It’s Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day.

I’m not sure where that could lead us, but one time, in one of my newspaper columns there was a mistake in the printed copy of my recipe for vanilla ice cream. Instead of listing vanilla as an ingredient, the newspaper copy listed the ingredient as Dijon mustard!

You can imagine the calls I got for the mustard ice cream recipe!

Actually, there is such a thing. Gourmet Magazine printed a recipe for mustard ice cream to go on top of gravlax. And food writer Patricia Wells wrote about mustard ice cream on top of gazpacho.

Mustard ice cream for dessert though? Uh uh. No way.

I’m sure there are lots of creative dessert ice cream flavor to try. However, I never stray far from this one: Normandy Ice Cream. It’s from an old French Cookbook “La Cuisine” by Raymond Oliver, who was once the chef and owner of the world-renowned Grand Vefour Restaurant in Paris.

Normandy Ice Cream is basically coffee ice cream but it also has Grand Marnier in it. Very sophisticated flavor, not too alcoholic. This is the kind of ice cream you eat by itself. It doesn’t need sprinkles, fudge sauce or nuts or anything.

The recipe is easy. You can mix it up in a home ice cream maker. But if you have a bowl and electric mixer you don’t even need an ice cream machine (the machine will of course make the ice cream smoother). I’ve changed the instructions somewhat from the original recipe.

Raymond Oliver’s Normandy Ice Cream

• 4 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup Grand Marnier
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee

Beat the cream, adding 1/2 cup sugar gradually, until the mixture is thick. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks with the remaining half cup of sugar until the mixture is thick and light yellow. Beat in the Grand Marnier and instant coffee and blend in thoroughly. Fold the coffee mixture into the whipped cream. Blend thoroughly. Freeze in 2 shallow pans for about 45 minutes, then beat the mixture again and return to the freezer until hard (you can use a pretty mold). OR: place the coffee mixture in an ice cream machine and proceed according to manufacturer’s instructions.

NOTE: this includes raw egg yolk, which might pose a health risk. If preferred, you can make this recipe by cooking the egg yolks into a custard: use 2 cups of the cream for the whipped cream. After you beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and light, stir in the remaining cream and cook this mixture until it is thick and coats the back of a spoon (or 160 degrees). Then stir in the Grand Marnier and coffee.

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