Week #26! This is the halfway mark in my year of ice cream making! I’m pleased to report that I’ve only gained 3 lbs so far. Bring on another 26 weeks. I’m ready.
This week’s recipe is inspired by a dish originating from Hungary: szilvás gombóc, plum dumplings rolled in buttery cinnamon sugar bread crumbs. I first learned of this dish from my co-worker Lisa, who travelled to Hungary some years ago, where she had authentic szilvás gombóc and — even better — szilvás gombóc flavoured ice cream. After hearing about this, I endeavoured to try making both.
I came across Dog Hill Kitchen’s recipe for szilvás gombóc and thought I’d give it a try — after all, the recipe originates from someone’s Hungarian great-grandmother, so surely it must be authentic!
Mix together flour, mashed potato, and egg. This is almost like making a gnocchi dough.
Slice open Italian prune plums and fill the centres with cinnamon sugar.
Roll or pat a portion of the dough into the circle and place the cinnamon sugar filled plum in the centre.
Form the dough around the plum and pinch the top together. These will be giant dumplings! Cook them for 10 minutes in boiling water.
While the dumplings are cooking, melt some butter, and add some breadcrumbs, cinnamon, and sugar.
Cook until golden brown and fragrant.
When the dumplings are cooked, drain well with a slotted spoon, and roll each one in the buttery cinnamon sugar breadcrumbs.
The dumpling sliced open! Yum!
Even better: if you use perfectly ripe Italian prune plums, the dumplings will be filled with juicy plum goodness!
Now, how to capture the taste of plum dumplings in ice cream? I decided the best method was to cook Italian prune plums with some cinnamon and sugar until they were thick and saucy and then swirl the compote, along with some buttery cinnamon sugar breadcrumbs, into a delicate vanilla ice cream. The results? AMAZING. This recipe is currently ranked among my Top 3 ice cream recipes (Mango Ice Cream with Chili Sea Salt and Black Forest Ice Cream being my two other current favourites). The prune plums cook down to a gorgeous fuchsia colour and the breadcrumbs add a delightful sweet crunch to the ice cream. Élvez! Enjoy!
Ice Cream
2 eggs
3/4 cups white sugar
3 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Plum Compote
2 1/2 cups diced Italian prune plums
1/3 c white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup coarse bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons white sugar
52 Scoops 