When we were asked to do a sponsored post for BlogHer and Häagen-Dazs® Made Like No Other, the answer was a no-brainer. Create a unique recipe using our favorite store-bought ice cream? Absolutely. What could be more fun? We always enjoy a chance to indulge our inner child and then feed the results to Amaya. We favor their Five series, ice creams made with five ingredients. Amaya’s a big fan of the Strawberry ice cream, so that was our starting point.
We began with the idea of granola, probably because we both like a crunchy contrast with our ice cream. But neither of us is a huge granola fan. The idea of breakfast stuck, and our minds turned to bowls of sweet cereal with milk. This evolved into maple-glazed cornflakes blended with freeze-dried strawberries. This mixture had everything we were looking for. It was light and crispy with tang from the strawberries and a nice blend of sweetly savory flavors. We know it was good because as it lay on the dining room table cooling, we heard a crunch, crunch, crunch, and looked over to see Amaya happily eating it straight from the pan.
We began to build our upside-down sundae. We happened to have some fresh dulce de leche, otherwise known as milk jam, in the fridge, and for the adult version of our cereal, we blended a little Knob Creek bourbon into the caramel and put it in the bottom of the bowl. We added our cornflake crispies and then some fresh strawberries and tiny opal basil leaves. Now all we needed was the ice cream.
We shaved our Häagen-Dazs Strawberry ice cream over the top. Admittedly, we used a little liquid nitrogen to help things stay frozen for the photo. But the ice cream was firm enough to shave straight from the freezer; all you need is a mandolin and a chilled bowl to shave it into. The shaved ice cream gave easily under our spoons, blending with the cereal below it and melting into the dulce de leche for one of the best ice cream treats we’ve ever had.
Strawberries and Cream with Häagen-Dazs® Made Like No Other
Drunken Milk Jam
¼ cup/75 grams dulce de leche or cajeta
1 tablespoon/13 grams bourbon
Put the dulce de leche and bourbon into a bowl. Whisk the ingredients together to fully blend. Reserve.
Sandy Strawberry Cornflakes
¼ cup/75 grams grade B maple syrup
¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon/1.5 grams fine sea salt
3.5 ounces/100 grams cornflakes
1.2 ounces/34 grams freeze-dried strawberries
Combine the maple syrup, sugar, and salt in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until large bubbles form. Add the cornflakes to the hot syrup and stir to coat evenly. Turn the heat down to medium and continue to cook the sugar-coated cornflakes until the sugar syrup dries and they become sandy and slightly caramelized, 10-15 minutes. When the cornflakes are cooked, coated, and dry, add the freeze-dried strawberries. Stir to combine and then transfer the hot cereal mixture to a parchment-lined sheet pan to cool. When the cereal is completely cool, put it into a zip-top bag and reserve.
Shaved Strawberry Ice Cream
1 pint Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream
1 liter liquid nitrogen (optional)
Take the lid off the ice cream and use a serrated knife to cut the pint of ice cream in half. Remove the pint container packaging and wrap each half of ice cream in plastic wrap and put it into a very cold freezer. Put 2 metal bowls in the freezer and let them chill for at least one hour. Remove half of the ice cream and one metal bowl from the freezer. Working quickly, unwrap the ice cream and shave it on a Japanese mandoline into the bowl. If the ice cream begins to melt, put it and the bowl back into the freezer to firm up. Repeat with the other half of the ice cream. Alternatively, fill a Styrofoam cooler with one liter of liquid nitrogen and shave the ice cream into the liquid nitrogen. Use a wire skimmer to transfer the ice cream to the frozen metal bowl in the freezer. Repeat with the other half of the ice cream.
To Serve
36 baby opal basil leaves
6 fresh strawberries cleaned and cut into eighths
Drunken Milk Jam
Sandy Strawberry Cornflakes
Shaved Häagen-Dazs Strawberry ice cream
Put a large spoonful of the drunken milk jam in the bottom of the bowl. Spoon the sandy cereal around the milk jam. Top the cereal with sliced strawberries and opal basil leaves. Spoon the shaved ice cream on top. Serve immediately.
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