horchata & horchata ice cream

Next to Thai iced tea, horchata is one of my favorite drinks. I recently picked myself up some horchata from the store but I think I just may take a crack at making it myself. And if that goes well perhaps horchata ice cream! Dare I?

For any of you who wish to give it a try I have posted two recipes below.



Recipe from The Loving Spoonful

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked white rice
1 large cinnamon stick
1/2 cup blanched almonds
Almond extract
Condensed Milk
3 1/2 cups water
Peel of one large lime (no pith!)
Juice of one large lime
Additional cups hot water

Optional garnishes:
Minced cantaloupe
Chopped, toasted pecans
Toasted, blanched or slivered almonds

Instructions:
Wash rice. Combine rice, cinnamon stick, lime peel and almonds in container. Bring 3 1/2 cups water to boil. Remove from heat, and pour over rice mix. Cover and soak for at least 8 hours (preferably 10-12).

Pour soaked rice mixture into a blender, and puree until smooth (Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this in batches).

Strain thoroughly, several times and with a cheesecloth if necessary. Add almond extract, hot water, lime juice, and condensed milk to taste.

Chill. Serve over crushed ice and garnish with freshly ground cinnamon.

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For those of you who don't want to make the horchata from scratch I suggest Rice Dream horchata. I usually get mine from Trader Joes.

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Recipe from tastytype

To start, make the horchata:

2/3 cup long-grain white rice
1 1/4 cups blanched almonds
3-inch piece of cinnamon
2 1/2 cups whole milk (or water, if you're only making horchata and not ice cream)
1 cup sugar
cheesecloth

Heat the milk (or water) over low heat until it comes to a simmer. In a bowl, combine the rice, cinnamon stick, and almonds. Pour the warm milk over the rice and stir together. Let cool completely, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Add the sugar and then whiz in a blender. You'll want to blend it on high until completely smooth, several minutes. Strain through a fine sieve lined with a cheesecloth. Use a spoon to press the solids against the sieve to extract as much liquid as possible.

You should have about 1 1/2 cups of horchata concentrate. Pour into a quart container and put a strainer on top.

(To make horchata for drinking, add 2 more cups of cold water. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. Serve over ice.)

Adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexico One Plate at a Time.


To make horchata ice cream:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup cream
5 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
slivered almonds, toasted (for serving)

Warm milk and cream to a simmer over medium heat.

While the milk is warming, whisk together the egg yolks in a separate bowl.

When the milk is warm, very slowly. and whisking constantly, pour the milk mixture into the bowl of egg yolks. Whisk together and then pour it all back into the saucepan.

Heat the custard mixture over low heat, stirring or whisking constantly. Keep whisking until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. (You can test it by running your finger down the back of the spoon. If it leaves a trail, you're done.) Take it off the heat immediately.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the horchata mixture. Add the ground cinnamon and whisk well to combine.

Put the horchata container into a larger bowl, then fill the outer bowl with ice. Pour some water into the outer bowl, forming an ice bath. Let cool in ice bath on the counter until the ice melts. Then remove it, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to its instructions.

Serve with slivered almonds sprinkled on top.

Makes a little less than a quart.