Holiday Ice Cream Puff Ring
A layered lovely dessert of peppermint ice cream studded with tiny puffs of cream puff pastry and doused with hot fudge sauce!
A fun, festive Holiday treat that pops with the sparkle of mint, crunches with the crisp of cream puffs and satisfies with the warmth of Hot Fudge sauce. Happy holiday treat for sure!
This layered ice cream dessert is something of a take on Profiteroles - the Italian dessert of ice cream placed in cream puff pastry (borrowed from the French Pate Choux) and drizzled with chocolate sauce. So Profiteroles turned inside out they are with the puffs placed in the ice cream and perhaps, more easily done.
The great unveiling is so much fun when the frozen dessert is easily turned out of the tube pan to stand firm and solid like a cake. To serve it, slice it like an Angel Food Cake and drizzle with the hot fudge sauce, then garnish with more crushed mint candies. Then let the pop, crunch and Mmmmm begin as you present this festive crown of red, green, chocolate and mint!
Holiday Ice Cream Puff Ring
2 quarts ice cream: vanilla, peppermint, chocolate or any combo to create at least two different colors for the layers in the dessert. I use the vanilla so I can color it and flavor it as I like.
1 cup water
½ cup butter (1 stick)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 whole eggs
Peppermint or mint extract
Peppermint candy canes or mints, about ½ cup crushed, red or green
Red & green food coloring
For Hot Fudge Sauce
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate baking squares
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cups sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or mint flavoring if you prefer)
-In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring frequently. Stir in sugar and then evaporated milk with a whisk. Bring to a boil over heat, stirring frequently. Let boil for 5 minutes then remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and a small pinch of salt. Cool until just warm, stirring from time to time.
For the Ice Cream Ring:
-In a medium saucepan, add the water and butter. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Dump the flour and salt into the boiling water and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 1 – 2 minutes or until mixture balls together in the middle of the pot. Remove from heat and place into a stand mixer fitted with a wire whip. Beat on low speed for about 1 minute to release some of the heat.
-Add eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each on medium-high speed or until each egg is well incorporated into the mixture. After the addition of the last egg, beat a further 2 minutes or until mixture is smooth and glossy.
-Spoon dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet into small balls the about the size of a nickel. Bake in 375 degree preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until balls are puffed up and golden. Turn off oven and prop door open slightly with a wooden spoon or oven mitt and let rest until cool.
-Meanwhile, let half the ice cream sit at room temperature, mixing from time to time, until ice cream has melted to where is it just stirrable. Add red food coloring, ½ teaspoon peppermint extract, 2 - 3 tablespoons of crushed peppermint candy and stir until just combined. Gently stir in half the cooled pate choux puffs.
-Spoon into the bottom half of a straight-sided tube pan and place in the freezer.
-Repeat second ice cream layer as described above, but color with green food coloring. Add peppermint extract and crushed candies (or crushed oreos or chocolate chips) according to taste or omit them from this layer. Stir in the other half of cooled puffs.
-Spoon the green layer of ice cream over the frozen pink layer and return to freezer. Freeze until solid for at least 6 hours or overnight.
-When ready to serve, remove ice cream from the freezer and allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Have a serving tray ready, then submerge the bottom half of the tube pan into hot water placed in a large bowl or in your kitchen sink. Hold the tube pan in the water for a minute or two until the ice cream loosens slightly from the sides of the pan.
-Invert ice cream onto the serving platter and return immediately to the freezer.
-When ready to serve, remove from the freezer and decorate with artificial holly leaves, frosted cherries, or holiday picks. Serve with hot fudge sauce in a separate serving container. Slice ice cream as you would a piece of cake, about 1 ½ inches thick. Serve with hot fudge sauce, sweetened whipped cream and cherries if desired.
Soften ice cream until just stirrable then dye and add mint extract and crushed mind candies.
Spoon and smooth pink ice cream into bottom of tube pan to create the first layer.
Soften other half of ice cream, add green dye, mint extract and chocolate chips, crushed oreo cookies or crushed mint candies.
Gently stir tiny cream puff balls into softened ice cream.
Layer green ice cream on top of the pink layer in the tube pan.
Smooth green layer over pink layer then freeze for several hours.
Turn ice cream out of tube pan and to serve, slice it like you would a cake.
Spoon hot fudge sauce over each serving and garnish with more crushed mint candy.
PERSNICKETY NOTES:
**This dessert can be prepared any time of the year - don’t save it only for Christmas! Try layers of favorite flavors such as cookies and cream with a chocolate layer, caramel pecan with a vanilla layer, a Neopolitan version with layers of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, or pistachio, cherry and vanilla? Any of these would happily accept the little choux puffs and be amenable to various sauces - caramel, strawberry, marshmallow!
