Spiced Orange Ice Cream Sandwich

Name: Spiced Orange Ice Cream Sandwiches
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 2 oranges, scrubbed, rinsed and dried; 1 litre vanilla ice cream; 2 candied clementines, finely chopped; ¼ cup (60g) finely chopped cedro; 4 pitted dates, finely chopped; 20 pistachios, skinned and finely chopped; 1 x 18cm x 10cm brioche loaf; 50g salted butter, melted; 2 teaspoons icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting; 2 teaspoons ras el hanout, sifted; 12 mint leaves

I created these spiced orange ice cream sandwiches as ‘hot & cold cross buns’ for Good Friday, using a cross template cut from cardboard to decorate the top. They’re great anytime though, left plain or decorated with other shapes such as hearts for Valentine’s Day. The flavouring for the ice cream is inspired by Janni Kyritsis’ spiced orange salad (see the video below for another of Janni’s super easy desserts). Buy the best quality ice cream you can or make your own and incorporate the orange zest and juice into the custard. You may need to order the brioche in advance from your baker or patisserie. I use vivid green Persian pistachios from Saffron & More, buy those or vibrant Bronte pistachios from Sicily. If you can’t find cedro or candied clementine, use candied oranges or any other candied fruit you like. As for a drink, I like a little Cointreau on ice or straight up with my spiced orange ice cream sandwiches. This recipe makes enough ice cream for 10 sandwiches, eat any leftover within a week or so as the texture’s best when it’s fresh.

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 oranges
1 litre vanilla ice cream (1 quart)
2 candied clementines, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped cedro (60g/2oz)
4 pitted dates, finely chopped
20 pistachios, skinned and finely chopped
1 x 18cm x 10cm brioche loaf (7″ x 4″)
50g salted butter, melted (1¾oz)
2 teaspoons icing sugar, sifted,
plus extra for dusting (6g/⅕oz)
2 teaspoons ras el hanout, sifted (6g/⅕oz)
12 mint leaves

Method

Clean oranges with a plastic scourer to remove any wax or chemicals.
Finely grate the zest from the oranges, then juice them.
Strain orange juice into a saucepan and boil until reduced by about two-thirds (about 80ml/⅓ cup). Set aside to cool.
Place ice cream in a large bowl. Add cooled orange juice, zest, clementine, cedro, date and pistachio and use a spatula to fold it through until everything is well distributed.
Transfer to a shallow tray, press baking paper onto the surface and freeze until firm, ideally for at least a few hours.
Use a 7cm (3″) ring mould or cookie cutter to shape 6 x 3cm-thick discs (2½″ x 1″) of ice cream. Place on a baking paper-lined tray and return to the freezer until very firm.
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
Cut 12 x 1cm-thick (½″) slices of brioche and use a sharp 7cm (3″) cookie cutter to cut discs from each slice.
Place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and brush the tops liberally with butter.
Combine icing sugar and ras el hanout and sift liberally over 6 of the discs.
Bake brioche for 5–10 minutes, until plain discs are golden and the icing sugar mixture on the others is bubbling but not burnt.
Place 1 plain disc, toasted side down, on each serving plate.
Top each with a mint leaf, then an ice cream disc, another mint leaf and the icing sugar-topped brioche disc, toasted side up.
Place a cross template on top of an ice cream sandwich, dust with extra icing sugar, carefully remove template and repeat with remaining sandwiches.
Serve immediately.