Malted Milk Heaven

I haven't been very good at practicing "being in the present moment" lately.  I've been spending time longing for Summer weather instead of enjoying the beauty of Spring . I should be making things with rhubarb or asparagus,instead I'm experimenting with ice cream.  I keep hoping that if I surround myself with things associated with Summer then Summer will come.  So, after this recipe I really am going to work on enjoying Spring !  When I walked the dog last night the sun was shining and tulips,daffodils and cherry trees were in bloom everywhere.  Spring really is a beautiful time in Seattle. My favorite thing to see is all of the blossoms carpeting the ground-it's so pretty-makes me feel like a little fairytale princess walking through a magical spot. See, I am enjoying Spring..kind of (even if I had my woolly cap and winter jacket on ).

After my walk I was wandering through blog land on my computer and came across Michael Ruhlman's blog post about David Leibovitz's Malted Milk Ice Cream.  Seriously, how could you go wrong with something recommended by Michael Ruhlman and created by David Lebovitz ? So, being in the Summer state of mind I knew I was going to make the Malted Milk Ice Cream. And besides, the ice cream recipe called for adding malted milk balls (you know Whoppers) to the ice cream.  This recipe is so creamy and rich and oh so delicious. It needs to be served in small portions. That is if you can contain yourself once you taste it.  J wanted to sit down with the ice cream maker and a spoon, he loved it so much.

Then my next challenge was , what could I serve this with to jazz it up a bit ?  Not that it needs jazzing up-I could be happy and content with a small bowl and spoon. I remembered that I had bookmarked a blog post about Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies. Hmm, malted milk ice cream + malted milk chocolate chip cookies-bonus. I reviewed the recipe from Buns in My Oven and knew they would be perfect with the ice cream. First I was going to make the bars and just top them with the ice cream. Then I thought of making ice cream sandwiches. But then I remembered I had these Savarin moulds I hadn't had a chance to use yet and thought they would be excellent for the idea that was brewing in my little baker's head. I was thinking of baking the cookies in the moulds,plating them with some type of sauce and topping it all with the malted milk ice cream.  Taking simple ice cream and cookies and elevating them to something a little more elegant,

So I started to Google Malted Milk syrup and of course just kept running into Ovaltine-didn't want to plate my delicious little bars in Ovaltine !  I was ready to give up when I decided I would just plate them in some type of caramel sauce-so that was the next thing I Googled, and that is how I found Sherry Yard's fantastic creamy caramel sauce.  Now this recipe is perfection as is,but of course I wanted to tweak this a bit so I added chocolate and malted milk powder.  Oh my goodness-just the right amount of chocolate and caramel and the hint of malted milk. This is exactly what I wanted.

Malted Milk Chocolate Caramel Sauce

Adapted from Sherry Yard's Creamy Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, warmed to 100 degrees F
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch salt (less than 1/8 teaspoon)
• 3 tablespoons malted milk powder (Carnation or Horlicks, shouldn't use Ovaltine)
• 1 1/2 oz of bittersweet chocolate-chopped into small pieces

Directions

Heat the cream on low heat until it is warmed to 100 degrees F. Add the malted milk powder and whisk gently until dissolved. While the cream is still warm add the chopped chocolate and stir gently until chocolate is melted. Set this aside.

Heat a saucepan of water and place a whisk in it.

Wash and dry your hands thoroughly. Combine the water, 1 cup of sugar, and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Stir them together with very clean fingers, making sure no lumps of dry sugar remain. Brush down the insides of the pan with a little water, using your hand to feel for any stray granules of sugar.

Cover the saucepan and place it over medium heat for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Do not stir from this point on. Keep an eye on the pan. It will be very bubbly. When stray sugar crystals appear on the side of the pan, brush them down with a wet pastry brush.

As the sugar cooks, the bubbles will get larger. Insert a candy thermometer, and when the temperature reaches 300 degrees F, lower the heat to medium, which will slow the cooking. Continue to cook the sugar until it reaches 350 degrees F. It will be dark brown. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 1 minute, or until the bubbles subside.

Add the cream mixture  to the caramel. It will bubble up vigorously, so be careful.

Vigorously whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, creme fraiche, lemon juice, and salt. This sauce is now ready to be served warm or cooled to room temperature. It will keep stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. When cold, it has the consistency of peanut butter . I poured it into a squeeze bottle and will be able to warm it in the microwave as needed.

To assemble this fabulous dessert, I squeezed out enough malted milk chocolate caramel sauce to cover the plate.  I placed one of the Savarin moulded Malted Milk Chocolate Chip bars onto the bed of sauce. Then I topped the bar with few tiny scoops of the Malted Milk Ice Cream, drizzled some of the sauce over it and sat down to Malted Milk Heaven . Bon Appetit !

You can find the recipe for David Lebovitz's  Malted Milk Ice Cream here on Michael Ruhlman's blog.

And the recipe for the Malted Milk chocolate chip cookies here on Buns In My Oven-the only tweak I made to this recipe was the amount of chocolate chips: I added 2 cups of milk chocolate chips and 1 cup of coarsely chopped malted milk balls.

And Sherry Yard's delicious  Creamy Caramel sauce recipe (without my additions ) can be found here at the Food Network site.