mondomulia

Autumn has arrived early in London, the weather has been gloomy and rainy for two weeks now and the summer clothes have officially been put away. I can't complain though, as summer 2014 was the hottest summer in London to my memory (I moved here eight years ago). I can tell this because for the first time since I left Italy I wore sleeveless tops and sandals for weeks in a row.

The hot weather spell meant that I didn't use the oven much for baking and instead I took my ice-cream maker out of storage and used it regularly to experiment with different recipes. I made coconut ice-cream, milk chocolate ice-cream and a delicious batch of vanilla custard cream ice-cream!

Right in the midst of my ice-cream craze, I received a box of the new summer edition Lindor Strawberry & Cream Truffles to review and I was asked to prepare a recipe using these chocolates.

They are delicious and indulgent white chocolate truffles filled with strawberry pieces and the famous Lindor smooth melting filling.

I made a White Chocolate ice-cream and mixed it with pieces of these truffles, then I served it with homemade strawberry sauce. The result is a sweet and intense ice-cream, yet not too rich as it's egg free. The delicate strawberry sauce adds flavour to the dish, while the truffles add texture.

I usually mix chocolate chips into ice-creams and cakes as I love the feeling of biting something crunchy. It's like hiding little sweet surprises that will make you happy later when you feel the chocolate piece melting in your mouth. Extra chocolate is always good, right?

Ingredients

Adapted from Chew Out Loud blog. Makes around 800g of ice-cream.

• 10 Lindor Strawberry & Cream truffles
• 50g packed brown sugar
• 100g granulated white sugar
• 175ml whole milk
• 350ml double cream
• 150-200g white chocolate, melted
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

For the strawberry sauce (for two portions)

• a handful of strawberries, washed
• 1 tbsp sugar

Preparation

Chop the Lindor chocolates to quarters and leave aside.

In a bowl, combine both sugars with milk and whisk until sugars are dissolved. Add the cream, melted chocolate and vanilla.

Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of ice cream maker already switched on. Add the chopped Lindor chocolate into the bowl, in small quantities so that they evenly spread into the cream.

Churn the cream for 30 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and creamy. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze overnight or until ice cream is to a desired consistency.

Take the ice-cream out of the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving it.

Serve with strawberry sauce, made by cooking a handful of washed chopped strawberries in a pan with a spoonful of sugar.

Read other ice-cream recipes on my blog: Raspberry Ice-Cream Sandwich.