Food

HOT BEAUTIFUL FREEZE PLEASE

Courtesy of Rebel Without a Fork. The Icecreamists.

When it’s frozen outside, we normally don’t think of eating or drinking frozen things, but we found some hot inspirations. If you want to indulge in a beautiful hot freeze taste sensation, we’ve got you covered -- from new finds and new spins on frozen hot chocolate, to Dark ‘N Stormy slushies, to frozen and torched Molotoffee Cocktails, and more.

Image: Courtesy of Mitchell Beazley.

THE ICECREAMISTS

“The Icecreamists ,” by Matt O'Connor, is a new book that features the hot frozen antics of one of the edgiest ice cream boutiques in the world. With a flagship store in Covent Garden, London, The Icecreamists have been churning out wild concepts and total frozen deliciousness since they opened in 2009.

Photo: Courtesy of Stories from distant shores. Icecreamist.

IceCreamists are frozen treat geniuses. For example, they can wow you with Dragon’s Breath French Macaroons and Tiramisu, when you eat them, smoke will coming out of your mouth and nostrils. You have to dip the treats into liquid nitrogen first which makes the macaroon/tiramisu extremely cold and crunchy. Chew, breathe, and poof -- you are a dragon!

Photo: Courtesy of Hungry Female. Icecreamists.

They caught everyone’s attention with their Baby Gaga/ Baby Googoo ice cream flavor, made with human breast milk. Lady Gaga sued and lost. No worries.

They shocked us with the Sex Bomb: fior de latte with citrus scent, ginko bilabo, arginine, guarana and other natural stimulants designed to increase blood flow; and the Molotoffee Cocktail: crème de banane Liqueur topped with dulce de leche ice cream and toffee, topped with a pillow of soft meringue, then blow torched with rum; deep dark chocolate Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll; and The Cold Sweat, with chilli, ginger and lemongrass zing to give you the shivers, shakes, rattles & rolls.

And now, you can recreate the beautiful freeze fantasies at home just by following the funky instructions in The Ice Creamists’ sizzling new book.

Mitchell Beazley (2013)

Photo: Paul Takeuchi. Hot Chocolate Float from The Chocolate Room

HOT CHOCOLATE FLOAT

Frozen hot chocolate was first ladled out by Serendipity 3, the iconic fantasy ice cream parlor in New York City, over 60 years ago. And it is still damned good. Since then, it has been copied, tweaked, and advanced by those they have inspired.

We love the Hot Chocolate Float from Brooklyn’s The Chocolate Room. They top a mug of dark hot chocolate with a scoop of homemade bourbon vanilla ice cream and send you on your bliss.

Photo: High Heels and Good Meals. Serendipity 3 Frozen Hot Chocolate

Once closely guarded, now publicly shared, here is Serendipity 3’s original recipe for Frozen Hot Chocolate. They currently serve this to about 10,000 customers each month.

SERENDIPITY 3’S FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

Ingredients:

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 tablespoons Ghirardelli cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Hershey's cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Scharffen Berger cocoa powder
Pinch salt
1 cup milk
3 cups ice
Whipped cream
Shavings from a semisweet chocolate bar

Directions:

Combine sugar, dry milk powder, cocoas, and salt in a small bowl.
Pour the milk into a blender, add the dry mix and ice. Blend until all the ice is crushed and drink is smooth.
Pour into a large goblet and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Add spoon and straw and serve.

Photo: esimpraim. Frozen Hot Chocolate.

350 YEAR OLD CHOCOLATE DRINK

Now it turns out, Serendipity 3 wasn’t the first. Dr. Kate Loveman, from the University of Leicester, recently published a new paper, called The Introduction of Chocolate into England in the Journal of Social History. She found that 350 years ago, the culinary genius and inventor of our most popular lunch item, The 4th Earl of Sandwich, had the original frozen hot chocolate Eureka moment. Here’s his recipe:

"Prepare the chocolatti [to make a drink]… and Then Putt the vessell that hath the Chocolatti in it, into a Jaraffa [i.e. a carafe] of snow stirred together with some salt, & shaike the snow together sometyme & it will putt the Chocolatti into tender Curdled Ice & soe eate it with spoons."

Photo: Courtesy of Food Republic. Frozen Dark ‘N Stormy.

If you’d rather have your heat from spice and your ice from storms, check out this Frozen Dark ‘N Stormy from Food Republic.

FROZEN DARK AND STORMY

Ingredients:

1 cup ice
2 ounces Goslings Black Seal Rum
1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
3 teaspoon ground allspice
3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoon powdered ginger
3 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 teaspoon jerk seasoning (found at Caribbean grocery stores)
1 cup water
1 cup Demerara Sugar
2 tablespoon sliced fresh ginger (or more as desired)

Directions:

Pan roast powdered spices on high heat for one minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
Make an equal parts simple syrup with water and demerara sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add sliced ginger and let boil until thickened. Add toasted spices, stir, and set aside to allow spices to infuse the syrup, chill until ready to use.
In a blender add ice, rum, and lime juice and crush until smooth.
Pour into a glass and top with the syrup made previously.
Garnish with mint leaf and serve.