Easy Brown Butter No-Churn Ice Cream

A dessert, pick me up, or even the perfect breakfast

So, today I started as I mean to go on. That is, I started it with silky smooth brown butter ice cream, alongside another helping in a fluffy-capped, lick-the-spoon affogato.

I write this as I eat a bowl of fruit (in case you’re interested, sliced peaches and strawberries and unpitted cherries because, by the third fruit, the prep was just too much) because this ice cream you see before you was my breakfast. And what a breakfast it was.

Believe me, there was a heaped side of guilt attached to it too. Even though I talk about my greed which pops up like an over-eager jack in the box on a daily basis, that doesn’t mean my brain isn’t severe and unforgiving! Apparently, I am allowed only one spoonful, ok maybe two but that’s all, and don’t you dare have more coffee, you know you should be avoiding coffee. Brains are just delightful, aren’t they? Really compassionate.

In my defence, this melting ice cream would have gone to waste if I didn’t hoover it all up. And coffee at breakfast time is completely normal, what’s the problem with a little ice cream in there too?

At least, that’s what I’m telling my brain.

Over the last two days, the flat has been in chaos. Or should I say, the whole apartment building. Casually getting dressed the other morning, I noticed through the window that the garden hedge was moving. Then there was the sound of a saw. Next thing I know, a chunk of hedge is mown down and a guy in a hard hat is wandering into our garden. Now, I don’t think it’s just me, but when you have a hedge, you feel somewhat protected from looks and, yes, pesky intruders. Especially when you’re half naked.

The French really have a problem with communication, because while we knew that there was going to be some work done to the outside of the building, we had not been told that the two ends of our hedge closest to the wall would be removed. Now, just like that guy in the hard hat, anyone can wander in as they please, press their faces to the windows and watch me type away. At least I’m dressed this time. The uneventful show is their comeuppance!

Then yesterday, I struggled through an online French class as the scaffolding was erected. The banging and crashing and drilling and thumping echoed throughout the flat, and I had to bellow whenever I was asked a question which doesn’t really aid my clumsy, thick-tongued accent.

Finally, today, it is peaceful. I can open the windows again (although the scaffolding is filling our entire matchbox-sized garden). In the peace and quiet I can hear birds tweeting and I can sit outside and eat brown butter no-churn ice cream for breakfast.

No-Churn Ice Cream

No-churn ice cream really is the best because it ensures there is ice cream for everyone! Share the love, share the ice cream! I can’t deny I long for an ice cream maker, but until that happy day arrives, I have no-churn ice cream. And it’s all thanks to the fairy-god mother of foods: sweetened condensed milk.

When making ice cream, it usually starts off with a base, the most popular being a custard base made with eggs. Back in my first restaurant job, my job on the pastry section was to make the various ice creams to accompany desserts and one was a little brown butter number. It was delicious, the only issue was that it took ages to make. There were so many ingredients, and a temperature probe and a bain marie involved; it was complicated. So consider sweetened condensed milk like an asteroid plummeting into the kitchen and blasting all that custard-business out the way.

Brown Butter Ice Cream

Foods have their fifteen minutes of fame, yet brown butter has been enjoying a good five to 10 years of notoriety. Just by cooking melted butter for a little longer, that rich lactic flavour is replaced by biscuity, nutty warmth. In French, it’s known as beurre noisette because of the distinct flavour, so similar to hazelnuts.

Best of all, the beauty of brown butter is that it can go with anything. Cookies, cakes and blondies all call for browned butter, so why not add a scoop of brown butter ice cream on the side? I can see this pairing beautifully with sticky cakes made with orchard or stone fruits, its simple subtle flavour not demanding the limelight, instead doing a stellar job in the supporting role.

However, my lazy girl preference to to chop a couple of strawberries, scoop up some salted caramel from the handy jar in the fridge, and I know Gaylord’s already fantasising about adding a big pile of squirty cream on top to turn it into a sundae.

Then, I made it into an affogato. And I think I’m set for the rest of the summer.

Little had I known that espresso only needed brown butter ice cream to reach perfection! If my brain had been nice to me this morning, I might have followed my heart and enjoyed it even more. Drowning in the hot coffee, the ice cream slumped and melted, and like star-crossed lovers, they melded together as a thick cream which I scooped up with a spoon, not quite knocking my head back in open-throated gulps thanks to old brain over here, but close enough.

So, tell your brain to take the summer off, and make brown butter no-churn ice cream to your heart’s content.