Flavor #66 - Ricanellas Ice Cream

I know, I know, what the heck is Ricanellas and how did it get here? As I have been looking at various flavors and different ice cream shops around the country, I found this great shop in San Francisco, Bi-Rite Creamery. As I have been on this challenge the past few months, friends from around the country have let me know their favorite flavors and their favorite places to go for a scoop. I have been going through different books and sites and found Bi-Rite initially through their book earlier this summer while buying my popsicle maker at Williams-Sonoma.

I didn't buy the book initially as I was already dropping a bundle on the new gear, but then came across Bi-Rite again while looking at ice cream sandwiches and again while looking at small batch shops. Having never been there, it is hard for me to give them a resounding recommendation. However, everything they do is pretty much how I have envisioned running an ice cream business for the past decade. Good natural products with a line around the block, and Ricanellas is one of their top flavors.

I know there are lots of flavor enthusiasts who love to go to extremes to develop a new flavor. I prefer to stick with the simple classics. This flavor jumped out at me as one that combines some simple flavors with an added twist of another desert classic - rice pudding. As far as I can tell, this is a take on Mexican Horchata as well as a popular Mexican Cinnamon cookie. After paying tribute to Canada earlier, this will be the first of a few recipes I plan on presenting from our neighbors to the south.

20+ Blanched Almonds
1/2 Cup Long Grain Rice
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 1/2 Cups of Heavy Cream

1 1/2 Cups of Milk
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon
1 Pinch of Salt
5 Egg Yolks
1-2 Snickerdoodle Cookies

I made the cookies a few days earlier and had to fight the boys off to save a few for this recipe. Although the recipe has simple ingredients,  there are more than a few steps to get to the final product.

• If you do not have blanched almonds, boil some water and pour the water over the almonds in a small bowl. Leave the water there for about a minute before rinsing the almonds in cold water. This will make peeling the skin off the almonds very easy.
• Take the almonds, rice and cinnamon stick and place them in a sauce pan on medium heat, stirring occasionally for a few minutes until you can begin to smell the nuts and the cinnamon.
• Add the milk and cream and allow the mixture to steam. Do not let the mix boil.
• Remove the mix from the heat once the steaming begins and let the mix sit for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to steep while stirring occasionally.
• Strain all the solids out of the mixture. Be prepared to see the rice almost cook up!
• After placing the solid free mix back in a clean sauce pan, add the sugar, salt and ground cinnamon over medium heat, stirring occasionally to allow the sugar to dissolve. 
• In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk together.
• Once the mix begins to steam again, take the mix off the heat and add slowly to the egg yolks to keep the eggs from cooking.
• Once the eggs are suitably mixed in, add the mix back into the sauce pan and heat until the mix coats the spoon, again, stirring consistently to keep the eggs from cooking.
• Cool the mix for a few hours and toss it in the machine.
• Chop the cookies and add them to the mix as it is transferred to the freezing container.

There is an interesting cinnamon rice pudding flavor here that is made even better with the snickerdoodle. Unlike other flavors with cookies in the mix, the snickerdoodles add a chewy quality that is very unique. I still don't know about the name Ricanellas but I am glad I found it.

Enjoy!