SYDMAKES: SWEET AS HONEY ICE CREAM

It's been a real good weekend so far. Even if the weather here in Las Vegas has been in the 100s, it's still a good day indoors. 100 degree weather calls for something cold and maybe sometimes something creamy. A few weeks ago, I made this really interesting flavored ice cream from Ample Hills Creamery's cookbook. The Sweet as Honey ice cream was a brand new flavor to me, thanks to the honey comb mix-ins. Anywho, let's get on with the recipe. 

3 egg yolks, 3/4 cup of organic cane sugar (I had organic cane demerara sugar, still had the same effect), 1/2 cup of skim milk powder, 1 2/3 cup of whole milk, and 1 2/3 cup of heavy cream. 

Making ice cream is not a new thing to me, but adding in milk powder was something completely different. I read in the cookbook that by adding the milk powder, it thickens the recipe and adds to the creaminess. 

Mix in the milk, milk powder, and sugar. Mix until all the milk powder has dissolved then stir in the cream. Clip a candy thermometer and stir, when the heat reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit, turn the heat off. Now this is where the egg yolks come in. Normally I just throw the egg yolks in and stir until it's of a custard-y texture, but the recipe called to temper the eggs. Pour some of the mixture into your egg yolks and stir until all dissolved and thoroughly combined. Pour it back into the cream mixture, clip the candy thermometer, and return to the stove on medium heat. When the temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, you're good. 

Prepare an ice bath in your sink, and transfer the cream mixture there to rapidly cool down. 

Now this was where my favorite part was, making the honeycomb. 

2 cups of organic cane sugar (again, I used demerara, same effect) 1/4 cup of honey, 7 tablespoons of golden syrup, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of baking soda. 

Golden Syrup is something I could not find for the life of me find in my local grocery store, so I looked up alternatives to it. I read somewhere that if you mix equal parts honey, to equal parts corn syrup, you mostly get the same effect. I did exactly that and for the most part, it worked out well.

In a large saucepan, whisk to combine the sugar, honey, and golden syrup mix with 2/3 cup of water. Clip a candy thermometer in and set the heat to medium-high. Continue cooking until the mixture hits 305 degrees Fahrenheit. Do be careful, the mixture will spit and bubble so as much as you can, stir as quick as possible to avoid getting burns.  

Once it hits 305 degrees, take it off the flame and with a whisk, vigorously mix in the baking soda for a few moments, and watch.

My whisk looked really cool, lol. 

The honeycomb mixture will stop growing at this point and look like the surface of the moon. 

I forgot to take a picture of when I transferred this to a buttered cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, so just imagine!! When I transferred it to the cookie sheet, I spread it evenly and quickly to avoid it solidifying immediately. I placed it in the fridge and let it cool for 30 minutes. 

I crushed up the pieces and let it aside for a bit. I just kind of wish I crushed them up a bit smaller, so that when I incorporated it into the ice cream, it'd be a bit more even. 

Well there you have it! Ample Hills Creamery's Sweet as Honey Ice Cream. To describe the taste, think of it as sweet like honey (lol), creamy, and with a crunch thanks to the honeycomb mix-ins. The taste of the honeycomb is very sweet, a little bitter because I think I cooked it a bit too long, and very sticky. Try this recipe out for yourselves and tell me how it goes, or tell the people of Ample Hills Creamery. 

For more information on Ample Hills Creamery, click here

Thank you for reading!

.s

A FEW FAVORITES

There are several bloggers out there who do a monthly favorites post and that's something I've always wanted to do. However, I don't think I have such an extreme dedication as to where I'll get something every month and love it extremely you know? So expect these posts to come and go sporadically. That and the things featured in these posts are pretty simple, if I do say so myself. 

Throughout the last days of May and the early days of June I've accumulated a few things that I've been using a whole lot. Some for art, some for daily activities. The first thing up is the Hario Ceramic Burr Grinder. 

I would never consider myself a coffee connoisseur (i still like to sometimes drown my coffee in sugar and creamer). But I can say that I've grown to appreciate coffee a lot more, so I went out and finally bought this burr grinder for myself. I got this as a present for my friend Nikki for Christmas and I fell in love with the design. My only complaint about this is that the English instructions attached don't tell you about how you can adjust the grinder to control the coarseness of the grind. You have to do it by trial and error to get the grind you want for the coffee beans. 

Next! A year ago I bought these Chiyogami Origami papers from Muji. 

Chiyogami refers to the repetitive pattern, but other than that this is like your ordinary origami paper. Like I've stated in many of my blogs before, I'm a devoted follower of Muji so when I saw the lovely designs the paper had, I went and bought it. In terms of Origami I'm so tempted to not use them to fold but for decorating my sketchbooks instead! My favorite pattern is the one I used for the Origami Lily. 

I realized that I wasn't such a kid anymore when I got really excited buying the next thing on this list, Ample Hills Creamery's recipe book. 

Ample Hills Creamery is a Brooklyn based ice cream parlor that produces some of the most interesting flavors of ice cream I've ever seen. What I love about this book so much aside from the recipes, is that the authors and owners, Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna, also write about the birth of their business and whatnot. I've made about two ice cream recipes from this book, one in particular you'll get to read about soon. My goal is that by the end of summer, I'll at least have made half of their creations! 

Music-wise, I've been loving Florence + The Machine's new album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.

This is Florence + The Machine's third studio album and the wait for it was well worth it. I was a huge fan of Florence when I was a freshman in high school but that died down when her band went on a slight hiatus. When she announced this third album I was so excited because I really did miss the sound she would put out! Long story short, I love this album. All the songs in it are like a blend of her first album, Lungs, and her second, Ceremonials. Queen of Peace, Ship to Wreck, What Kind of Man, and Delilah are some of my favorites on the album.

Lastly, my final favorite is De Vivre Magazine. De Vivre Magazine is a new independent platform that focuses on style, art, literature, and music. I also happen to be a contributor to this wonderful publication.

Issue One's theme was Being the Best You and I interviewed Nikki Maruyama and talked about how fashion helps define who she is. Aside from that, I also did a few fashion illustrations as well. The magazine also features several other articles worthy to be read, a look book, and many more. I'm so excited to be working on this magazine and to be apart of this amazing team. My intro on the about me page is so cheesy, haha.

Visit us at DE VIVRE MAGAZINE

That's it for the time being's favorites. I say time being because I'm not sure when the next favorites post is gonna be, lol. Thank you for reading, and be sure to be on the look out for that ice cream post, and De Vivre's next issue!

.x 

HOWTO: Cardboard Deer Mask

A few months back I discovered this wonderful etsy store called Wintercroft. Based in the UK, Wintercroft is run by husband and wife Steve and Marianne Wintercroft. They sell probably some of the most aesthetically pleasing animal masks I've ever seen, but here's where things get interesting. You don't actually buy the mask, you buy the template in order to create it. I love the hands on experience Wintercroft delivers. I also love their standing on recycling and helping the environment. 

Wintercroft believes that "by supplying the templates digitally and enabling people to build the masks themselves, no energy is wasted in both manufacturing or shipping. The masks are intended to be built from discarded, reused or recycled card. For example old cereal boxes are ideal. When you have finished with your mask you can strip the tape off and throw it in with the recycling."

Anything that's hands on and good for the environment, I'm in.

I've bought a few templates from them but today, I'll be showing a quick photoset with the mask that helped give me an A in my 3D Design Class. The Deer/Stag mask was a little challenging to make, but it was so cathartic putting it together and seeing it be built from a 2D design into a 3D one.

To save time, I printed the template directly onto cardstock. Handy tip, invest in a good cutting board and an X-Acto Knife with a bunch of extra blades.

 

Cutting and scoring along the mountain and valley folds. It looks like a mess at first but trust me on this, once you start matching the numbers up and taping it, it'll come to life right before you. 

 So from all those scraps of cardboard we had earlier, we get this:

Pretty rad huh? It took me a good 4 hours to construct this; the more tedious you are, the better the results. 

For more information on Wintercroft and where to buy their masks, visit their website right over here.

WINTERCROFT