Until I explored Thomas Jefferson's method for making ice cream, I had never used molds for serving ice cream. It had always been a scoop and serve kind of thing.
But now I see the virtues of this method: beautiful presentation and easy portioning. You can float them in sauces, or pour sauce over the top. Try ringing with berries, or patting with nut pieces, or crushed cookies. And keeping a bunch on hand makes for great snacking. This weekend, a friend discovered one in our freezer and topped it with granola.
To make a ramekin ice cream mold, fill ramekin about three-quarters full with slightly softened ice cream (this can be store-bought that has been softened a bit, or home-made recipes that are between the ice-cream-maker and freezer stages), and spread the top evenly with the back of a spoon. Place in the freezer for one hour before serving. Cover with plastic wrap if freezing for more than an hour, lest they absorb the odors of the freezer.
To serve, place halfway submerged in warm water for a minute or so, then run a sharp knife around the edges to release. Invert onto serving bowl or plate and tap gently until ice cream falls out.
You really hit the nail on the head with "easy portioning"! It's so easy when you are scooping to go overboard and convince yourself that 3 scoops is a serving. Our ice cream bowls are pretty large, which makes justifying too-large portions of ice cream too simple.
These individual portions look really pretty on a plate, and I imagine they would look nice dressed up with all sorts of toppings, from sprinkles to mint leaves to edible flowers.
I've used ramekins to make attractive servings of rice, but never thought to try this for ice cream. This is so smart -- perfect excuse for a summer dinner party!!!!!
Not wanting to tie up my limited supplies of ramekins, would they survive being de-ramified and then wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and stored in the freezer?
would it be ODD to have a desert party
A friend of mine had a dessert party to celebrate their engagement. Champagne and a table laden with an array of sweets. It was fantastic. Who needs dinner?
i freeze ice cream in a 9x13 or 8x8 baking pan (so the ice cream is about an inch high) and then cut using cookie cutters. granted, i use a rectangular shape, but it can be done with just about anything!
Grant : I had a going away dessert party for a friend of mine long time ago. Most of his friends invited ( 95% of them were indians)laughed saying that the host did not want to cook and wanted to hold something cheap hence threw a dessert party.
The party started off at 9.00 pm. We had wine, cocktails, cake, ( cheese cake, chocolate mousse ) icecream with different kinds of toppings ( banana with rum ), Rice pudding.
They seemed to have a good time. I also made pasta incase anybody did not have dinner.
what went wrong ?
I am wondering what went wrong.
Love the idea of a dessert party when its this hot outside.
The Germans make an awesome fruity drink (Peach Bowle but can be made with strawberries or other fruit).
Ingredients are
4 medium peaches, pitted
4-6 tablespoons sugar, to taste
Splash of Cognac
4 bottles qba riesling wine, chilled 1 bottle sweet champagne or sweet sparkling wine, chilled
makes about 10 servings
Sliced peaches and macerate with Cognac and sugar overnight in the bowle pitcher. Shortly before serving pour in the chilled wine and the champagne and stir and serve.
The peaches are lethal...
When Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out last year, a friend of mine and I had a Willy Wonka party on opening night. It was, I must say, fabulous.
Actually, it was fabulous until about three hours in, when people began to reel with nausea from the sugar, the champagne and the realization that we had about seven pounds of earl grey chocolate truffles and two flourless chocolate cakes with creme anglaise to go. The party was a smashing success, overall, but I admit that I woke up the next morning worried that I might have driven my guests into diabetic shock.
Moral of the story: If you're going to throw a dessert party, I suggest lots of water and big bowls of fruit to temper the merriment. A little dessert goes a long way.
Single serve portions of ice cream seems like an ingenious idea! Why didn't I think of it sooner? And here I have all of these ramekins that I use about once per year...