Apple crumble ice cream

In one of my days off I woke up decided to organize my bookshelf – it was a huge mess, you have no idea...
Going through all those books, magazines and recipe prints I ended up finding a CD I thought I’d lost for good – in moments like that I understand why my grandma always told me to be organized... :)

My favorite song on that CD is “Up from under” and from it comes one of my all time favorite song verses: “those days before I met you girl were just ice cream falling down on the shoes of my world” – if that isn’t proof of how important ice cream is to mankind, I don’t know what is. :)

Apple crumble ice cream
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Custard:
2 ½ cups (600ml) heavy cream
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk
3 cinnamon quills
5 egg yolks
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (74g) caster sugar
¼ cup (44g) brown sugar, packed

Caramelized apple:
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) caster sugar
3 tablespoons vodka
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm dice

Crumble:
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (80g) self-rising flour
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (71g) brown sugar, packed
½ cup (72g) hazelnuts, coarsely ground
¼ cup (56g) cold butter, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Start by making the custard: combine cream, milk and cinnamon quills in a saucepan and bring just to the boil over a medium heat. Remove from heat, cover and stand for 30 minutes to infuse. Whisk egg yolks and sugars in a bowl until thick and pale. Reheat the cream mixture, pour gradually over the yolk cream, whisking to combine. Return to saucepan and cook over a medium heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon, strain into a bowl and cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

For caramelized apple, combine sugar, 2 tablespoons vodka and ¼ cup (60ml) water in a frying pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until dark golden, add cream and butter – carefully, the mixture will bubble – and cook for another minute or until combined. Add apple, stir to coat then cook for 5 minutes or until apple is tender. Add the remaining vodka, stir to combine, then remove from heat and cool completely.*

Now, the crumble: preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and, using fingertips, rub together until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (mixture should have large clusters). Spread over a baking paper-lined large baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Cool completely and coarsely crumble.
Freeze the custard in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon into a 2 liter-capacity rectangular container, drizzle with the caramelized apple mixture, swirling to combine and form a ripple effect. Scatter the crumble mixture on top and freeze for 3 hours or until required.

* after cooling, the caramel got too hard. So I drizzle it with a little heavy cream, popped it in the microwave oven for 45 seconds and then mixture it all together

Serves 6 – I wasn’t sure my ice cream maker would hold all the custard so I halved the recipe