UnFried Ice Cream With Butterscotch Sauce!

People often ask me why I’m not the size of a house -and yes I notice that they put it that way. They don’t ask ‘How are you so thin’ because well of course I’m not thin at all. Like bacon I have a healthy layer of fat on me that I'm always trying to get rid of (the fat, not the bacon). My theory on food is this, and feel free to ignore it as I don’t have the physique of Gisele Bundchen to justify you buying a book on my dieting advice (and she’s likely to say something exasperating like ‘Oh I’ve been blessed genetically’- puh-lease!).

Anyway I like to think that for me to eat it it either has to be a) fabulously delicious or b) fabulously healthy. That’s why I normally eat a boring, low fat soup or a salad for lunch and eat more at dinner. I’m aware that my body is probably thinking ‘What o earth is she going to feed us now?’ but it seems to stave off buying a new dress size-for now at least.

And to that end, I have a doozy for you today. Something that actually sits somewhere in between the two columns. It's a low fat version of a high fat food: deep fried ice cream, the stalwart dessert option of Chinese restaurants. I got this recipe from my friend Tania who got it from Skinnytaste (and doesn't that sound like a case of Chinese Whispers?) and it is for a person who loves the idea of something crunchy and saucey on the outside of a ball of ice cream but doesn't want to get into all of that deep frying palaver. It's unfried deep fried ice cream made by rolling vanilla ice cream in crunchy cereal crumbs to simulate the crunch of a breaded deep fried golden coat.

What it ended up being was so much better than the deep fried ice cream that you get at restaurants. This is mainly due to two factors: the fact that you make the ice cream yourself (or use a really good quality bought one) and butterscotch or chocolate sauce yourself (or again, use a good quality one). I promise that the ice cream is not one of those strange icy concoctions that taste like faux vanilla (I tried to revisit the past a few weeks ago and bought a tub of vanilla ice cream-big mistake...HUGE!). This is generous with the vanilla and the butterscotch and chocolate sauces are rich and silky.  Scoop away knowing that what stands between you and this quick and easy dessert is just a few minutes of bashing and shaping-and that's not a euphemism for exercise I promise!

So tell me Dear Reader, how do choose what you eat? And ideally how many kilos or dress sizes would you like to lose or indeed gain? And which celebrity has your ideal body?

P.S. Just a reminder about tomorrow night's event at Gleebooks! I hope to see you there! :D

Un Deep fried Ice Cream With Butterscotch Sauce

Vanilla Ice Cream

Makes 6-7 medium to large ice cream balls

For vanilla ice cream

• 450ml/16 fl ozs. pure cream

• 1/2 cup icing or powdered sugar

• 1 generous teaspoon vanilla bean paste

For butterscotch sauce

• 65g/2.3ozs. butter

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 150ml/5 fl ozs. pure cream

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

For chocolate sauce (optional or use both!)

• 100g/3.5 ozs dark chocolate

• 75ml/2.65 fl ozs pure cream

To cover

• 200g/7ozs. Special K cereal

Step 1 - Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Sift in the icing sugar and add the vanilla bean paste and whip until combined but still soft peaks. Spoon into a freezerproof container and place in the freezer to set, about 3-4 hours.

Step 2 - Make the butterscotch sauce so that it has time to cool. In a saucepan, place all of the ingredients and stir until melted. Simmer for five minutes and then allow to cool completely. To make the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate and cream together in a microwave on 50% power or in a double boiler and stir until smooth.

Step 3 - When the ice cream has set, scoop out six to seven balls (as much as you can get from the quantity of ice cream) and place on grease proof paper on a metal tray in the freezer. Don't worry if they're not smooth when you scoop them out, you will end up shaping them when you roll them in the cereal. Mine weren't completely frozen when I scooped them out so the edges weren't smooth but I was a bit pressed for time but once I left them in the freezer to harden they firmed up nicely.

Step 4 - Place the cereal in a zip lock bag and wrap in a teatowel and then bash about with a rolling pin. You want little pieces as well as some larger ones -the little crumbs cover all of the ice cream while the crumbs give it texture. Place on a plate. It's easiest to play doctor and use latex gloves to roll the ice cream and you will shape the balls into smooth orbs as you roll them. Place back on the lined tray and freeze until needed. Serve with the cooled butterscotch sauce or chocolate sauce.