Something a little different for Christmas pudding.
It has many, many years since I last made an ice cream bombe – 14 or 15 of them, to be honest. Back then I’d taken to cutting recipes out of supermarket magazines while I was learning how to cook for my new family.
One Christmas there was a festive food feature in the local Safeway magazine. I tore out the recipe for a white chocolate and clementine ice cream bombe, an intriguing dessert recipe I hadn’t heard of before then. It was a no churn ice cream recipe, and as at that time I didn’t have an ice cream maker, it was perfect.
I’ve got an ice cream maker now, thanks to the kind folk at Magimix, and so when I peeked into my fridge the other day and spied five Spanish sweet clementines, complete with their little adorable leaves, and a carton of double cream the first thing that sprang to mind was that white chocolate clementine bombe.
I’ve changed the recipe for the white chocolate ice cream component completely, adapting the vanilla custard base ice cream recipe that came with my Magimix Le Glacier 1.5 litre ice cream maker, adding some white chocolate and real vanilla seeds. I’ve been using this brand of ice cream machine for years and years, having treated myself to one (the 1.1 litre one) for my birthday about 8 years ago.
It’s a fantastic machine – you keep the stainless steel bowl in the freezer so it’s ready for when you fancy making ice cream or sorbet, and the booklet that comes with it is full of super recipe ideas like chocolate chip mint (one of my family favourites), rich chocolate and the standard vanilla custard I’ve already mentioned. I’ve also got the Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book, full of inspirational (but calorific!!) ideas.
The thing is, the 1.1 litre bowl in my old machine, which made 3/4 pint of ice cream, was a fine enough size when we were a family of three with one young child. Now we’re a family of five, and the eldest is a teenager – we needed a bigger ice cream maker bowl (that and the fact I broke the old bowl by storing it in a deep freeze under loads of frozen Shetland lamb – word of caution: don’t do that). The 1.5 litre machine makes 1.5 pints of ice cream. It’s super easy to assemble too, and so if you keep the bowl in your freezer you’re never more than 20 minutes away from home made ice cream!
The white chocolate ice cream in this recipe is made from a rich egg custard base flavoured with white chocolate and real vanilla seeds. Use a good quality white chocolate like Green & Black’s for the best ice cream.
The sorbet is made from whole clementines, simmered in sugar and water until tender, and then pureed whole, peel included. This recipe is rather shilpet (the Shetland word for eye-twitching sour), the way I like it, but if you prefer a sweeter sorbet increase the sugar content by half.
I’ve also used Goldschlager in my sorbet. The addition of alcohol keeps the clementine mixture from freezing solid, imparting a nice, edible texture. Goldschlager, if you don’t know (because I’d never heard of it until I saw a bottle of it on clearance for £10, down from £25), is an imported cinnamon schnapps liqueur containing real gold flakes.
Yes, this ice cream dessert contains flakes of real gold! Rather posh, no?
See that slice that’s missing out of the photograph? I might have eaten that in the bath. The life of a food blogger, eh?!
White Chocolate and Clementine Bombe
Ingredients
for the white chocolate ice cream
- 4 free-range egg yolks
- 100 grams caster sugar
- 300 ml full fat milk
- 150 grams white chocolate broken into small pieces
- 300 ml double cream
- 1 vanilla bean pod seeds only
for the clementine sorbet
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 4 clementines
- 300 ml water
- 1/2 lemon juice only
- 2 tbsp Goldschlager or Grand Marnier
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Instructions
- To prepare the ice cream, pour the milk into a saucepan and slowly heat it until it reaches boiling point. Do not allow it to boil.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together until light and creamy.
- Whisking continuously, pour the hot milk over the egg mixture and return to the pan.
- Heat gently, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a film on the back of a wooden spoon. You'll be able to drag your finger over the back of the spoon and it will leave a line. Do not let it boil or it will separate.
- Remove the custard mixture from the heat and stir in the broken pieces of white chocolate. Stir until melted. Cover in cling film and leave to cool to room temperature.
- Add the cream and vanilla seeds and transfer the mixture to the fridge to cool completely for a few hours.
- Meanwhile, to prepare the sorbet, coarsely chop the whole clementines and place in a saucepan along with the caster sugar and water. Bring to the boil and simmer, with the lid on, for 10 minutes.
- Puree with a hand blender and leave to cool before adding the lemon juice and Goldschlager.
- Transfer the mixture to a freezerproof container and freeze for a few hours.
- When the ice cream mixture is cold, churn in an ice cream machine.
- Line a 2 litre freezerproof bowl with clingfilm and spoon the ice cream into it. Cover the back of a 0.5 litre freezerproof bowl with cling film and press down into the centre of the ice cream to make a well. Place in the freezer for a few hours.
- When the ice cream is hard, remove the bowl in the centre.
- Transfer the frozen sorbet to a food processor and blend until it is light and creamy. Spoon the sorbet into the hole in the ice cream so that it is level. Return the ice cream to the freezer and leave over night.
- To serve, tip the bowl upside down over a serving dish, remove the cling film and dust with icing sugar, if desired. Serve immediately.
Environmental Information
OTHER ICE CREAM BOMBE RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Christmas Pudding (No Churn) Ice Cream Bombe by Fuss Free Helen
LINKING UP WITH A FEW FOOD BLOGGING CHALLENGES
We Should Cocoa by Tin & Thyme, guest hosted this month by Munchies & Munchkins
Simply Eggcellent by Belleau Kitchen
Recipe of the Week by A Mummy Too
Tasty Tuesdays by Honest Mum
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Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary received an ice cream maker from Magimix for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. This is not a paid post. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links, highlighted in orange, which means if you click through and make any purchase at all via Amazon we will get a small commission and you will be helping to support our family.
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This bombe looks incredible! I have always wanted to buy an ice cream maker, but fear that it would become another one of those kitchen fad gadgets that end up in the back of the cupboard!
Your photos are sensational! xx
This is identical to one I saw in the local supermarket over Christmas when I was put off by the price.This would cosy just a fraction. What an eye-opener !
That looks so elegant and I just love the flavour combinations, fabulous!
What a show-stopping dessert! How elegant this would look on a New’s Year’s party table!
What a lovely dessert! And no judging here…I’d eat this in the bath too! 🙂
You had me at white chocolate! What a delicious and show-stopping dessert this is! Yes, please!
This looks fantastic. I love clementines. Thanks for joining in with we should cocoa
Looks heavenly! Gotta try this one. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Thanks Kimberly! Let me know what you think if you do make it!
Looks absolutely gorgeous! I might try this one!
Thanks Bethanie – let me know what you think if you do!
Beautiful! I’ve never been an ice cream person (it makes me thirsty. I hate being thirsty!) but I could change my mind with this. Really lovely. 🙂
How intriguing! I wonder why that is! 🙂
I am stuffed from the Thanksgiving meal and all the leftovers. I could use some healthier, lighter meals! Thanks for all the great ideas!!!
Glad to be of a help, and I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!
This is just amazing.
Aw thanks! 🙂
Oh my, this looks absolutely delicious! I’ve yearned for an ice cream maker for so long – I’ve just put it on an Amazon wishlist which I am about to send to my OH!
Yay! I hope Santa is good to you this year 😀
Oh and thanks for the slinky linky to Simply Eggcellent xxx
My pleasure Dom, thanks for hosting!
Oh my word, how beautiful is this. Such a wonderful idea and I love the colour of the clementine core! A great Christmas alternative!
It is a rather attractive shade, isn’t it! Very festive. 🙂
This is an absolutely gorgeous dessert!!!
Thanks Aly 🙂
Beautiful!! Clementines are so versatile… And thanks for correcting my ignorance as to how bombes are made – clever clever! This makes me long for the hot Chirtsmases I grew up with in South Africa. This would be a perfect dessert there 🙂
Aw, so glad to have been able to teach you something! 😀
This sounds absolutely heavenly. I love white chocolate but have never paired it with orange before so I would like to see how that tastes.
They go really well together for sure. 🙂
This looks absolutely stunning! I have an ice cream maker that has never even come out of the box (although I have a plan for it next week). I would love to make desserts like this, but I think I would make such a mess of it.
It’s a really simple recipe to make, you’d be surprised! I hope you enjoy your ice cream maker once it’s out of the box! 😀
Absolutely beautiful looking cake!
I suppose it is an ice cream cake of sorts! Thank you 🙂
This looks beautiful! I’m sure this cake will impress a bunch of guests! 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Stunning doesn’t even begin to describe this. So beautiful. I’ve never heard of Goldschlager being used in sorbet – quite fantastic!
I used it since that’s all I had, but it totally worked! 😀
WOW! This is stunning and the flavours sound amazing. I love that you ate some in the bath – too funny. 🙂
Heehee, we all have our guilty secret pleasures. I like food in the bath 😀
Wow this looks incredible!! I never tried making an ice cream bombe before, but I really should try! Can I have a slice? 🙂
Oh you should give it a go! It’s so easy to make 🙂
Mmm – inspired to give this a go, although will probably try the no churn version as I have no maker!
This looks yummy. I will love to try this recipe this Christmas.
Give it a try! It really is simple to make. 🙂
Just wow! This looks very impressive! I’ve never tried making an ice cream bomb before and until I’d read this I don’t know where I would begin. You’ve made it look so easy. Thanks for posting
PS. I love that you used Goldschlager to stop the ice cream freezing too hard. Genius!
Aw thanks! I hope you try and make one some time. It’s really easy to do!
Such a stunning dessert. I love the colours and the flavours would work so well together. Must now make a bombe!
Let me know how you get on if you do! 🙂
this recipe looks amazing so pretty – definitely a showstopper on any Christmas table. R
thanks Rosana 🙂