BSFIC: PB&J for grownups

One thing I have learnt about creativity is that there really is no such thing as an original idea. Every time I think of something, a couple of seconds on the internet search engine of my choice throws up thousands of other people who have had the same idea first.

I'm OK with that. Really.

But I only realised just how accustomed I was to the situation when I had an idea, googled it and got no hits. I used every combination of search terms I could think of and came up with nothing. I started to panic. How could I have come up with something original? Surely someone else had thought of it first? Had everyone already had the idea, seen it was flawed and discarded it?

Apparently I am not psychologically suited to being a trailblazer.

I thought about it a bit more and decided that the only way forward was to have a go and see if it worked. So my entry for this month's Bloggers scream for ice cream event, with an "edible containers" theme, is in part an entirely original idea.

You see, ever since I tasted the Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Me Up I have been wondering about the best way to combine the flavours of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in an ice cream. And one idea I came up with was to make a raspberry choux paste and fill the profiteroles with peanut butter ice cream. But every way I searched for flavoured choux pastes turned up profiteroles filled with flavouring, not being inherently flavoured themselves.

What I did was puree some frozen raspberries that were languishing in the freezer, strain them and use that (it was about 1/4 cup) as part of the liquid in the choux. It went OK initially, but I think my eggs were too big - I should have added them more gradually, because the paste went from feeling fine to being too wet, so I knew it probably wasn't going to rise and dry out properly. I also mixed through some freeze-dried raspberry pieces, to boost the flavour and add a bit of textural interest.

Next time I'm adding some food colouring

I spooned (no hope of it holding for piping) mounds of the too-sloppy paste and topped them with some pearl sugar and a few more pieces of the dried raspberry. This was another error of judgement - I should have waited until the buns were cooked and then stuck the bits on with some edible glue, because the sugar melted and the raspberries lost their colour.

So they had a good raspberry aroma and subtle raspberry jam flavour, but were not the crisp, airy puffs I had been envisaging. I still think my totally original idea is sound though.

For the ice cream element I made a peanut butter ice cream with boozy butterscotch ripple. I thought it was lovely, but Paul felt that it was a bit hard going - too nutty and not creamy enough and not as nice as my Seville orange ice cream. A friend who gave the recipe a go agreed with him (she served hers with pan-fried bananas which sounds like a very good idea to me). So if I were to make this again and intended to share, I'd use 50% more cream and condensed milk and leave the other quantities the same.

Peanut butter scotch ice cream

150g condensed milk (225g if you have Paul's wimpy palate)
150g peanut butter (I prefer crunchy peanut butter with salt but no added sugar and I think it is the right thing for this - gives a good texture and the salt enhances the flavours)
2tbs scotch whisky
130ml double cream (200ml i.y.h.P.w.p)
2tbs caster sugar
2tbs water
40ml double cream, extra
2tbs scotch whisky, extra

In one bowl, mix the condensed milk, peanut butter and scotch.

In another whisk the cream to fairly firm peaks, fold the cream into the condensed milk mixture and freeze in a plastic box for an hour.

While it is freezing, caramelise the caster sugar in the water. Mix the extra cream and scotch together. When the sugar forms a nice amber caramel, remove from heat and immediately stir in the cream and whisky mixture. It'll spit and bubble, but stir to a smooth sauce. Cool.

Take the semi-frozen ice cream from the freezer, pour dollops of the sauce over, giving them a bit of a fold through. Freeze.

Serve scoops of the ice cream in raspberry choux buns. Or with fried bananas.