I made this week’s recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie twice. Yes. it’s that good but I also had issues with the way my “Esquimaux Pops” looked đ This is basically a recipe for no-churn ice cream (Esquimau is a national brand of this type of ice cream pop in France) made from an egg custard base whipped with lots of heavy cream and a touch of alcohol (I used CrĂšme de Cassis once and Bailey’s a second time) to keep the mixture from freezing too hard. In France, where I made these the first time, I only had access to dollar store popsicle molds and they didn’t work out so well in my less than powerful freezer. They froze up beautifully – if a little too hard – but were difficult to remove from the molds “cleanly”. I mean they tasted fabulous but weren’t the prettiest. Dorie suggests coating these with “hard crack” (i.e. Magic Shell/ Ice Magic) chocolate but that requires coconut oil which I didn’t have in the house in France. No matter, we ate them anyway!
On returning home, one of the first things I did was to whip up a half batch of the ice cream because I had an idea for an alternate presentation…Â As soon as the ice cream was hard enough to scoop, I used my mini cookie scoop to make tiny truffle-like ice cream balls. Then I made Dorie’s hard-crack chocolate and dipped them in. Oh, my….
THIS is the way this ice-cream needs to be enjoyed in my opinion! The ice cream is fairly rich so a smaller serving coated with the chocolate shell is perfect. These last (if you can resist!) a week or so in the fridge – they might turn frosty in the meantime but once they are removed from the freezer and sit at room temperature for a few minutes, their shine returns. The chocolate shell is exactly how you remember it from when you were a kid (though I’d love to know what you could use instead of coconut oil as it does flavour the chocolate quite strongly).
Aren’t they cute?
I’ll be making both the chocolate shell and the ice cream again, I am certain. Together and separately.
Get the recipe for Dorie’s Esquimaux Pops for Grownups here or on p 386 of Baking Chez Moi. The recipe for the Magic Shell can be found here or on p 445 of Baking Chez Moi.
Tuesdays with Dorie participants don’t publish the recipes on our blogs, so you’re encouraged to purchase Baking Chez Moi for yourself which you can do on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store in your country) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us, baking our way through the book!
Please note: This post contains product links from Amazon and The Book Depository which are affiliate links, meaning if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price which goes towards maintaining eat. live. travel. write. Thank you in advance!
I love your idea for the second go-round. They remind me of the little ice cream bon bons my mother used to eat when I was a kid. Your dollar store molds worked better than by $5 molds from Bed Bath and Beyond… I couldn’t get them out at all!
Yes my mum used to make little ice cream bon bons too! I know I’ll be making them again!
What a great idea Mardi. I will have to try the chocolate dipped version when I get a chance to make these. Glad they were a hit and I look forward to making them.
The chocolate dipping brings them to a whole new level!
Oooh, now these icecream balls look fabulous – yes, please.
Just like Ice Magic only better!!
Those look scrumptious!
So very, very good!
I need these, now!
They are excellent. I am enjoying one with a coffee as I type this!
They look yummy!
Did you fine a substitute for the coconut oil?
Nope, not yet! I JUST made these last week but I am working on it!
i love those bon-bons– too cute and of course I’m sure too delicious! (I wonder…would vegetable oil work as well as coconut oil?)
I need to try that as soon as I’m done with my first photo shoot for the book – they sound like an excellent way to celebrate!
Wonderful post Mardi. Thank you.
I made the bonbons with the crack chocolate rather than the ice pops and they were greeted with accolades by our Sunday dinner guests.
They reminded me of the frozen “bonbons” that we used to be able to buy in the movie theater many years ago. These, of course, were much better.
For Labor Day (U.S.) I am torn between these frozen in a loaf pan and Dorie’s Marquise au Chocolat. In any event, they will both have the crack chocolate coating. My guests thank you in advance.
Oh YES – I remember those bonbons that you used to be able to buy like that.. So good! In terms of what to choose for Labor Day – I would say that this mixture might be a tad hard to get out of the loaf tin so go for the Marquise – that’s another of my absolute favourite desserts of Dorie’s! Enjoy!
OK, the Marquise it will be!
Enjoy!!!
Your little ice cream “truffles” look heavenly!
THanks so much!