Ice Cream Oysters

I used to play at the top of my parent's garden when I was a kid - doing plenty of un-girly things like making mud pies, building dens, and recreating Egyptian burials for small teddy bears* (*These were fairly disturbingly realistic. Rest in Peace Tedtankhamun). 

And there used to be an ice cream van that used to drive nearby.  And it's speakers were broken. And it used to play Greensleeves. But a really horrible and distorted version. It was eerie and scary.  I used to drop what I was doing and run back down to the house. And still, to this day, it gives me the heebies. 

Luckily, the ice cream van near our house plays the Match of the Day theme tune. Whilst this is strange, it makes me dribble for an ice cream oyster.  Here is my take on the styrofoam esque, stale chocolate dipped shells of the oysters you get from the ice cream van:  Vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone oyster shell with toasted marshmallows. 

I am entering these into Kavey Eats Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream challenge which has been resurrected with the theme of Chasing the Ice Cream Van.  You can read all about BSFIC and how to enter here.  

Ingredients

Ice Cream 

4 egg yolks

100gr caster sugar

600ml cream

300ml milk

2tsp vanilla extract

Waffle Oyster Shells

1 egg

50gr caster sugar

25gr unsalted butter

25ml milk

40gr plain flour

Tiny pinch of salt

Method

1, First make the ice cream,whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract together until fully combined.

2, Bring the milk and 150ml of the double cream to just below simmering point and pour slowly onto the beaten egg etc using a whisk to combine.

3, Pour back into the saucepan and set over a low heat. Stir continuously until the custard has thickened and you get a nice thick covering on the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow to boil as this will give you lumps. 

4, Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour in the rest of the double cream and stir. This needs to cool now until completely cold. 

5, When the custard base is completely cold, churn in an ice cream machine as per the machine's instructions then freeze this until you're ready to put them together.

6, To make the shells, you need to first doctor a mould.  I used tiny pyrex bowls and cut a thick piece of cardboard and taped it to the side. I used washi tape so you can see the best way of taping it on (and who can resist pink paper tape with teeny tiny swallows!?)  Cover, using foil.  You will only need one of these as the shells dry and harden quickly. Set this to one side. (See below picture)

7, Make the cone batter by beating all the ingredients together until you have a batter.  As per your waffle cone maker's instructions, preheat and cook about 30ml of the batter until golden.  I half filled a 1/4 cup measuring cup.  Be prepared for the next step.

8, Lift the deep golden soft cone off the heated grill and directly onto the mould. Stack a couple of sheets of kitchen paper on top and as quickly as possible, using your hands, mould this down and around your mould. They stay soft enough to mould them but you have to be quick.  The kitchen towels will help prevent your hand from burning.  They are hot.  You can also press down on it with a clean tea towel. 

9, Remove the kitchen paper and when the shell is nearly cold, it should be hard and so lift this off and store in an airtight container. I don't recommended cooling them completely on the mould as they have a tendency to stick.  They are quite fragile so you don't want to be trying to pry them off the mould. There will be trial and error.  I broke some. Ok, I broke a lot. I would go so far as to make double the recipe just in case you, like me, have the dexterity of the Hulk. 

10, Add a couple of scoops of ice cream to one half shell, blow torch some mini marshmallows laid out on a baking sheet, sprinkle on and rest the other on top. Pearl-fect. (Sorry...)