Following a taste of home made lemon meringue ice cream a couple of weeks ago (thanks Bec and Karen), I was desperate to see if I could recreate the creamy but sharp flavour myself at home. So, using the basic recipe I was given and double checking things with Mary Berry (as you do when you’re not experienced at these things!), I gave it a go. Here’s my version of the recipe:
Ingredients
- 300ml pot of double cream
- standard sized jar of lemon curd
- box of 8 (shop bought) meringue nests
Method
- Whip up the cream until the whisk leaves a trail. I used an electric whisk to do this – it took a little longer than I’d expected (I haven’t done much cream whipping in the past!) so I’m glad I didn’t do it by hand.
- Add most of the jar of lemon curd and stir through. I left a 2-3 teaspoons worth in the bottom of the jar.
- Crush the meringue in to small (but various sized) pieces. Stir most of it through the ice cream mixture.
- Put the mixture in a freezer-proof container. ‘Pour’ the remaining lemon curd on the top (‘dollop’ might be a better verb there), then sprinkle the remaining meringue on top… I thought this would make it look like a posh ice cream desert!
- Freeze for at least four hours, or preferably overnight.
This really is very easy and very tasty, no doubt about that. The whipping of the cream took a few minutes but not that long really, and once it’s made it will sit in the freezer until you want it.
With all that lemon curd it has a really sharp citrus flavour which complements the cream perfectly and is very refreshing. I served mine up between four of us as a desert and everyone agreed it was particularly yummy and I should make it again very soon. Praise indeed!
The quantity, which doesn’t look like much when you’re whipping the cream, is plenty for four, probably even six. The fact you add a jar of lemon curd and a whole load of meringue makes it a really decent sized tub of ice cream which goes a long way due to the richness.
I think next time I want this to be a desert to serve guests (rather than just making it to dig my spoon in), then I will line my container with cling film before filling and freezing so that I can turn it out onto a plate and serve it sliced. If I did this then I couldn’t really make the top look like Carte D’Or or Vienetta because the top would become the bottom, so I would stir all the ingredients through it instead. It would just be easier to serve (neater) that way.
I’m trying to work out what other flavours would work with the cream. We reckoned raspberry ripple (fresh raspberries, squirts of raspberry sauce and crushed up meringue) and chocolate (crushed up flake, squirts of chocolate sauce, mini marshmallows) would work. What other suggestions have you got? What could I use to make this mint choc chip?
Go make some!