Tricks of the Trade - Floating

floatsspirited By Anthony Caporale

There are lots of interesting flavored ice cream recipes incorporating spirits on the web these days, but unfortunately most of us don’t have the time to make fresh ice cream. Luckily, it’s not too complicated to enjoy frozen desserts with your cocktails. Using a good vanilla ice cream as your base, you can easily add many of your favorite beers, cordials, or even wines with minimal effort, then simply refreeze and enjoy. Try serving ice cream versions of the most common liqueurs – Chambord, Bailey’s, Frangelico, Cointreau, Drambuie – and mix these into existing recipes to create refreshing and unique summer cocktails. A Rusty Nail made by floating a small quenelle of Drambuie ice cream in your favorite Scotch may seem like heresy…until you try one sitting out on your deck (and if you enjoy Bailey’s you surely won’t object to whisky and cream). Add some Cointreau to lemon sorbet, set a scoop adrift in a good Tequila mixed with fresh lime juice and a dash of agave nectar, and you have a Margarita Float that will make you turn your back on frozen daiquiris forever. Any recipe that calls for cream or milk can easily be turned into a float by using ice cream instead. Look past the usual Mud Slides and Alexanders and you’ll find a world of flips, kisses, squirrels, and grasshoppers all waiting to swim around a scoop of vanilla. Try substituting chocolate ice cream for crème de cacao, mint chocolate chip for crème de menthe, or peach sorbet for peach schnapps. The beauty of this approach is that you don’t even need a blender – just grab a scoop and mix away!

When mixing alcoholic beverages into ice cream or sorbet, remember:

•Start with about 4 oz. of alcoholic beverage for a pint of frozen dessert. •Avoid using spirits (vodka, gin, rum, tequila and whiskey) as they have a high alcohol content and don’t add as much flavor as cordials. •Soften the dessert by leaving it out of the freezer or placing it in a microwave on low for 5-second intervals until soft, being careful not to thaw more than necessary. •When you can easily scoop the dessert through its center, transfer it into a bowl, add the alcoholic beverage, and combine thoroughly. •Cover it with plastic wrap, making contact with the dessert to keep air out and freeze overnight. Be sure to keep it away from the kids! •Experiment to get the final flavor and texture – there are worse ways to spend your time.

When using ice cream or sorbet to replace a drink ingredient, remember:

•Ethanol was originally used as a flavor carrier (and still is in extracts), so many of your favorite cordials will have a nearrelative in the frozen dessert section. Take a few minutes to look around. •Base the amount of ice cream or sorbet used on the volume of liquid ingredients. Sometimes just a small scoop in a rocks glass is all that’s needed; other times you’ll want a triple dip in a pint glass. •Don’t forget you can substitute for the mixer as well – lemon sorbet is basically frozen sour mix!

Black and Tan Float

IngredIents 1 Pint premium vanilla ice cream 4 oz. Bass Ale Guinness Extra Stout 1/2 oz. Crème de Framboise preparatIon Temper ice cream until soft, add Bass Ale and mix, refreeze. In a beer mug or pint glass add 2 scoops Bass Ale Ice Cream, slowly pour Guinness to top, float Crème de Framboise. Serve with a straw.

Gin Fizz Float

IngredIents 2 oz. scoop of lemon HaagenDazs Five Ice Cream 1/2 Fresh lime, quartered 1/2 oz. Mint Simple Syrup 1 1/2 oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin 1 1/2 oz. Seltzer 3 Drops orange blossom water

preparatIon In a tumbler, add ice cream. In a glass muddle lime and syrup. Half-fill with crushed ice, add gin. Shake until frosted then add seltzer and blossom water. Swirl gently, double strain into a tumbler over ice cream. Garnish with freshly-grated orange zest over top, serve with a straw.

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I Scream, You Scream, We all love lIquor In Ice cream!

It is fun and easy to mix up your own liquor filled ice cream, just swirl some liquor into your favorite flavor and viola. Still some of the inspired flavors out there are too cool to miss. Check out Lee’s Cream Liqueur Parlor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and bring your ID. Featuring premium ice cream infused with spirits, you can cool down with a good old scoop of chocolate, swirled with Jack Daniels or take a lick of The Godfather, a blend of coffee ice cream and scotch. Travel across the coast to New York and get the scoop on MilkMade, a local ice cream delivery service. One of the main ingredients in their Mint Julep and Frozen Hot Toddy flavors are bourbon from Tuthilltown Spirits, a local distiller in Gardiner, NY.

Must try recIpe

IngredIents

1 Bottle Chandon Sparkling Wine 1 3/4 cups Simple Syrup 1 cup Sparkling water 2 tbsp. Fresh lemon juice

PreParatIon

In a large bowl, combine the sparkling wine, simple syrup and lemon juice. Stir thoroughly. Cover and freeze for approximately five to six hours. To serve, use a spoon or fork to scrape the ice into a martini glass or any other small stemware.