Liquorice lovers, this recipe is for you! And anyone not a fan of liquorice.. well, you might want to check back in next week.

My mum and I, and to a lesser extent my dad, are huge liquorice fans. (Apparently my brother missed the liquorice gene, poor guy.) We can go pretty nuts over liquorice ice cream especially. I recall a period awhile back, when Wendy's was making liquorice ice cream, and Mum would buy a tub every week for us to devour. I think there was one naughty week in there where we got a tub each!

Wendy's was one of the best liquorice ice creams, too. Not only was the ice cream an amazingly delicious liquoricey flavour, but there were chunks of liquorice in the ice cream too - that's what really makes a good liquorice ice cream!

But then Wendy's stopped stocking it, and broke our hearts. Wahh! Until now, that is!

It was my mum's birthday on Saturday, and we'd bought her a present already (tomato chutney from Maggie's Kitchen in Queenscliff - do yourself a favour and try some of this. Oh my gosh it is amazing. We've finished our jar and are thinking about driving all the way to Queenscliff just to buy more) but wanted to get her something else. I couldn't think of anything to get her, and didn't want to buy something just for the sake of it, so I thought why not make something she can't buy anymore - liquorice ice cream!

BEST. IDEA. EVER. This recipe was amazing, it had delicious chunks of liquorice throughout, and it wasn't too difficult to make either! You might find black food colouring a bit tricky to find - head to Spotlight and grab one of these little babies! $6.99 and the best black food colouring I've been able to find, totally flavourless!

RECIPE - makes about a litre
170g liquorice, chopped into small bits
2 egg yolks
75g castor sugar, sifted
120ml cream
1 ½ cups milk
Black food colouring to suit

1. Whip cream and put in the fridge until needed.
2. Add a few cups of ice to a large bowl, set a smaller bowl in the large bowl, set a fine strainer on top and set aside.
3.. Put milk and liquorice in a saucepan and heat on med-low temp stirring until it starts to melt. The liquorice won't melt fully and some chunks will remain.
4. Using beater attachment on a mixer, beat yolks and sugar together until thick and creamy.
5. Slowly add liquorice mixture and beat until combined.
6. Pour back into saucepan and cook over a gentle heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
7. Add just enough water to the large bowl of ice so that the cold water rises up to level with the mixture. Be really careful here you don't drop any water into the mixture!
8. Stir occassionally until cool, then remove from ice bath and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours.
9. Add whipped cream and liquorice mixture to electric mixer and mix at highest speed with whisk attachment.
10. Pour into a freezer-suitable container and freeze overnight.
Enjoy!

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/forums//viewtopic.php?p=286287

So first of all I'd like to remind you all that I'm not a writer. I wanted to be when I was younger, started a bunch of short stories that I never finished, but didn't have a talent for it. I'm also not a photographer. I feel like I'm getting better, slowly, with my photos on this blog, taking inspiration from photos on other food blogs and Instagram (now my blog's become a hipster), but I'm by no means a professional! I want to stress this to you all because the source of today's recipe is amazing - such a great story, gorgeous photos - I really encourage you all to go and read her post, it was lovely! (But please come back once you read it!)

Not only is the source of today's recipe amazing, but the recipe itself is too - Nutella ice cream, yum! I've been wanting to make ice cream for awhile. I mentioned to my mum awhile ago how I wanted an ice cream maker and her attitude was "what for?" She went on about how ice cream makers are such a new thing and she used to make ice cream all the time without one. So as soon as Kai bought me my stand mixer last week I said, right, ice cream it is! And I'll add here - while I think you don't need an ice cream maker, I do think you need a stand mixer, I had my mixer pumping on the highest speed so I honestly think a hand mixer might be a bit tough to mix ice cream with. But I'd love to hear if anyone has done it!

This recipe calls for 6 egg yolks, and I was trying to figure out what to do with the egg whites once they'd been separated. I couldn't come up with anything so they ended up getting thrown out. I then discovered the next day that egg whites can be frozen, two or three to a freezer bag for quick thawing (at another fabulous food blog I've discovered and expect to be spending a lot of time on; link at the bottom of this post). Better late than never, anyway!

So how was this recipe? Well to be honest - it wasn't that easy. There was a lot of bowls and dishes and things on stovetops and waiting. But it was worth it! The ice cream is meant to have a Nutella swirl through it, as well as Nutella flavouring in the ice cream, and the swirl hasn't really worked out - the blog I sourced the recipe from said to break up big blobs of the Nutella because they're difficult to eat when they're too big - I took this to heart too much and spread the Nutella out too much. But nonetheless it is delicious. And the best part - but completely unintentional! - is that Kai doesn't like it - so it's all mine! I can't even bring any in to work (I would otherwise, I swear!) because ice cream isn't exactly transportable. So I'll be very happily enjoying a large tub of ice cream all to myself for awhile (although anyone who wants to try some, feel free to invite yourself over!)

I ate a bowl of this while I wrote this blog post to inspire me (the photo you see above with the wafers, in fact!) and I'd really like to stress - let the ice cream freeze fully before you eat it! I cooked it on the stove Saturday night and tried a bit, it was yum. I pulled it out of the fridge Sunday morning and it was still yum. I froze it until Sunday dinnertime and ate some for dessert, it was still a bit soft, but it was delicious. It's now Monday night, the ice cream is fully frozen - and oh my gosh it's AMAZING. So if you can manage it - wait and let it freeze at least 24 hours!

RECIPE
6 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup Nutella (at room temperature)
pinch salt
2 cups cream

Heat cream until right before it comes to the boil (it will bubble along the edges). While this is heating, whisk together yolks, milk, 1 cup of Nutella and salt. Set aside.
Add a few cups of ice to a large bowl, set a smaller bowl in the large bowl, set a fine strainer on top and set aside.
When cream is heated, remove from heat and slowly whisk hot cream into the Nutella mixture. Pour mix back into the saucepan and stir continuously on medium heat until it thickens slightly. Turn off heat.
Pour custard through strainer into the small bowl. Add just enough water to the large bowl of ice so that the cold water rises up to level with the custard. Be really careful here you don't drop any water into the custard!
Stir occassionally until cool, then remove from ice bath and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours.
Mix ice cream in mixer on highest speed with whisk attachment.
Fill container with half of the ice cream. Drizzle 1/4 of a cup of Nutella over the surface. With a fork, swirl through the ice cream. Repeat with the rest of the ice cream and Nutella.
Freeze for a few hours or overnight.
Enjoy!

Sources: http://dashandbella.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/the-first-time.html (Crunchy Nutella Ice Cream)
http://eatlittlebird.com/2013/05/01/lemon-drizzle-friands/ (Egg whites tip)