TWD: Baking with Julia - Phylloccine Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

Our recipe this week for Tuesdays with Dorie is Phylloccine Ice Cream Sandwiches.  I have to admit that the entire time I thought about and prepared this dessert, I was pronouncing the name wrong.  I didn't actually read the intro to the recipe (oops), otherwise it would have been very clear.  The bed of the "ice cream sandwich" (which you can admittedly barely see at all in my photo) is a nest made of phyllo that is cut into ribbons like fettuccine.  Thus, phyllo-ccine.  Duh.  Good job putting two and two together on that one.  Ahh well...

 

I actually altered this recipe a bit.  I made it an open-faced ice cream sandwich, as I thought that the phyllo nests were too big to use two.  I wonder if I actually made them bigger than they were supposed to be.  In looking at the photo in the book (again something I did AFTER making the dessert), the phylloccine nests look much smaller.  The recipe calls for "one box of phyllo dough".  Is it possible that there are boxes that come with less dough?  The boxes I buy always have two packages/rolls of phyllo inside.  Since I halved the recipe, I used 1 roll of phyllo and made 8 nests.  Had I used only half of the phyllo roll, or made 16 nests instead of 8, I think the nests would have been a better size.  Does this make sense?  I only wanted to make 4 sandwiches, not 8.  Anyway, since the nests were large, I used only one, on the bottom.

 

The layering of this "sandwich" is as follows:

• blob of brown sugar/rum flavored whipped cream
• phyllo nest
• raspberry/blueberry salad made with pureed raspberries, blueberries, and a little sugar
• homemade toasted coconut ice cream (look for recipe in following post)
• another blob of whipped cream
• homemade hot fudge sauce
• sliced figs and peaches around the sides of the nest

The sandwich was supposed to have two layers of the phyllo nest, the whipped cream on the side, and have a skewer of fresh berries coming out of the sandwich.  I changed it up simply due to the fruit I had on hand.  Peaches and figs aren't as skewer-able as berries!  And I added the hot fudge sauce because, well, what isn't better with hot fudge sauce??

 

Honestly, I thought this dessert was just ok.  There is a lot going on.  And I felt like all that extra fruit and whipped cream detracted a bit from the deliciousness of my homemade ice cream.  However, if you used a nice vanilla ice cream (as the recipe suggests), this would be a really elegant dinner party dessert that is pretty easy to make.  I'd still leave out the whipped cream though, I just don't think it needs it - which is a lot to say, as I do love whipped cream!

 

You can find the recipe on pages 405-406 of Baking with Julia, or by going here.  And be sure to check out what the other TWD bloggers thought of this one, by going here!