Melted Ice Cream Is a Great Substitute for English Cream
Last Sunday night I watched old episodes of the Great British Baking Show in a mask and yelled into the TV. My friend is new to the show, so we caught up with her. When one of the contestants covered his snow egg (inexplicably real dessert), I reached a kind of boiling point.
“English cream is the thinnest custard ever! You can just as well use melted ice cream! “I scoffed in a tone that older men usually use when screaming at water droplet formations in the sky. The next morning, my video producer Joel sent me the following message:
Immediately, I felt a wave of warm golden pride flow through my veins. My instincts were correct, and anyone who disagreed with my custard intake would disagree with the Countess herself. It was similar to the time when Elton Brown sanctioned my Bologna version , but better because I value the approval of women more than the approval of men.
Anyway. In case you’re unfamiliar, English crème is a sweet custard sauce made with egg yolk, some dairy, sugar, and vanilla found in vanilla ice cream. As Ina explains in her new book, Cook Like a Pro, “Vanilla ice cream is essentially English cream that is frozen. I flip the process and get an English cream! “It’s very smart. And, as a person who – while in a slightly altered state – recently put very expensive ice cream in the refrigerator instead of the freezer, this is also a trick that is very applicable in my life.
However, it should be noted that good ice cream should be used. Anything that contains a lot of fillers and stabilizers will be unpleasant to melt, so get a Häagen-Dazs or better. Place the bowl in the refrigerator – or on the counter if you’re in a hurry – let the ice cream melt, then pour over any dessert that requires English cream. You can use it on a snow egg – which, again, the British love to eat, I suppose – but the warm bread pudding sounds a little more appealing.