A simply delicious Green Tea Ice Cream recipe.

I first tried Green Tea Ice-cream when I visited my father in Brisbane, Australia, he had taken me to his favorite Sushi Bar, called Sushi Train and he recommended that I try it, I have been searching for a recipe that came close to the amazing taste of the Sushi Train version. After a bit of trial and error, and research, this is what I have come up with:
Ingredients
100ml Double cream
500ml Full fat milk. (UHT works great)
3 Medium egg yolks
110g Castor sugar
8-10g Organic green tea powder (Matcha) (I find eBay a great place to buy this)
Spring of fresh mint to serve. (optional)

1. Pour the cream and the milk into a saucepan and place over a medium heat, whilst stirring, slowly bring just to the boil, then quickly remove from the heat.
2. In a large bowl cream together the egg yolks, sugar and green tea until it has thicken, then slowly add this mixture into the hot cream/milk mixture.
3. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over a lowish heat and cook for around 12 minutes, continually stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not over cook this mixture as it with curdle and ruin.
4. Sieve the mixture into a clean bowl and allow to cool completely.
5. Place into an ice-cream machine until frozen.
Alternatively if you do not have a machine, place into a freezable container and freeze for two hours then blitz it in a food processor and repeat this process 3-4 times.
6. Remove from freezer/machine, place in a food processor and blitz until smooth and refreeze until needed. This process really smooths the ice-cream and gets rid of any ice crystals that may of appeared.

Bravo Brownies

So continuing on a chocolate theme, thanks to a kind donation of a massive tub of quality chocolate nuggets, heres my next waist widener!
Everyone loves a gooey sticky Brownie. And I am no different.
There are loads of recipes around for brownie, some good, some bad, this one works for me. As with any recipe that includes chocolate, the better the chocolate, the better the taste, same goes for cocoa powder, buy the best that you can afford, your taste-buds will thank you for it!

Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter (yes, that is a whole pack!!)
• 200g Dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids) bashed up.
• optional: 100g chopped nuts (I prefer brazils or almonds)
• 60g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 350g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180c, get a baking tin (around 25cm in length) and line it with greaseproof paper.
2. In a largish bowl or dish, melt the chocolate and butter over some simmering water, stirring until smooth. (be careful that the bowl does not touch the water, as this will ruin the chocolate.)
3. In a separate bowl sift the flour, sugar and cocoa powder, then add the melted chocolate and nuts. Mix well, until all the ingredients are combined.
4. Beat the eggs, then add to the other ingredients, stir until silky and shiny, and when you can see no egg, pour the mixture into the lined tray.
5. Place in the oven for around 20-25 minutes, the outside wants to be bouncy and cracking in places and a knife or skewer should still come out sticky, when inserted into the brownie. The trick is to get the timing spot on. So check a couple of times if needed.
6. Allow the brownie to cool, for a couple of hours, then remove from tin and chop to desired sizes.

This is great from the fridge, or warmed with vanilla ice-cream or clotted cream. It'll keep for around 4-5 days in a sealed container.

Choco Pavement!

This is my version of Rocky Road, but you can throw anything you like into the chocolate syrup mix, nuts, marshmallows, biscuits, brownie, chocolate bars, dried fruit, raisins, jellied sweets, cereals and whatever else you have in your sweet cupboard!
  The one ingredient you should definitely add is salted peanuts as these give a real hit of salt, that goes so well with the chocolate. So please use this recipe as a guide and chuck in whatever ingredients you fancy into the chocolate syrup mix. And obviously the better the chocolate you use, the better the taste.

Ingredients
Chocolate Syrup mix

• 300g of good quality Chocolate 70% cocoa (use dark or milk, or a mixture of both). 
• 125g unsalted butter.
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Added extras

• 200g salted peanuts.
• 8 marshmallows chopped in half, or a handfull of mini mallows.
• 50g of roughly pistachio nuts
• 30g of rice krispies (puffed rice)
• 25g of roughly chopped brazil nut

1. Make the chocolate syrup by melting all the ingredients together in a bowl placed over a saucepan with couple of inches simmering water, make sure the bowl does not touch the water, else you will ruin the chocolate. Stir constantly until silky smooth.
2. Add your chosen ingredients to the melted chocolate syrup, and mix well. Pour into a tin foiled lined tray or tub, let it cool and refrigerate for around 3-4 hours until its set solid.
3. Remove from the tinfoil, and cut into bite-size pieces and place in the fridge in a sealed container until ready to eat! This will keep for around a week, but you'll not have any left by then!!!!

Classic vanilla in meringues with sugared pistachios

Had to show you this. I have just demolished it in under 5 seconds! Homemade ice cream is the best. Recipe and info to follow in the next day or so.