Ok. I admit it. I’ve been a big slacker and haven’t had a new post in awhile but really, I can explain.
First, designing and programming a new website is completely all encompassing. If you’ve done it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t you’re gonna have to trust me on this one. But the time had come to take the training wheels off and create my own custom site which I am thrilled to present to you here and now.
Second, I just got back from the Orlando Food & Wine Conference which was three full days of workshops specifically for food bloggers. I met a lot of great people, learned bunches and am full of new ideas on how to make this blog better.
So finally, what better way to celebrate all this new excitement than with some fanfare in the way of Guinness Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pretzels? I originally made this recipe a couple years back for a Super Bowl party but it seemed like the perfect ending to a recent backyard BBQ following manly grilled sausages and German potato salad. And look for my little trick below on how to dry the pretzels for the prettiest end product.
Cheers and thanks for visiting Bistro OneSix!
- ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅔ cup Guinness stout
- 2 Tbsp plus 2 teaspoons molasses
- 4 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
- Pretzels (you choose your favorite shape)
- In a medium saucepan, scrape in the vanilla bean seeds. Add the pod, milk, and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the flavors infuse for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the stout and molasses. Bring to a boil and turn off heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture, then slowly whisk in another ¼ cup of the cream. Add the remaining cream in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
- Stir the beer mixture into the cream mixture. Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes or until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
- Strain the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- When the ice cream is done churring, crunch up some of the chocolate covered pretzels (instructions below) and stir in, saving a few to use for garnish. Eat the ice cream immediately or transfer to a container and put in the freezer. Remove a few minutes before serving to let the ice cream soften up a bit again.
Chocolate Covered Pretzels:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water or a double boiler if you have one.
- Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the pretzels and stir gently until coated. Using a fork, transfer the pretzels to the wax paper, letting the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Or, my method is to use pretzel knots, run skewers through the holes and then suspend the skewers between two glasses to hang dry. This way there's not a flat size to the pretzel and I think they look a little nicer.
- Let dry until the chocolate is complete set.
