added Kirsch and candied fruits then just froze it. What a great mistake in the right direction!
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Soaking Time: 2 hours
Freezing Time: At least 2 hours
200g mix of candied fruits, roughly chopped
100ml Kirsch
1.5 l whipping cream
250ml whole milk
10 egg yolks
200g sugar
1 tsp almond extract
250g apricot jam
- Soak the candied fruits in the Kirsch for a couple of hours. Place a bowl in the fridge in preparation for whipping the cream.
- Whisk together the egg yolks with the sugar in a large saucepan until pale and creamy. Gradually whisk in 1 litre of the cream and the milk over a moderate heat. Whisk constantly until the custard coats the spoon.
- Remove from the heat and add the almond extract and candied fruits. Leave to cool, stirring from time to time.
- When the custard is completely cooled, whip the remaining 500ml of cream in the chilled bowl until it forms soft peaks.
- Fold into the custard then pour into silicone moulds. (Here, I used 12 briochette moulds.) Freeze until firm.
When ready to serve, gently heat the jam in the microwave or in a small saucepan. If you prefer it smooth, strain the bits. Turn out the ice creams directly on to dessert plates. The beauty of silicone moulds is that you don’t have to run it under warm water first. See? An easy, handy dessert to have up your sleeve.
All because we are … mad about macarons
Also serve with almond macarons or lemon meringue, marmalade, vanilla-lemon-poppy seed-cinnamon, orange blossom, prune-armagnac-orange or tutti-frutti macarons (all recipes are in the book.)
P.S. It’s also apt for gluten free diets.
