Potato Ice Cream

Just when I thought I was being "original"...I was sitting here eating some Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch ice cream and  thought,"what if I made potato ice cream with toffee and bacon bits?"  Well, I did what any normal person would do and go to the internet to see whether or not anyone's already beat me to the punch.  And whaddaya-know?

Ba-ding!

There's a Grilled Idaho Potato Ice Cream Recipe made with...you guessed it milk chocolate cake (I didn't think of that part) and toffee and bacon bits.  Looks like someone's already thought of this. (Bummer!)  No worries though.  My idea does infact differ from the recipe seen here.  But I will go ahead and share it with you guys anyways.  In the meantime, I will be making my potato ice cream idea/recipe...and I will be sharing it with you.  Have a great day & happy gawking :-) -Bakie

Grilled Idaho Potato Ice Cream Recipe

With Milk Chocolate Cake & Bacon Toffee

When you’re looking for a special twist on that favorite combination of chocolate cake and ice cream, turn to pastry chef extraordinaire Gael Gand, co-owner of Chicago’s illustrious restaurant Tru, and you’ll get something memorable. The Idaho Potato Commission asked Gael to think of a special potato dessert, and the result is with her compliments. The grilled potato skins give a slight, smokey flavor to the ice cream base (they are strained out before the ice cream is churned) which pairs well with the bacon toffee. The flourless milk chocolate cake is cut like a brownie.

Components

• Grilled Idaho Potato Ice Cream
• Milk Chocolate Flourless Cake
• Bacon Toffee
• Chocolate Sauce
• Potato Rings (Garnish)
• To Plate

 

Grilled Idaho Potato Ice Cream

Ingredients 2 cups milk 2 cups cream 4-5 each skins of grilled Idaho potatoes ¾ cup sugar 9 egg yolks

Mash the insides of the potatoes and enjoy separately. Photo © Idaho Potato Commission.

Preparation

1. Bake potatoes. Cut in half; scoop out flesh and make mashed potatoes with it at a later time. Spray the denuded potato skins with oil (or for superb results, dab lightly with bacon fat) and grill. The idea is to get the skins smoky-tasting, but do not burn.
2. Bring the milk and cream to a boil with the potato skins.
3. Whisk the yolks and the sugar together. Temper the liquid into the yolk mixture and return to stovetop.
4. Cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Strain and cool in an ice bath. Process in ice cream machine.

Milk Chocolate Flourless Cake

Ingredients 1-¾ cups quality milk chocolate 2/3 cup butter 4 each eggs 4 each yolks 2/3 cup brown sugar ½ cup almond flour or ground almonds Preparation Melt the milk chocolate and butter together. Temper the eggs into the chocolate mixture. Pour into a foil-lined half sheet pan. Bake in the still oven at 350°F until done, about 15 minutes. Cut into 2x2.5" rectangles.

Scharffen Berger 41% cacao dark milk chocolate. Photo by Saidi Granados | THE NIBBLE.

Bacon Toffee

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked bacon, crushed
• 3 cups brown sugar
• ¾ cup water
• 1 cup glucose (or light corn syrup)
• 1 stick butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation Combine water, glucose, butter, and brown sugar in a pot over med-high heat; cook to hard crack. While sugar is cooking, warm 2 silpats in the oven. Take sugar off heat, stir in bacon, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Stir quickly until it gets lighter in color and starts to pull away from the sides. When toffee is ready, pour onto warmed silpat, and top with the other warm silpat. Roll as thin as possible. When cool, chop into small pieces. Reserve in airtight container

See our review of the best vanilla extract. Photo by Claire Freierman | THE NIBBLE.

Chocolate Sauce

If you don’t want to make chocolate sauce from scratch, you can buy a ready-made sauce. Our favorites are Somebody’s Mother’s and The King’s Cupboard.

Ingredients

• 3-¼ cups cream
• ¼ cup glucose (or corn syrup)
• 2 cups quality dark chocolate
• 1-½ tablespoons butter

Preparation Bring cream and glucose to a boil. Pour over dark chocolate. Whisk to emulsify. Add butter last, whisk to combine. Transfer to squeeze bottle. To serve, sauce should be thin enough to spread into a thin circle when poured (may need to add cream or warm slightly). Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.