Deconstructed Strudel Ice Cream

My mom decided to dust off a recipe she hadn't made in some time - strudel. She made enough for the family and filed it away again...I am sure for at least few more years. It's perfume-y and sweet filling is just a bit too much for frequent enjoyment. This time though, it inspired me to come up with something a little different, if just as decadent! I am going to de-construct the flavors into an ice cream. Why? Well, why not. I haven't used the ice cream maker in some time.

The key flavors in the family strudel are rose jam, prunes, and raisins. The taste is sweet and aroma pungent, with a hint of sour. The sweetness goes well with a relatively bland, but flaky crust. Chopped walnuts and / or pecans are usually added for a texture variant.

So... I am going to make a rose jam ice cream with spiked dry cherries (I think I need something more acidic for the creaminess of ice cream than raisins), on prune plum sauce with a phyllo square. I'll highlight the fall flavors of this ice cream with some cardamom, which goes well with tea rose flavor.



Tea Rose Preserve Ice Cream
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup of tea rose preserves with petals
  • 1 tbsp lime zest
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1/2 cup spiked cherries

Whisk egg yolks and slowly add sugar as whisking, until the mixture is pale yellow in color. Scald combined heavy cream and whole milk in a double boiler. Temper the milk into the yolk mixture slowly, add to the double boiler. Bring to a boil, just until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain from the double boiler bowl into a bowl on an ice bath and add the rose preserves. Mix and allow to chill to room temperature. Add in spiked cherries and lime zest and juice (add the juice to a little of the ice cream mixture to make sure it doesn't curdle, then add that back to the bowl). Cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Freeze in an ice cream machine (follow manufacturer's instructions of your machine). Place into freezer for a few more hours to set up and harden.
Note: If you don't have cherries you've prepared ahead of time, make sure you give them enough time to cure in alcohol, otherwise you'll have little icicles in your ice cream.

Prune Plum Sauce
  • 1 cup of pitted, prune plums
  • 3 cups of water
  • 1 tbsp sugar
Bring plums to a boil in water and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow the fruit to boil until only half the water remains, the fruit should be plump and soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Puree the mixture when it reaches room temperature and strain.



To assemble individual portions...
  • Bake store-bought phyllo dough, precut into 2.5 inch squares
  • Scoop a generous amount of the rose ice cream into a small pool of prune plum sauce
  • Insert a cooled phyllo dough square into the ice cream at an angle and sprinkle with cardamom
  • Add a couple of toasted, warm pecans

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