Olla-Podrida: "Offspring"

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Billie’s Chocolate Ice Cream

Lately, I have become (and I hesitate to use this word, but it’s embarrassingly accurate) addicted to a pleasant little Australian drama/comedy now on Netflix called “Offspring.” A friend of mine from high school (male) got me started watching it. I hadn’t anticipated liking it, because I am a dyed-in-the-wool fan of British television, mysteries in particular, but he had willingly accepted so many viewing challenges that I had thrown his way, that I felt that I owed it to him to watch at least one episode. Six episodes later, and nearing 4 o’clock in the morning, I had to stop. I was hooked from the very beginning. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about the Proudman family of assorted misfits, and all of their misadventures. It is about life, and love, and loss, and misunderstanding, and is seriously hard to stop watching. The casting is excellent, and I doubt that you’ll find a quirkier bunch than in this series. It got to the point where I had to limit myself to one episode per night in order to keep from losing any more sleep.

Last night I was watching an episode where oldest daughter, Billie Proudman (played by Kat Stewart of “Mr. & Mrs. Murder”), received some bad news. She barricaded herself in a room, crawled beneath a pile of blankets, and wouldn’t speak to anyone unless they brought her chocolate ice cream. At that moment I was reminded that I didn’t have any chocolate ice cream on hand. What if I encountered some sort of emergency, late at night? What would I do? It was then that I decided to make some to keep in the freezer just in case.

Here is an easy, no-churn recipe that you can do without standing for lengthy periods of time in front of the stove stirring up a custard, adding eggs, and praying to God that they don’t curdle. It’s astoundingly good, and a must to keep on hand, you know, just in case of emergency. :-)

Billie’s Chocolate Ice Cream

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Hershey‘s special dark cocoa, sifted
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Pinch of sea salt
2 cups heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Whisk together condensed milk, cocoa, espresso powder, vanilla, and salt. Fold into whipped cream, one half at a time, until combined. Pour into a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan and put into the freezer. It will be ready to scoop and serve after five hours. Conversely, if you have an ice cream maker, freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Eat while barricaded in your room, hiding under mounds of blankets.