Fall Flavor of the Week: Caramel Coconut Pie

 

   So, the leaves haven't deepened to their rustic hues and the temperature still has not dipped to those crisper, I-love-this-weather-so-all-my-windows-are-open-kind-of-days yet. But here at Shireshack, we like to think it has, and Fall it gloriously lingering just over the hills.
   When this season annually arrives, an array of desserts appears that we just don't see in any other part of the year. What I anticipate so eagerly are the pies. OH, the Pies! And the Thighs!
   Pies can be done so many different ways, and are truly inspiring. I am a firm believer in the nostalgic and believe we, as humans, are always trying to return to our childhoods. So, I use things from my earlier years, things that brought me joy and fond memories at the table with my family, as inspiration for my ice creams.
   My mother used to make this ice cream pie for my brother's birthdays; it was his favorite. We were not versed in the art of ice cream making then, so she simply used store-bought vanilla ice cream, let it soften, mixed it with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk; topped it with coconut and caramel. It was a pie. It was childhood. It was ridiculous. It was good.
   Thus, with the colloquialism of the Shirey Brothers, we resurrected a childhood favorite, and froze it; and Caramel Coconut Pie ice cream was born.

Caramel Coconut Pie - perfectly toasted coconut ice cream ribboned with caramel and cinnamon-graham cracker crust and studded with fudge covered pecans

   I recently purchased a book. A magical book. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home. Slap me on the butt and call me, Charlie! Jeni knows what she's doing. And what she's doing is right.
   So, Jeni does not use eggs in her ice cream like I do. At first I eyed her with skepticism. But that quickly changed when I began to read about why she did what she did, and completely shattered when I tried her method for myself.
   Jeni uses science to make her ice cream perfect. And perfect it is (though I haven't exactly tried it yet, only tried her method). By brother in NYC has tried the real thing, and said it was fantastic. See, in NYC they have all the latest trends. Here in Tuscaloosa we have last year's trends.
   So, this new method uses milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, cream cheese, and corn starch. Jeni had my same views of Today's ice creams being too sweet, so she reduces the sugar amount. The corn syrup is a way to sweeten the ice cream with less sugary strength. I thought the cream cheese was crazy because it would give the ice cream a cheesecake flavor. But the amount is minimal, and instead it acts as a major emulsifier. The hero is the cornstarch. Corn starch acts as a water shepherd. When it is added it forces any stray water in the mixture to bind with itself, and therefore eliminates all chances for that water to turn into icy particles. How neat is that?
   That's pretty neat.


 

   The process began by toasting coconut in the oven until it golden tipped and its fragrant aroma filled my apartment. That's the best air freshener. I then steeped the coconut into the hot milk and cream for thirty minutes. This allowed the milk to wick out the flavor of the toasted coconut, leaving me with a slightly tan, coconut milk-cream. I could have stopped there and I know everyone would have still been satisfied with the taste.
   But I didn't.
   I strained most of the coconut out before I put it into the ice cream maker. I wasn't successful in straining all of it out, but I thought that the sparsely populated strands would be little flavorful presents for those lucky enough to find them in their pint.
   My new experimental way of making the ice cream turned out far better than I ever expected. If Jeni uses it in her ice creams, then I knew it was good enough for me. The texture and consistency was perfect, better than any store-bought or scoop shop ice cream I've had. It was creamy and smooth and no trace of ice could be found.

   It seems as though I have finally got my foot on my arch-nemesis, Isie. But that does not mean I will let up. I must press on to other flavors, unknown, and untested. Happy Eating and Happy Fall.

 
-Reese O'Shirey, Esquire

Talenti - Sea Salt Caramel

   As promised, here is the second of my Talenti flavor reviews, albeit delayed.

   Sea Salt. That is what caught my eye with this one. It is a BIG thing these days if you use sea salt in anything, even more so if you use it in a dessert. But wait. Salt in something sweet? Yes. Adding a touch of salt, especially high quality salt like sea salt, will enhance the natural sweetness of the dessert. If you say 'Made with sea salt' on your ice cream description, page, label, whatever, then people will flock to it "like the salmon of Capestrano".

   As with the previous Talenti flavor, this one was exceptionally smooth. I have never had a store-bought ice cream (gelato) with this kind of quality and texture. Cuts like butter. (I have to test that guar gum out for myself to see if it will work for me)

   The caramel base was a bit like sticking your nose into an oven that has charred food droppings lying in the bottom. It tasted like burnt caramel. That should be saved for the creme brulees of the dessert world. Yuck. Now, this ice cream was not quite that bad, but it did have hints of smoke. But you might ask, 'That's what caramel is, isn't it? Burnt stuff." No. It is burnt sugar, but you can burn caramel too. This is done by allowing the sugar to burn, making an amber caramel; then letting that caramel sit in the pan even longer until it too becomes burnt and a deeper brown color. That is when the taste becomes drastically different.
   The salt did add a great flavor to the caramel though. It was the saving grace. I am a huge fan of adding salt into my ice creams whenever I can. I think ice creams today are far too sweet, so I counter balance all mine with a touch of salt (a little more than a touch in my flavor 'Roasted Honey Nut'). The initial notes are of sweet, and partially burnt, caramel, but then the saltiness flows in like the great flood of Noah's day. Salt is where it is at.

   Ok. I thought the ice cream stopped there. No, sir. Unlabeled and unseen, these dark squares appear in my scoop. I checked the label again. 'Sea Salt Caramel'. Alright, then what is this?

   That, my friend, is a chocolate truffle. Very tasty little devils, I might add. They too had a touch of sea salt, and it worked marvelously with the dark chocolate. Sweet and salty: the greatest combo since peanuts and butter...
   Peanut butter.
   What I mean is, they were good. But only by themselves. The flavors clashed horrifically. The flavor of the salty caramel was powerful and potent. The salty chocolate truffles were equally powerful, though on a smaller scale. This gave rise to a epic war inside the mouth. A battle for top taste. As a result, I was the one wounded, and confused about which taste I wanted. I had no other choice than to take them together, which led to a re-battle!
   The caramel should have been the only thing in there. There was no need for them to add those chocolate truffle squares. That pushed this flavor over the top, and flew me over the cuckoo's nest.

 

  So, naturally, I crushed up some Oreo cookies for a little more action (expelling the white stuff). Talenti gelato is so incredibly smooth that is became obnoxious. I had to do something to balance it. CRUNCH. Ice creams are made to have crunchiness in them. Oreos are perfectly crunchy. Caramel and Oreo? Yeah, much better.

Thanks for reading. I now have another Talenti flavor in the freezer, so watch out for it.

-Reese O'Shirey, Esq.

P.S. Can anyone name the movie I quoted at the end of the first real paragraph?