This year has been crazily busy for me so far. I started a new job and joined a gym in January and have been training for a half marathon in October in preparation for the London Marathon next year. I’ve been keeping up with this blog a couple of times a week and Jack and I have also been busy looking for and buying furniture for a flat that we bought last year, which we should be moving into within the next couple of months.

As I’ve been so busy I seem to be leaving everything until the very last minute. Take this challenge, for example. Jack and I decided what recipe we were going to do a couple of weeks ago but I only had the chance to buy all of the ingredients to make the ice cream at 9pm last night – so you can imagine what kind of a night and morning I’ve had. Not complaining, though – I did get to eat the most delicious affogato for breakfast.

We used the Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit for inspiration. If you haven’t been out and bought a copy yet, I highly recommend you do. It is a must have in the kitchen if you want to be a little experimental with your food. I used it for my stint in Britain’s Best Dish and it got me to the semi-final.

This recipe is fantastic for anyone who is dairy intolerant and the best thing is that it tastes just like normal dairy ice cream. The hazlenut praline adds a welcome crunch and sweetness and the coffee, made by the fantastic and utterly beautiful De’Longhi Vintage Icona Bar Pump coffee machine, adds a caffeine punch that is oh so welcome at any time of day.

Ingredients

For the praline
100g golden caster sugar
100g whole hazlenuts

For the ice cream
2 pints of goat’s milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
4 Burford Brown egg yolks
4 oz golden caster sugar
3 tsp cornflour

Method

Ice cream – first make the custard
1. Heat the goat’s milk and the vanilla paste over a low heat until simmering. Do not boil.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, cornflour and sugar together for a couple of minutes or so until sugar is almost dissolved.

3. When the milk starts to simmer, take it off the stove and pour it in with the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk continually. Return to the pan and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until thickened.

Now for the praline

4. Heat the sugar and hazlenuts in a pan on a low heat and stir continuously until the sugar begins to caramelise and the nuts are coated. Once you reach this stage, pour out onto a greaseproof paper-covered baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and leave to cool. Once set, smash the praline into pieces with a rolling pin.

5. Once you have a custard, place in the fridge until completely cool. Prepare your ice cream machine, mix the custard and praline together and churn to your machines instructions.

And to finish

6. Scoop the ice cream into a glass. Prepare a shot of espresso and pour over the ice cream straight away.

7. Enjoy!