Tiggle Valley Frozen Custard (or not Frozen)

Tiggle Valley Frozen Custard (or not Frozen)
Frozen Custard
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Easy Frozen Custard

Perfect as a non-frozen custard as well.
My teenage son is doing a total processed foods fast this month. He wants to run faster for his track team so he's pretty motivated. He had no idea how much processed food he ate, though. Even after a little over a week he feels better and his skin is clearer. It takes a lot of cooking to keep up with his appetite. LOL The growing teenage boy appetite is no joke. For him this recipe is super, it is very full of healthy protiens with a boost of collagen and low in healthy sugar. As always, the quality of the ingredients determines the actual health of the resulting dessert. I'm very grateful to have my raw dairy and happy chicken eggs.
This recipe is a bit like blancmange, a bit like custard, and has the stabilizing and nutritious addition of gelatin. It uses a lot of milk and not much cream, which is great if you're trying to make most of your own butter (which I am!) and utilizes those deep yellow egg yolks from our happy chickens. The result is quick, creamy, delicious, and healthy.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 Cups Milk divided
  • 25 grams Cornstarch (3 1/3 Tbsps.)
  • 130 grams Sucanat (3/4 Cup)
  • 4 grams Sea salt (3/4 teaspoon)
  • 1/4 Cup Cream
  • 5 Egg yolks
  • 1 tbsp Gelatin
  • 1 1/2 tsps. Vanilla
  • 1 1/2 tsps. Disaronno (For this you could substitute any liquor including just adding more vanilla)

Instructions

  • In a cup or small bowl with a wide rim, soften the gelatin in the vanilla and Disaronno.
  • Separate the eggs in a separate bowl and add to the yolks the cream and cornstarch.
    custard ingredients
  • Place 4 1/2 cups milk in a saucepan. Add the sucanat and sea salt. Heat until scalding.
    Tiggle Valley custard sugar and salt
  • Temper the egg yolk mixture by adding a bit of the scalding milk into the bowl, stirring it diligently to be sure it doesn't curdle the egg. Add it back into the saucepan and continue to stir until it develops a texture.
    Tiggle Valley Custard texture
  • The custard will be ready to take off the heat when you can perform the spoon test. When custard has thickened enough you can dip a spoon in and it will stick to the back of the spoon. You want the custard to look like wet glue on the back of your spoon. If you pull out the spoon and run a clean finger in a line across the back and the custard keeps to itself on either side of your line then the consistency is right.
    custard spoon test
  • Getting the consistency right is the difficult part of custard but with the addition of the cornstarch this becomes much easier. See the note on troubleshooting custard.
    custard cream
  • Once the consistency is right get it off of the heat, pour in the gelatin mixture, and continue stirring until you feel it will not curdle and the gelatin has been thoroughly incorporated.
    adding gelatin
  • For refrigerated custard: Pour the custard into serving dishes or a large serving bowl and chill until ready to eat. The time necessary for chilling will depend on what container(s) you store the custard in.
    For frozen custard (without an ice cream churn): Pour into ice trays and freeze. When you are ready to eat it, put it in a blender with as little milk as you can get away with and blend. If you want chocolate just add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the blender.

Troubleshooting Custard

  • Custard is difficult because the heating process is prone to get away from you and you can often end up with a few egg "curds" in your custard when you're finished. If you have flat out scrambled the eggs in the milk you have to start over. However, if you only have a few they are easily strained out by pouring the custard through a sieve.
  • I taste everything I make. Sometimes another pinch of salt or just another tablespoon of sugar makes all the difference in that subtle balance of flavor. I make any necessary adjustments before chilling.

Variations

  • Obviously the possibilities for creative flavorings are endless. I usually prefer vanilla with a bit of Callebaut milk chocolate shavings sprinkled on top but my kids have been requesting a homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream and so I set about trying to create this for them. It was very successful on the first try. I did not use sucanat, rather some organic, unbleached white sugar, and I added 5 drops of peppermint essential oil to the gelatin mixture. Then I put chocolate shavings into the freezer with the custard right before turning it on.