I love making ice cream – aside from having to prep things a day or two in advance, it’s something I can make with relatively little effort and not have to rush around cooking at the last minute. My little home ice-cream maker came with a recipe book but I mainly start with the simple (eggless) vanilla ice-cream recipe and adapt from there – I’ve tried the proper custard style and it somehow never turns out as nice!
When looking for fruit mince pie ice-cream recipes, most of them suggested buying vanilla ice-cream, buying fruit mince pies, and then putting them together. Unsatisfied with that approach, I went for a spiced ice-cream base with brandy soaked dried fruit and shortbread cookies (instead of short crust pastry) crumbled through. The result is a bit like a brandy version of traditional Rum Raisin ice-cream with extra cookie crunch and seasonal spice. I may have overdone the brandy (hence ‘boozy’ in the title), but you could always omit for an alcohol-free version.
I haven’t tried making ice-cream without the machine in a long time, but alcohol, sugar, fat content and frequent stirring can help produce a smooth ice-cream without large ice crystals if you don’t have one to use.
Fruit Mince Pie Ice-Cream recipe
I’m not the most disciplined cook so this isn’t a proper recipe, no quantities here – just eyeball it and adjust to your taste.
You’ll need
- An ice-cream maker
- Mixed dried fruit
- Brandy
- Vanilla ice-cream ingredients (recipe here)
- Mixed spice
- Cinnamon
- Shortbread cookies (recipe here)
Method
- Soak some mixed dried fruit in brandy overnight.
- Take a standard vanilla ice cream recipe, reduce the sugar and add in some mixed spice and cinnamon, chill overnight.
- Bake or buy some shortbread cookies – you’ll end up with too many to put in the ice cream, but extra cookies is never a bad thing.
- Churn the ice cream and brandy-soaked fruit according to your ice-cream maker’s instructions, then crumble and stir through pieces of shortbread.
- Freeze for another hour or two to firm up, and remove from the freezer five minutes or so before serving.