My brother and I enjoyed a lot of Coke floats growing up -- but I have never heard of a brown cow float before. Still, I was happy to see an easy recipe on this week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe. The Baked Brown Cow is simply vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and coffee liqueur, topped with a dash of nutmeg.
Since the recipe is so simple I felt compelled to at least make my own ice cream. I used a recipe for Kansas City Vanilla Ice Cream from the Los Angeles Times (I also have no idea if Kansas City ice cream is a thing, even though I was raised only one state away). The ice cream contains eggs but is thickened with cornstarch. It's made mostly from milk, with smaller amounts of cream and evaporated milk. The ice cream turned out quite light and even after leaving it in the freezer overnight to harden, it was easily scoopable with a spoon.
I made half-sized brown cows because the recipe calls for a cup of ice cream per serving and that seems absurdly large. I spooned some chocolate sauce (a ganache made from heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate) into a glass, spread it slightly up the sides, and then added a scoop of ice cream. You're supposed to pour a shot of coffee liqueur over the ice cream but since I'm a teetotaler, I used a shot of espresso instead to basically turn this recipe into an affogato. I grated a little nutmeg on top and the brown cows were ready to serve.
My husband and I each enjoyed a mini-sized brown cow for breakfast today; since they include a shot of espresso I figured it was perfectly acceptable to consume one first thing in the morning. They were delicious and I'm pretty sure I could have polished off a full-sized serving. I couldn't taste the nutmeg at all, but the combination of vanilla ice cream, espresso, and chocolate is, not surprisingly, a winner. The chocolate sauce didn't combine with the espresso; it became stiff and had to be scraped out of the bottom of the glass. But I liked the fact that the decadent chocolate sauce stayed distinct and didn't just melt away.
I'm sure this recipe would be delicious with liqueur as well. But even with just espresso, I would be delighted to eat one of these anytime -- morning, noon, or night.
Recipes:
Since the recipe is so simple I felt compelled to at least make my own ice cream. I used a recipe for Kansas City Vanilla Ice Cream from the Los Angeles Times (I also have no idea if Kansas City ice cream is a thing, even though I was raised only one state away). The ice cream contains eggs but is thickened with cornstarch. It's made mostly from milk, with smaller amounts of cream and evaporated milk. The ice cream turned out quite light and even after leaving it in the freezer overnight to harden, it was easily scoopable with a spoon.
My husband and I each enjoyed a mini-sized brown cow for breakfast today; since they include a shot of espresso I figured it was perfectly acceptable to consume one first thing in the morning. They were delicious and I'm pretty sure I could have polished off a full-sized serving. I couldn't taste the nutmeg at all, but the combination of vanilla ice cream, espresso, and chocolate is, not surprisingly, a winner. The chocolate sauce didn't combine with the espresso; it became stiff and had to be scraped out of the bottom of the glass. But I liked the fact that the decadent chocolate sauce stayed distinct and didn't just melt away.
I'm sure this recipe would be delicious with liqueur as well. But even with just espresso, I would be delighted to eat one of these anytime -- morning, noon, or night.
Recipes:
- "Baked Brown Cow" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.
- "Kansas City Vanilla Ice Cream" from the Los Angeles Times.
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