Ina Garten Has a Easy Answer for Melted Ice Cream

Melted ice cream would possibly call to mind a tragic fallen cone on the pavement. However for Ina Garten, it’s the key to shortcut crème anglaise, a traditional custard sauce that elevates selfmade recipes into restaurant-worthy desserts. Making crème anglaise from scratch may be time-consuming, however for this trick Garten actually simply melts vanilla ice cream — how simple is that? 

“Vanilla ice cream is actually crème anglaise that’s been frozen,” explains Garten in Cook dinner Like a Professional. “I reverse the method and find yourself with crème anglaise!” She doubled down on the tip in a 2023 video for Goldbelly, serving her “crème anglaise” beneath a chocolate layer cake.

What’s crème anglaise?

Crème anglaise is a sometimes vanilla-flavored custard sauce that’s made by whisking egg yolks and sugar in a bowl, then tempering with eggs and scorching cream earlier than slowly mixing all the pieces collectively in a saucepan. In the event you’ve ever made selfmade ice cream, you recognize this is similar base that will get chilled and churned to make the frozen deal with. 

By beginning with vanilla ice cream, you’re primarily reverse-engineering the method. The important thing: utilizing a high-quality vanilla ice cream (or “good ice cream,” as Ina would say). She swears by Häagen-Dazs, however search for any pint with at the least 12% milk fats; the principle elements needs to be ones you’ll be able to pronounce like cream, milk, egg yolks, and sugar. 

To soften ice cream, gently warmth it in a saucepan over low warmth, or nuke it within the microwave in 30-second increments, on low energy. You may as well depart your ice cream within the fridge for just a few hours, or on the counter throughout dinner (be certain to not depart it out for longer than two hours, although). 

Consider crème anglaise because the ice cream portion of a traditional à la mode pairing. It’s particularly scrumptious with truffles or desserts that may lean on the dry facet, since they’ll absorb the additional liquid — attempt it with a traditional pound cake, bread pudding, or molten chocolate cake. However actually, this versatile custard sauce will complement nearly something you determine to serve it with. Spoon a little bit on a plate beneath your dessert for a chic contact, or serve it in a saucer alongside.