Thursday 29 November 2012

Easy Rum and Raisin Popsicles

I have a particular fondness for rum-and-raisin-flavoured ice cream because it reminds me of my childhood. These fruity, boozy ice creams are so easy to make and make a great finish to a Southern Hemisphere festive meal.  They contain that most unfashionable ingredient, condensed milk, and are whipped together ready for freezing in under ten minutes (although you will need to soak the raisins for six hours in advance).

Rum and Raisin Creamsicles
Easy Rum and Raisin Popsicles. I took this picture on a hot day, and my oval
ice tray shattered as I placed it on the board. 

I'm impatient with foodsters who consider condensed milk (like its cousin evaporated milk) a trashy ingredient.  It's really versatile for quick desserts, its chief advantage over sugar being that you don't have to wait for it to dissolve. This recipe is loosely based on my Frozen Lemon Cream Dessert (from my book Scrumptious Food for Family and Friends).

I use shot/tequila glasses as moulds because I love their shape - you can buy these in bulk in big hypermarkets. If you don't have any ice-cream sticks, use silvery teaspoons (bowl side down), which work just as well.


Easy Rum and Raisin Popsicles

½ cup (125 ml) raisins
½  cup (125 ml) dark rum, plus more to taste
1 x 385 g tin condensed milk
1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) good instant coffee (this produces a pleasing colour)
1 tub (250 ml) whipping cream

Soak the raisins in half a cup of rum for about six hours, or until they have absorbed most of the alcohol. Strain them (reserving the liquid), place them on a board and chop them roughly, leaving a few whole. Put them into a mixing bowl along with the rum they soaked in and add the condensed milk, lemon juice and coffee. Whisk well to combine. In a separate bowl, beat the cream to a soft peak, then  fold the cream very gently into the condensed milk mixture.

At this point, you may want to add more rum to give the ice creams a proper kick.  I add about a quarter of a cup (80 ml) more, but you can gently mix in up to 100 ml extra.  Don't overdo the rum, however, as alcohol can inhibit the freezing of ice cream, and your lollies will not hold their shape when you unmould them.

Spoon (or pipe) the mixture into the glasses or your moulds, filling them right to the top, and push in a stick or teaspoon. If the sticks won't stand upright, wait for 20 minutes, or until the mixture has firmed a little.  Freeze for 6-8  hours, or until solid.  It's tricky getting these to stand up in a freezer with drawers, so I suggest you empty out a drawer and put a small tray in it. Push the drawer half closed so it's standing level, then put the glasses on the tray one by one before pushing the drawer all the way closed.

To remove them from their moulds, heat a damp dishcloth in the microwave and briefly wrap it around each glass while gently twisting the stick and pulling upwards.

Serve on a bed of crushed ice, or on an ice sheet made by pouring water into a tray and freezing it overnight.

Makes about 12 lollies, depending on the size of your mould.  


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10 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! These ice creams look gorgeous! And I agree - condensed milk IS an absolute must have ingredient when you bake, always have a few tins in the pantry... xxx

Kitchenboy said...

Sjoe! They look delicious!

Alida Ryder said...

Oh, J-A, we are too alike. I have just made a Vietnamese coffee 'popsicle' that I will be posting on my blog this week! I LOVE your idea of using rum & raisin. Also my favourite ice cream and I can't stand it when it's not garish coral in colour! ;)

Lauren said...

This is delicious! I made a bowl of ice cream, since I didn't have shot glasses. I only added about 20-30ml extra rum, which turned out to have been a good call, because it's harder to freeze in the big dish, I think. I also gave it a good mix every few hours to distribute the raisins, which tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Thanks for the great recipe! I'll be making loads of this, especially since ice cream is rather rare in Ethiopia, where I'm living at the moment. Do you have any suggestions for flavour variations using the same basic ingredients (cream, condensed milk)?

Jane-Anne said...

Thanks my friends. Anina, glad you feel the same way about lekker condensed milk! Alida, I'll look out for those coffee popsicles.

Lauren, thanks! Ethiopia? Wow! I think I will amend the recipe to note that if you're freezing it in a big dish it needs longer. Or perhaps that it should be frozen in smaller containers, such as metal loaf tins. How about coffee flavour (see Alida's post above)? Also, have a look at my recipe for the lemony version - there's a link in the blog post. I guess you could use any liqueur in this recipe, plus matching fruit or nut - Frangelico and hazenuts, cherry liqueur and bottled cherries, and so on.

Lauren said...

Thanks Jane-Anne! I'll have to give the lemon recipe a miss until I get back to SA, because you don't get lemons or frozen berries here, but I was thinking of trying this ice cream with limoncello. Coffee would be great too (I used strong filter coffee instead of instant for the rum and raisin recipe, and loved the flavour it added), and it'd be fun to experiment with other liqueurs, perhaps in small batches...

Steve said...

This turned out to be the simplest possible ice cream to make for a large crowd of adults, plus swarms of kids too small and fast-moving to count. (Heisenberg uncertainties in portion control)

No custards, no cornflour slurries, no pre-chill, no churning ... just quadrupled the recipe and slopped it straight into 2l ice cream containers. Set perfectly and went over a treat with the crowds.

Hint: locals love Spiced Gold. Seriously. Just tell them it's Spiced Gold ice cream and stand well clear.

Jane-Anne said...

Hi Steve and season's greetings to you. Thank you for your feedback. It is - as always - very much appreciated. Spiced Gold Icecream: YES! I am going to insert that suggestion into the text, and the tags. I bet you South African pageviews will double overnight. |All the best - J-A

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Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things said...

Hi Jane... rum and raisin was my favourite since childhood too! Lovely ice cream popsicles... I'd love to blog the recipe with links back to yours if I may. Kind regards Lizzy