I can count the number of pastry chefs I can name on one hand, so it must be safe to say that Christina Tosi is a culinary genius. I’ve never even been to New York and I’m not even much into sweets and I know more about the Momofuku Milk Bar than most restaurants here in Montreal. I first heard about the cereal milk ice cream in passing, a signature soft serve item there, and thought it was an interesting idea. I vowed to try out when I first obtained an ice cream machine and then promptly shelved the idea, referring to how it was meant to be my first flavor in every ice cream related post thereafter.

If you were to have asked me at that time, I would’ve thought it would be nothing more complicated than simply making a custard out of residual milk from a cereal bowl. It really should be as simple as that, shouldn’t it? I stumbled upon this recipe through David Lebovitz and that idea went awry. The pictures were gorgeous and the recipe sounded official and that meant I had to trust it over my gut. So I made this recipe instead of trying to create my own.

It would be wrong to say that it doesn’t produce a good ice cream, because it does, it just does it in a horribly inefficient manner. The main reason for this is that it derives the cereal milk flavor from a large quantity of “cornflake crunch” (basically a cornflake granola) – which uses a stick and a half of butter and almost an entire box of cereal that are later simply thrown away. This is soaked in a liter of milk that is later awkwardly squeezed out of a soggy cereal mess to amount to a scant cup. The cornflake crunch topping makes sense, its usage as a flavoring ingredient does not. From my consumer perspective with supermarket prices, it adds (cost of a box of cereal, three cups of wasted milk and the butter) something like $9 to the ingredient cost just to infuse that milk. For a pint of ice cream to cost more than $10 to make did not seem logical.

I made a few revisions, churned up my alternate and presented both ice creams to my neighbors and their children as my blind tasting guinea pigs. They actually thought my cereal milk ice cream had more cereal flavor than the original recipe. Their little girl, who doesn’t even like ice cream, ate quite a bit of it. There was a small issue in that I used sweeter cereals than the original corn flakes and forgot to compensate by a reduction of sugar in the custard, but I have corrected that in the recipe I will share with you, should you choose to attempt it at home.

With many thanks to Cafe Fernando for a fantatic post that got me to finally make this flavor, here’s what I did to modify the recipe to be more economical, evidently more flavorful and less of a headache.

1. I vastly reduced the quantity of milk and cereal and the ratio of cereal to milk. It didn’t seem conducive to concentrating flavor, but went beyond the concentration point, wasting several potential breakfasts.
2. Without knowing what cereal would be used in Momofuku’s ice cream, corn flakes would not be my first choice. The defining flavor of cereal milk is some sort of harmony of milled grains and refined sugar that seemed better defined by more guilty pleasure cereals. A bonus of cereals like Captain Crunch or Corn Pops is that they still retain their shape when they become soggy and are far easier to strain out of the milk.
3. I eliminated the crunch ingredients that were essentially thrown away unutilized. That means the butter and some of the sugar. I kept the milk powder though, as it definitely helps to bolster the texture and flavor.

That’s it really. The rest of the recipe was just a basic custard base. I was originally planning on toasting the cereal in a dry skillet to try and bring out some of its “cerealiness” but after attempting this it didn’t seem to be making a huge difference. So in the sake of honesty this was an omitted step in the recipe below, but I don’t believe it all that important. I did, however, toast the milk powder, which was referred to as the “MSG of baked goods” in the original recipe, which likely makes a difference.

MY Cereal Milk Ice Cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• 3.5 ounces (105g) guilty pleasure cereal (Captain Crunch, Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, etc.), lightly crushed
• 2 ounces (60g) skim milk powder, toasted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Combine the milk and cereal in a large, flat container to ensure that all cereal comes in contact with the milk. Let sit until cereal softens, then strain in a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth into a clean bowl. This will yield approximately 1 cup of cereal milk.
2. Heat the cereal milk with skim milk powder, sugar, salt and vanilla in a pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it just begins to boil.
3. Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and whisk lightly. Remove the milk from the heat and whisk a few tablespoons of it into the egg yolks to temper them. Slowly incorporate the remaining milk into the egg yolks, then transfer everything back into the pot.
4. Return the pot to the heat and cook, stirring often, until thickened. Strain immediately into a clean bowl, mix with heavy cream and cover with plastic wrap directly against the surface to prevent a film from forming. Refrigerate for at least four hours before churning in an ice cream machine.

Confession: I’d never actually made a fruit tart before or really ever eaten one. The season for peaches, plums and the like here is so painfully short and even shorter in Alberta that I almost consider it non-existent. Therefore, my lifetime consumption of sweet pies is almost exclusively comprised of berry, apple, pecan, lemon meringue or pumpkin with the occasional banana, coconut or chocolate cream thrown in for good measure.

I’ve been seeing pictures of fruit pies turning up everywhere lately and few desserts look so elegant and beautiful to me. The shades of peaches are so reminiscent of the sun itself that how could they not capture our warmest season? The vibrant hues of orange and red look so stunning in food porn that it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to slice into the dish and eat it.

Okay, maybe not that hard to imagine. Making this was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy, though a fairly messy endeavor. It always surprises me how much liquid comes out of fruit when you macerate it for even a couple of minutes, and I’m surprised just a few tablespoons of cornstarch helped bind it all together into anything but a runny mess. I added the zest and juice of an orange for a bit of acidity, which gave everything a very pleasant warm marmalade essence.

I must admit I was nervous that this was going to turn out a soggy bottomed mess, but the crust baked surprisingly well and even with a bit of caramelized juice spillover, the cleanup wasn’t all that difficult. It’s safe to say that I loved this tart and would make it again in a heartbeat.

Peach and Nectarine Tart

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen and cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup shortening, frozen and cut into cubes
• 3 tablespoons ice water

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 pounds peaches, pitted and sliced into eighths
• 2 pounds nectarines, pitted and sliced into eighths

1. To make the pastry: sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter and lard into the flour mixture with your fingers, a fork or a pastry cutter. Gradually add small increments of ice water into the contents, handling as little as possible, until they just barely hold together as a dough. Divide the dough into two portions, wrap loosely with plastic wrap, press into a disk shape and refrigerate.
2. Combine the sugar, orange zest and juice, vanilla extract and cornstarch to make a goopy slurry. Toss the peaches and nectarines in this mixture and let sit at room temperature for half an hour, tossing occasionally.
3. Roll out one of the pastry disks to fit a 12″ tart shell and press into its form. Prick the bottom lightly with a fork and chill for another 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees with the oven racks positioned in the center.
5. Remove the pastry shell from the refrigerator and arrange the peaches and nectarines in an overlapping spiral. I’ll freely admit I don’t understand how to do this seamlessly, as is evident by the image associated with this recipe.
6. Pour the residual juices evenly over the tart and bake until the crust has browned and the juices are bubbling in the center, about 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing the mold (this will be a tricky operation if you allow the caramelized juices to solidify) and then cool to whatever temperature you find yourself patient enough to attain before slicing and eating.

Another experiment with all this surplus sour cream was to try a sour cream pastry crust. After making two tarts with this I can conclude the following: pastry made with sour cream is more expensive, more fattening (if you can believe it!), harder to work with and produces a less desirable result. But that’s just my opinion! I’ve included the recipe in case you’re inclined to make such a thing, but I am certain I never will again.

The pastry wasn’t a total failure. In fact, it actually rolled out better and was easier to manage than my typical pate brisee type crust that I work with. It’s just not as flaky, not as crisp, not as… dry. Still, the crust is just one part of the equation, so let’s focus on better things for now.

Having made a Fig Tarte Tatin not too long ago, there’s nothing new or inspired here in comparison. The difference between these plums and those figs is that they were kind of sour from the get go, which produced a rather tart tart. I might be guilty of overbaking this a touch (though I swear that wouldn’t have redeemed the pastry!) and made the plums a bit too soft and yielding, but the flavor was very nice. Not so much on its own, but I served it with a dollop of sweetened creme fraiche and really liked the combination. Dessert doesn’t have to be cloyingly sweet and I really like that contrast in flavor. Surprisingly, this came out of my non-nonstick pan easier than the nonstick pan I made the fig tart with. I’m still scratching my head over that one.

Plum Tarte Tatin

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen and cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup shortening, frozen and cut into cubes
• 3 tablespoons ice water

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-3 pounds plums, halved and pitted

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees with the racks positioned in the lower third of the oven.
2. To make the pastry: sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter and lard into the flour mixture with your fingers, a fork or a pastry cutter. Gradually add small increments of ice water into the contents, handling as little as possible, until they just barely hold together as a dough. Divide the dough into two portions, wrap loosely with plastic wrap, press into a disk shape and refrigerate while preparing the plums. You could also try the sour cream crust recipe below, but I don’t really recommend it.
3. Place the sugar and a little bit of water in a 12″ skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and cook attentively until it starts to develop a golden caramel color. Remove from the heat as it begins to turn amber and quickly work in the cold butter with a spoon to stop the cooking, being careful as this will cause it to foam up. Stir in the vanilla, then arrange the plums, cut side down, in the caramel sauce. Cool completely.
4. When the caramel has cooled, remove one of the pastry disks from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out into a circle roughly an inch wider on both sides than the pan (a 14″ circle). Place the pastry over the pan and gently tuck the edges into the pan to make a rimmed edge. Place into the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.
5. Soon after removing the pan from the oven (or the caramel will harden and you’ll have a hell of a time removing the contents), wearing oven mitts or using dish towels or what have you, place a plate on top of the pan and quickly invert the pan so that the tart ends up on the plate.
6. Allow to cool, dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with a lightly sweetened dollop of creme fraiche, clotted cream, thick yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

After working with several baking recipes using sour cream over the last couple of days, I can safely say my preference is to isolate it to batter baked goods like cakes, or pastry cream and custard type bases, because sour cream is simply not liquid enough to be a managable ingredient in drier preparations. From what I gather, sour cream in a lot of baked goods takes on a thicker form of buttermilk, using the acidity to add a certain tang and to activate the chemistry required for baking soda to act as a leavening agent. It is also substantially more difficult to measure accurately.

In a recipe like a scone, where keeping things chilled and manipulated as little as possible for the most flakiness, sour cream literally has be kneaded into the dough, while buttermilk can be easily whisked in and incorporated with a lightly managed fork. With that said, these scones were still surprisingly good (I think we ate four each… is that bad?) after being both kneaded and cursed at while sticking to the countertop and leaking butter everywhere. Tea, anyone?

Wild Blueberry Scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 1/2 cup wild blueberries, frozen
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup whole milk or cream
• 1/4 cup coarse sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with the oven racks positioned in the center.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the cubed butter into the flour using a fork or pastry blender, or simply smoosh it between your fingers to coat with flour and disperse throughout in pea-sized clumps.
3. Toss the blueberries in the dry ingredients to coat with flour and prevent them from bursting as much. Freeze this mixture for half an hour to thoroughly chill the butter for the kneading that lies ahead.
4. Remove the dry ingredients from the freezer and incorporate the sour cream with a spoon. Pick up the rather sticky mess of dough and lightly knead into a cohesive ball on the countertop.
5. Gently press or roll the dough out to square approximately 3/4″ in thickness, adding a thin coating of flour, if necessary. Dust of excess flour and cut the dough into four smaller squares. Cut the squares in half to make triangles, yielding 8 large scones, or in an X shape, yielding 16 smaller ones.
6. Place these on a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake until the tops are lightly browned, about 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before eating as soon as possible with a smear of jam, clotted cream or butter, as scones do not like to linger long outside of mouths and bellies.

I always keep frozen bananas in my freezer. In fact, I just picked up an entire basket of maybe 10 pounds of bananas for a dollar just yesterday and am right stocked up for whatever or whomever might require a vast quantity of bananas. I like to leave them in the peels, I don’t think it’s too much trouble to thaw them a minute to slice them off, but I know a lot of people peel them, freeze them individually and store them in resealable bags. To each their own.

The flesh of frozen bananas smooths out and gets very creamy, so even bananas alone can be pureed for a pretty satisfying and luxuriously ice cream-like consistency. Which is why I was a little disappointed in the texture of this ice cream flavor I tried to concoct because I overestimated the bananas ability to keep things creamy by themselves once everything had frozen. Freshly churned the texture was amazing though, and the taste just like what I’d wanted for a banana bread flavored ice cream.

I sweetened this with dulce de leche because it has a mellow caramelized flavor I figured would work better than trying to devise a brown sugar solution. Okay, for the sake of transparency, this was really more or less thrown together to satisfy a specific craving. But honestly, I think if this were more of a custard base, the texture of this would’ve been perfect and I’d have no complaints, so I’m posting it anyway. Ha ha!

Banana Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups dulce de leche
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, frozen
• (optional) 1/4 cup walnuts
• (optional) 1/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Heat the milk with the dulce de leche in a pot until the dulce de leche has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Chill in the refrigerator until cool.
2. Blend the chilled mixture with the frozen bananas and then churn in your ice cream maker until it reaches a soft serve consistency.
3. Mix in walnuts and chocolate chips, if using, and continue to churn until it reaches a firm consistency. Eat immediately because you know you want to.