Guest Post: Erin Makes A Miranda!

Happy Weekend friends! Today I have a double treat for you! Both good news….and good news! First, it’s Cooking with Book’s 6 month baby birthday! Isn’t she growing up so fast? Can’t believe it…next thing you know, she’ll be asking me for permission to go and hang out with A Thought for Food or Recipe Taster….and well, I don’t know if she’s ready to hang with big boys YET! So I leave her in a bakers hands for now. That’s the second good news! Today, guest posting about a delicious recipe is Erin from Big Fat Baker!  If you haven’t met Erin yet, I advise you (order you) to check out her blog and follow her on twitter @BigFatBaker! She’s an amazing friend and an even better baker! Now, please welcome her and her sweet dessert!

I was so happy when Marnely asked me to guest post on Cooking With Books after doing a guest post for BigFatBaker. I loved reading about soursop and have been searching for any sign of it at my grocery store.

I was thinking for a few days about what I could write for a guest post. I was having a hard time thinking of something out of the ordinary, and ideal for summer. Then I remembered a delicious dessert from one of my favorite restaurants, Ma’la.

Ma’la Ocean Tavern serves a dessert called the Caramel Miranda, and it’s their signature dessert. They bring out a plate of oven warmed fruit, topped with a little dark chocolate and caramel, and a scoop of macadamia nut vanilla ice cream. It is heavenly.

I wanted to recreate this dessert. It is naturally sweet from the fruit, and ridiculously addicting from the cool ice cream melting over the fruit. This is perfect for summer too.

I made a caramel ice cream. And used the five best looking fruits at the grocery for that day. You can use what ever looks good to you.

This recipe is super easy if you have an ice cream maker. All you do is make a vanilla ice cream base, and a caramel sauce. Pour the ice cream base and caramel sauce into your ice cream maker and follow it’s normal operating instructions.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, do not worry! I made my ice cream by hand and it turned out smooth and creamy. Just follow the easy instructions and you can have delicious homemade ice cream. (Method adapted from David Lebovitz)

Homemade Caramel Miranda

Ice Cream Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• kiwi
• pineapple
• raspberries
• strawberries
• blueberries

To Make the Ice Cream

1. In your stand mixer, beat the eggs while slowly adding the sugar. Continue mixing until thick and pale yellow in color.
2. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer. Turn the heat off and turn the stand mixer back on to low. Slowly add in the hot milk while the mixer is mixing (temper the eggs).
3. Once all the milk is mixed in, pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Heat it up over medium/medium-low until thickened. Do not let it get too hot!
4. Once thickened, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cool, pour into a freezer safe dish and refrigerate until cold, or overnight.
5. Place the dish (I used a 7×11 dish) in the freezer and every 30 minutes remove the dish and break up the ice crystals. You can do this by whisking the ice cream, or using your hand mixer. David recommends the hand mixer but if you don’t have one (like me) a whisk will do the job. Continue this process for 3-4 hours, or until smooth and cream.
6. Allow to freeze for an additional 2 hours (minimum) before serving.

Between hours 1 and 2 of the freezing/mixing step, make the caramel sauce. I used this caramel sauce recipe from Simply Recipes.

Once the caramel sauce is made and cooled to room temperature, mix into the ice cream mix. Continue the mixing and freezing process.

To Assemble the Miranda:

Cut the fruits and plate decoratively on a oven safe dish. Warm in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. Place a scoop of ice cream on top and garnish with chopped nuts, mint, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, etc….