I’m a huge fan of ice cream. I can’t think of a more enduringly perfect food. I worked in an ice cream parlor for an embarrassing number of years, long after I should have gotten a “real” job. I dream of ice cream flavors, I really do! So when I found myself with some dulce de leche, and then my mother-in-law brought us a bottle of drambuie (thanks, Ellie!) you could see the little wheels spinning madly in my head. And the one food I find completely irresistible is melting ice cream. There’s something about the contrast between the still-frozen part, and the increasingly creamy melty part that’s about more than the delightful textures. It’s about time passing! There’s a wonderful feeling of risk, almost – you want to take your time, but if you wait too long, it won’t be ice cream any more. There’s a perfect moment, or series of moments, when the ice cream must be consumed! I could eat a whole gallon of ice cream, in this state! The thing about adding drambuie to ice cream, or any alcohol, for that matter, is that it preserves the ice cream in a perpetual state of perfect meltiness! It never freezes completely, so from the minute you scoop it out, you MUST EAT IT!

I should probably mention that since the drambuie’s not heated, the alcohol doesn’t cook off. I wonder how much you’d have to eat to get drunk? Hmmm… We let the boys have small bowls after dinner, and they could still balance on their roller skates. But when Malcolm asked me for some at 9 o’clock this morning…well, I drew the line!

I don’t have a real ice cream maker, I have one of those donvier ice cream makers. Remember those? Do they still make them? Anyway, it does the trick. I’ll give you the recipe, and you can freeze it however you like.

Here’s Ice Cream man, by Tom Waits.

2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 t. vanilla
pinch salt
1 cup cream
1/3 cup drambuie
1/2 cup dulce de leche (buy it or make your own!)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

First you make a custard. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Warm the milk till it just starts to have bubbles on the edge. Pour a little into the eggs, whisking the whole time. Then pour it all in – keep whisking! Return it to very low heat, and cook till it starts to thicken slightly and coats your spoon. About ten minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the vanilla, drambuie, salt and cream and put it in the fridge right away to cool. Keep it there overnight, if you can.

Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

When it’s almost fully frozen, melt the chocolate chips over not in hot water, and leave the dulce de leche in a warm place to soften a bit. Drizzle the chocolate in very thin ribbons over the ice cream. As it freezes in odd shapes, stir it in. Do the same with the dulce de leche. Return to the freezer to complete the freezing process.

The second day we ate this, the dulce de leche had disappeared! It must have incorporated itself into the ice cream. You could still taste it, though, and it was still delicious!!