Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing? As you like it

Blue cheese ice cream in a tuille with chocolate fudge,
orange toffee and orange soaked raisins

Procrastination. I'm a Goddess of it. At the moment I should be cleaning the house, preparing school work OR marking. SO I decide to a) take the dog for a walk b) write this blog and c) make a dessert for this Sunday afternoon. Inspired by Heston Blumenthal and his odd combination of flavours I've been wondering what blue cheese ice cream tastes like, especially after Kylie made the winning dessert on Masterchef and Heston was licking it all up. 
So as part of my procrastination I have whipped this calorie fest up: Blue Cheese and Honey Ice cream Sundae with Warm Chocolate Fudge Sauce, Muscatels and Orange .


It's a simple ice cream recipe  but it combines blue cheese and honey into the base mixture, which actually came out creamy and thick. For once I used the thermometer to reach 80C when stirring the custard over heat, which might be why.
The tuilles were a little harder to make. I substituted the walnuts for coconut due to Mr Darcy's allergic reaction to all thing nuts. They were a bit fatty and oily and thick for my liking, though they sort of shaped like cones. Might need to procrastinate more and practise this technique to perfect the art of tuilling.
Then I made the raisins soaked in orange juice and cream cheese over the boil- they plumped up and oozed the flavours. 
Made the sugar syrup for the toffee and just as it set I grated orange rind over it- best toffee I've made as of yet. And didn't have isomalt or know what it was. Just left it out! 
The chocolate fudge is like a ganache, added with more cream cheese.


Then the fun! The assembly! And as you can see they look like a treat. And the taste? Best ice cream flavour as the blue cheese is a mere hint and not overpowering at all. The orange flavour of the toffee and the juicy raisins complimented it nicely, while the chocolate drizzled on top we just kept adding. 

Definitely licking that bowl.


A must try for something different. A dinner party perhaps? This recipe is a keeper and I might use it as my signature dish for a wow factor. Might do a taste test and let them decide what the ingredients are.


Now off to that marking.

Ingredients

Ice cream

• 250mlmilk
• 250ml pouring cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 110gblue cheese
• 120g honey, warmed

Tuiles

• 100g caster sugar
• 50g butter, melted
• 75g walnuts, blitzed to fine crumb
• 25g plain flour
• 50ml orange juice, strained

Muscatels

• 100g honey
• 100g dried muscatels
• 200ml orange juice
• 10g blue cheese

Isomalt

• 150g isomalt
• 150g caster sugar
• 30g glucose syrup
• 30ml water
• 1 orange

Fudge Sauce

• 50ml milk
• 150ml pouring cream (35% milk fat)
• 10g blue cheese
• 100g dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids, chopped
• 50g chocolate 50% cocoa solids, chopped

To serve

• 50gblue cheese
• 50g chocolate 50% cocoa solids, chopped
• 5g orange zest

Method

Preparation: 1 hour + 45 minutes chilling
Cooking: 1 hour 10 minutes

1. For ice cream, warm the milk and half the cream in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk egg yolks until pale and thick, add 1/3 of the warm milk mixture, whisking constantly until combined then pour in the remaining milk mixture and remaining cream. Strain into a metal bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until it reaches 80°C or coats the back of a wooden spoon.

2. Crumble the blue cheese into a bowl, strain the custard over the blue cheese and whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk in the honey. Chill until cold. Add dry ice, whisking until set, then cover and keep in freezer until required. N.B. If you can’t get dry ice, churn the custard in an ice cream machine until firm.

3. For tuiles, preheat oven 160°C. Mix all the ingredients together to form a paste. Cut a 10cm circle template from baking paper and place onto a silicone mat. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into the centre of the template and spread to an even thickness using a palette knife. Remove template. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven, stand for about 2 minutes to firm slightly then wrap around a metal cone. Set aside to cool.

4. For muscatels, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the muscatels have absorbed all the liquid. Set aside to cool then remove the seeds.

5. For isomalt shards, combine isomalt, sugar, glucose and water in a saucepan, stir until sugar has dissolved. Bring to 160°C on sugar thermometer, without stirring, cook for 5 minutes at 160°C or until the isomalt has dissolved. Pour onto a silicone mat and spread to about 2mm-thick. Zest the orange over the isomalt evenly. Leave to set then break into shards.

6. For fudge sauce, heat the milk and cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Crumble over the cheese and stir until smooth. Combine the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Strain the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth.

7. To serve, place the tuiles in serving glasses. Sprinkle walnuts, muscatels, blue cheese, chocolate, orange zest and isomalt shards down the centre of the plate. Scoop the ice cream into tuiles, pour over sauce and serve.