My weakness!
I have a confession. Even though I’ve committed to a year of ice cream making (over one-third of the way through!!!), I still, on occasion, like going to Dairy Queen. Pineapple sundaes are a bit of a weakness for me. I don’t care what crazy, unpronouceable ingredients go into them. I am a sucker for sweet soft serve ice cream and tangy pineapple. But when I mentioned the other day that I wanted a DQ pineapple sundae, the Official Taster raised an eyebrow and gave me a look. While Tavis did oblige and let me indulge, I knew it was time to develop a 52 Scoops pineapple treat.
I used to think that pineapples were really finicky to peel and cut. When Tavis and I were visiting the floating markets in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam last year, we marvelled at the ability of the pineapple vendors. The vendors, mostly women, have perfected the art of peeling and spiral cutting a pineapple in just a minute or two. They are MACHINES, carving perfect little hand-held snacks for boatloads of happy travellers passing through the delta.
Pineapples, pineapples everywhere!
Pineapple Lady expertly peeling a pineapple
Spiral cutting out the eyes of the pineapple
Yum!
Here’s a link to a very helpful spiral cutting technique video on YouTube. Once you practice a few times, you’ll get the hang of it and you’ll never need to buy canned or pre-cored/cut pineapple again!
For this ice cream recipe, I caramelized the pineapple in a little bit of butter and brown sugar. Cooking the pineapple takes away the acidic bite on your tongue and results in a deeper, richer taste. The addition of rum keeps the pineapple from freezing into solid chunks, while imparting another layer of flavour. When the caramelized pineapple is churned into a simple vanilla base — absolutely exquisite!
Caramelized Pineapple Ice Cream (#18) (Makes about 1.5 L)
Ice Cream:
2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
3 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Caramelized Pineapple (makes about 2 cups):
3 cups of fresh pineapple tidbits (half to one pineapple, depending on size and your peeling abilities)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rum (I used spiced rum)
