Ice cream at Christmas: Christmas desserts revisited
Christmas means gifts, love, family and food. Lots of food, especially sweets. December is that month of the year in which gluttony sins weigh a little less and we willingly give in to an extra slice of pandoro or an extra piece of nougat.
For sweet artisans such as pastry chefs and ice cream makers, December means creations that combine tradition and experimentation.
Maestro Iginio Massari, for example, makes changes to his panettone every year, especially in the aromatic parts, those that give it more palatability and greater enjoyment. In fact, the master claims that “The quality of the product is not static, because needs are always changing”.
An element that allows you to renew Christmas sweets by giving space to creativity is the ice cream , which candid as the ideal ingredient to enrich Christmas delicacies.
Ice cream in winter: good even at Christmas
Ice cream is no longer just a summer love. Thanks to the use of seasonal ingredients it is possible to enjoy a cone or cup even during the coldest months of the year.
Tastes therefore accord with climate and temperatures: here is the orange with walnuts, chestnut with bay leaf, ginger and cardamom, persimmon and pears, marron glacé.
In winter ice cream changes its consistency and becomes even more velvety on the palate while maintaining its nutritional properties unaltered.
Even in winter, the master ice cream makers show their creativity and professionalism. Last year, during the Christmas period, Master Paolo Brunelli offered ice cream bars in his temporary store in Ancona. A pocket-sized chocolate in the most requested flavors in his ice cream parlor in Senigallia, from Crema Brunelli to Dark to Portonovo and Cioccoriso.
And it is precisely at Christmas that winter ice cream has its most magical moment. Let’s find out how ice cream can give new life and flavor to classic Christmas desserts.
Panettone
Panettone is the Christmas cake par excellence. It is the warmth of Christmas, it evokes family, friends and conviviality. Its most traditional recipe calls for sultanas and candied fruit, but there is no shortage of reinterpretations and gourmet flavors elaborated by master pastry chefs in their laboratories.
How is panettone transformed when it meets ice cream?
There are different interpretations and recipes. First of all, the panettone stuffed with ice cream. In this preparation, the panettone is left whole, hollowed out inside so that it can accommodate the ice cream. You can enrich the presentation with a coating of chocolate icing.
Then there is what is called panettone ice cream: a classic panettone that becomes a Sicilian brioche to be filled with stracciatella or extra dark chocolate ice cream.
Creative proposals come from Italian master ice cream makers, who suggest a version of panettone with candied ginger and chestnuts, filled with marron glacé ice cream and 70% dark chocolate, or what is called the “Panettone with landscape”, with pieces of milk or dark chocolate, glazed with chocolate, crowned with a Christmas landscape.
Pandoro
The pandoro is considered the antagonist of the panettone in the Christmas challenge of the best dessert, creating real sides at the table and in the family.
In its classic version, pandoro is a particularly soft dessert made with flour, eggs, butter, vanilla and covered as desired with a light layer of icing sugar.
The encounter between ice cream and pandoro allows the versatility of the Veronese dessert to emerge.
In the pandoro cake, the dessert is broken down into horizontal layers that create a tall star-shaped cake. Ice cream is used to fill this cake, choosing from the creamiest flavors such as chocolate, stracciatella and vanilla.
Pandoro and ice cream can also create a Christmas version of zuccotto. The pandoro is decomposed and becomes the “shell” of the zuccotto, which is then filled with a semifreddo and then left to cool in the freezer for a few hours.
Finally, we have the flavor of Pandoro.
An ice cream with a simple flavor made with cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, acacia honey, lemon peel for an unmistakable aroma. The touch of tradition given by the Veronese leavened product recalls that unique sensation of a slice of cake, inebriated by the scent of icing sugar.
Nougat
The almond nougat is one of the typical desserts of the Christmas period. Its traditional recipe calls for egg whites, honey and sugar and is stuffed with toasted almonds, walnuts, peanuts or hazelnuts. Often covered with two layers of wafer, it can be hard, soft, with chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts or candied fruit.
The nougat flavor is born from the union between this specialty and ice cream. An original and mouth-watering creamy dessert spoon, perfect for the Christmas table.
Alternatively, the nougat can lend itself to other interpretations, becoming a delicious semifreddo.
The Yule log
The Christmas log or buche de Noël is a traditional French dessert.
In its classic version, it is made up of a stuffed and rolled Savoyard biscuit base that recalls a tree stump thanks to its shape and decoration.
The making of this dessert refers to the ancient tradition of the European countries of the Yule log, that is the custom of burning a log of wood, starting from Christmas night until the new year, as a sign of good luck.
The ice cream lends itself to being a delicious filling for the Christmas log.
There are many variations and choices.
From fillings with dark chocolate to fruit ice cream, from versions with a softer texture to frozen desserts, from classic Christmas decorations with marzipan hollies and meringue mushrooms to more modern and structured versions decorated with macarons.
Noteworthy are the Christmas logs of the French master Pierre Hermé. Real masterpieces of taste, with an elegant shape and essential decorations.
The French master offers different flavors and combinations, from the one with rose, raspberry and lychee to the one with milk chocolate, passion fruit and toasted pineapple up to the one with lemon and hazelnut pralines.