GLOW Mango Curry Gingersnap Ice Cream Sammiches

I'm a blabbermouth. In school, without fail, my report cards came home with notes from teachers about how I was very bright but talkative to the point of being disruptive. My parents were mostly concerned with my grades and since those were always top notch, they never felt much need to squelch my social nature. I still talk. A lot. About everything. I have strong opinions and when I find something I like or something I dislike, people are going to hear about it.
I found something I like. I like it a lot. I think I might even LOVE it.

I found Glow Gluten Free cookies. They are not bland, or sandy or dry or earthy, or stick-in-your-teethy or off in any way whatsoever. I have tried a lot of gluten free cookies and I have not reviewed them here because one thing my parents did attempt to impart to me through my years of disruptive babbling was that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. So there. Even the very best gluten-free cookies were still good GLUTEN-FREE cookies. These are just good cookies. I would even venture so far as to say these are some of the best packaged cookies I have EVER had. I have to hide them from my non-G-Free Sous Chef and he is a cookie aficionado.

Glow cookies come in four flavors: Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Chip and Gingersnap. I have never been a fan of gingersnap cookies but I love Glow cookies so much that I was determined to eat every last morsel of every flavor. I decided that I needed something creamy and flavorful to balance out the spiciness of the ginger. I came up with the idea of making ice cream sandwiches using the gingersnaps and homemade mango curry ice cream. The result was catastrophically delicious. I must urge ALL of you out there to not only GET THEE TO LOCALI (or go online) AND BUY SOME GLOW COOKIES but also to MAKE THIS RECIPE ASAP!

Mango Curry Ice Cream Sandwiches

- 6 egg yolks
- 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup sugar
- juice of one small lemon
- 2 tsp sweet yellow curry powder
- 2 1/2 cups mango puree (I used 10 very ripe Ataulfo Mexican mangoes)

Peel the mangoes then cut them into chunks and puree in blender or food processor until smooth.

Strain through mesh strainer if puree is lumpy or stringy. Set puree aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the yolks and sugar until smooth.

 Heat the cream in a saucepan to just below boiling.

Temper the eggs by whisking a cup of the hot cream VERY slowly into the egg mixture. Once you've brought them up to temperature, add the tempered eggs to the cream mixture.

Gently heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring often. The mixture will begin to thicken. Continue heating until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat immediately and whisk the mixture for a minute to stop the custard from cooking. Whisk in the curry powder. Strain liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a metal bowl set over an ice bath.

Stir in the vanilla and mango puree.

 Place the liquid, still in the ice bath into the refrigerator. When it's completely cold, pour it into ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions.

When the ice cream is ready, scoop into a plastic container and freeze for at least a few hours to harden.

Scoop one large scoop of ice cream onto a gingersnap and place another gingersnap on top. Smoosh slightly then place in a zipper freezer bag and freeze overnight (this softens the cookie just slightly and keeps the sandwich together better when you eat it.) Enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk, soy milk or almond milk. Cry from happiness.

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Make Your Own Red Curry Paste

 Let me begin by apologizing for my prolonged absence from the blog. Over the past few weeks I've been struggling with some pretty ugly headaches. They are not eradicated yet but with the help of my doc, I am working on it. Despite this setback, I want to stick to my promise to post more often so let's start this week right (yeah, I know it's Tuesday, give me a break!)

Spring is here! In Los Angeles, the flowers are blooming, the grass is green, the sun is shining and the fruits and veggies that have been absent all winter are sneaking back into the farmer's market stalls, one by one. Strawberries! Asparagus! Artichokes! WooHOOO! Veggies of all kinds are perfect for today's recipe.

I love Thai take-out but I my sous-chef and I are working on saving money by cutting way down on eating out and ordering take-out. This curry paste lets me make my favorite Thai curries at home! Using fresh veggies and making my own rice, we can eat for pennies and the food is so good, I actually like it better than the take-out we used to get because I can customize it and make it my own. Bamboo shoots: out! Cauliflower: in! SO easy!

I got many of my ingredients from Simpang Asian Market and plain ol Ralph's. If you are having trouble finding these ingredients near you, you might try asking someone from your fave Thai take out place where they get their lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves.

 I learned how to make this Thai curry paste in cooking school. My cooking school blog has been in a holding pattern while I work on merging that blog with this one but I couldn't wait any longer to share this recipe with you. It's incredibly vibrant in color and taste, it will stain anything it touches but will also drown veggies, fish, tofu, chicken or anything else in flavor. I like to mix it into some coconut milk and add enough Sriracha to make it a little spicy then go nuts with add ins. I will share a couple of great curry recipes in the next week or so, but first, you gotta make this curry paste! P.S. It's vegan!

Thai Curry Paste

Ingredients:

- 10 large dried red chiles, Guajillos or New Mexican
 - 2" section of Galangal or ginger
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 2 whole kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
- 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
- 3 Tbsp cilantro stems
- 3 garlic cloves
- 5 shallots
- 1-2 fresh thai chilis (cut of the top and toss in)

 

Cut tops off dried chiles, cut in half, remove seeds and soak the chiles in HOT water until tender.

 

 Reserve the water to use later in thinning the curry paste.

Pound the chiles, garlic and galangal together until semi-smooth with a mortar and pestle OR blend in a blender.

 

My blender was not up to this task so I moved everything to the food processor and pulverized it.

 

Once smooth, add the remaining ingredients and blend until completely smooth. 

 

 

If needed, add a small amount of leftover chile water to get a smooth paste. (I added too much. My paste ended up with more of a pudding consistency but it still tasted great and works fine in recipes.)

 

This recipe yields 1/3 - 1 cup curry paste. It will keep up to 2 months in the fridge in an airtight container or zippered plastic bag.

 

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