Recipe: Lemon Ice Cream on Raspberry Squares with Crumble Topping and Coulis

A couple weeks ago we whipped up some super chocolaty frozen custard that was really good.  Since then, I’ve been interested in making more ice creams and one of my readers sent me a tweet to a recipe for some lemon ice cream.  Now, I’ve been eating ice cream my entire life and have never heard of lemon ice cream.  I’ve made and enjoyed lemon sherbet and lemon granita in the past, but never lemon ice cream.  My interest was certainly piqued enough that I stored the idea in the back of my head.  As I was thinking about what type of dessert I would make for our Christmas celebration, I just couldn’t shake the idea of making lemon ice cream- and I don’t like lemony things very much.

Lemon ice cream is simply not enough for a dessert around my house during the holidays, though.  It needed something more.  What goes with lemons… I thought that raspberries would be a nice touch.  Make a shortbread, top it with some raspberry puree and a crumble topping.  Plop a ball of the lemon ice cream on top and drizzle with some raspberry coulis.  The cool thing about this dessert is that it can all be made a couple days ahead, which reduces the amount of time running around the day of the dinner.

Well, for this dessert combination, I did not take any pictures of the process of making it.  It is purely the result of being lazy.  Both my camera cards were in my computer and I simply didn’t get them.  So, now I will do my best to describe the processes as well as I can.  What I can tell you is the end result was really tasty.  All the dessert plates were picked clean even after a huge, somewhat heavy holiday meal.  That’s about the best endorsement you can get on a dessert, I think.  Let’s get into the recipes that I have updated from the originals.

Ingredients for Lemon Ice Cream:

1 1/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

4 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup 2% milk

2 cups heavy cream

As with the recipe for the Super Dark Frozen Chocolate Custard you are going to need an ice cream maker for this recipe.  If you don’t have one, be sure to call your family and friends- somebody has one that they are not using and will gladly let you borrow.  When you get your hands on one, one thing to keep in mind is that the ice cream carafe needs to be frozen for about a day before you make the ice cream.  This will guarantee good results.

Okay, so add together the sugar, lemon products and the eggs in a sauce pan.  Whisk them around and turn the heat to medium.  Make sure that you cook these slow and low so that your eggs don’t scramble.  After about five to seven minutes, you will notice that the mixture has thickened enough to heavily coat the back of a metal spoon.  When this state is achieved, add in the milk products and stir until incorporated.  Turn off the heat and strain the cream mixture through a fine sieve.  This step is important for several reasons- first, it removes the lemon zest that we don’t want in the ice cream.  Second, it catches any eggs that might have started to scramble from getting into the ice cream, which is a good thing.

Now we need to get this mixture chilled.  There are several ways to do this.  First, you can leave it on the counter for an hour until it cools enough to put in the fridge.  I’m not a fan of putting really hot items into the fridge- it throws off the refrigerator and increases the chance for spoilage of other items.  If you don’t have the time, put together an ice bath in a larger bowl than what you poured the cream mixture into.  Set the cream mixture into the ice bath and stir until the mixture is cooled.  When it has cooled enough, toss it in the fridge for four to eight hours.

After it has had a chance to really cool down, toss it into your ice cream maker.  Due to the amount of cream we used in this mixture, you are going to want to run this mixture in the ice cream maker for about 25 minutes.  When it has thickened enough, transfer the ice cream from the machine to a freezer safe bowl.  Freeze for a minimum of 2 hours before serving.  Okay- the ice cream portion is done!

Ingredients for the short bread base:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s)

1/3 cup extra fine sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg, beaten

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

pinch of fine grain sea salt

Turn your oven on at 350 degrees. I used an 8X12 baking dish for my base, but my guess is that this would work in a 9X9 as well, but might need some extra time to cook because it will be thicker. I sprayed the dish with non-stick baking spray. For some reason, I love this stuff. It works every single time I have used it- nothing sticks!

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the sugar (to make sugar extra fine, toss it in the food processor for about 2-3 minutes), then the egg and the butter. Add in a pinch of fine grain sea salt (this will incorporate better than kosher salt). Mix until thick. Toss this mixture into the baking pan and level with your hand.  I used the flat bottom of a glass to really pack the dough into the dish and make a flat base layer. After it has been compacted, toss into the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Nice work, the shortbread base is complete.

Ingredients for the Raspberry Puree:

3 cartons of fresh raspberries

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 pod vanilla seeds (optional)

Take out a bowl and add all the ingredients together. Let this sit for about an hour and then stir. The raspberries will naturally start to fall apart. Let sit for another hour if you have it, or if you don’t then stir vigorously until all the raspberries have been pureed. Now take the mixture and place in a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Allow to drain, stirring every now and again, until most of the liquid has been removed from the berry mixture. Save the liquid and set aside. Spread the raspberry puree over the cooled shortbread base. Onto the crumbled topping!

Ingredients for the crumbled topping:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons of cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Toss all the ingredients into a large bowl. I used a potato masher to get everything incorporated together (not a ricer, a hand masher!) If you don’t want to do this, use your fingers to break up the butter to make the crumbled topping. When it looks like a bunch of little pebbles in the bowl, you’re ready to top the raspberry layer.

After you have added the topping, toss the whole shootin match back into the 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the crumble has taken on a golden color. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the Raspberry Coulis, take the bowl of reserved raspberry liquid and add in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar. Mix well. That’s it.

To plate this dish, I simply cut the squares out and plopped some ice cream right on top. I used the bottom of the plate to pool some of the coulis and added a few fresh raspberries to each plate. If you want, use bowls and drizzle the coulis over the top. However you do it, this is a really refreshing and light dessert after a big meal. Enjoy!

Refreshing end to a meal. Next time, a little less ice cream. Photo by Scott Groth