Buttery Brown Sugar Roasted Peach and Salted Macadamia Brittle Baked Alaskas
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Yield: 4 individual Baked Alaskas
 
Preparation time does not include freezing time for the ice cream, so allow for that when making this.
Vanilla Ice Cream Base by David Lebovitz
ingredients:
Brown Butter Pound Cake
  • 19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) *
  • 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • ½ cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
  • ⅓ (75g) cup granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Buttery Roasted Brown Sugar Peaches - eat these as is for a low calorie dessert! **
  • 4 to 6 fresh peaches, cut in half and pitted (4-6 depending on size of peaches)
  • ⅓ cup butter, (5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) melted
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
Salted Macadamia Brittle
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 cup or a little more whole salted macadamia nuts, toasted
Vanilla Ice Cream Base
  • 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
  • A pinch of salt
  • ¾ cup (165g) sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
Swiss Meringue
  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
directions:
Make the Brown Butter Pound Cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
  2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
  3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
  5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
  6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
  7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the Buttery Brown Sugar Roasted Peaches
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine the melted butter and brown sugar until uniform. Split each peach horizontally, removing the pit, then roll the cut side of each peach half in the butter-sugar mixture. Alternatively, you can rub the mixture on the cut sides with your fingers, making sure you have a decent coating on each one. Place the peaches, butter sugar coated cut side down on a lightly greased foil lined or non-greased parchment lined baking sheet (silpat is fine too). Drizzle any leftover butter-sugar mixture over the top of the skin side up peaches.
  2. Roast for 30 - 35 minutes until soft and caramelized.
  3. For the ice cream - puree half the roasted peaches in a food processor, skins and all. Skin and chop the remaining roasted peaches. Set aside to cool until ready to add to ice cream base.
Make the Salted Macadamia Brittle
  1. In a medium saucepan, boil the sugar and water together until amber to light brown, to make a caramel. Test the color of the caramel on a white plate to make sure it's amber-light brown.
  2. Stir in the butter with a wooden spoon (it will bubble up - so be careful!) then stir in the toasted macadamia nuts. Pour onto a silpat and let cool. Break up into chunks (for ice cream add-in, chop or crush with the bottom of a pan, bottle, or with a mallet in a ziploc bag). Store in an airtight container until ready to eat or use in ice cream.
Make the Vanilla Ice Cream Base
  1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
  2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
  3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
  4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
  5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine.See the instructions at David Lebovitz's site.
For the roasted peach and macadamia brittle add-ins:
  1. When the vanilla ice cream is done churning in your ice cream maker (it will still be slightly soft), remove one third of the vanilla ice cream base to one bowl, and two thirds of the vanilla ice cream base into another bowl. Stir the macadamia brittle into the bowl with one third of the vanilla ice cream base, then stir the roasted peach puree (until uniform) into the bowl with two thirds of the vanilla ice cream base. When uniform, gently fold in the chopped roasted peaches,. Wrap each bowl tightly with plastic wrap or place each in a freezer bag, and place both bowls in the freezer until ready to assemble.
Make the Swiss Meringue
  1. Over a double boiler (prefebly using bowl you will beating whites and sugar in) over medium heat, heat egg whites and sugar, whisking constantly until sugar is completely dissolved.
  2. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or just use mixer bowl as mentioned above) ; mix on high speed until you get medium peaks (the whites slightly bend at tip when lifted with beater).
Assemble the Baked Alaskas
  1. Using four 3-inch mousse rings or cut PVC pipe, cut out 4 circles of the pound cake and place in the bottom of each ring.
  2. Scoop about ½ cup roasted peach ice cream over cake, then make a well in the middle for salted macadamia brittle ice cream, pushing the peach ice cream up the sides to the top. Freeze.
  3. Remove rings with frozen peach ice cream from the freezer. Place a small scoop of salted macadamia brittle ice cream into each well, then cover the tops evenly with remaining peach ice cream..pressing down (to prevent air bubbles) and smoothing the tops. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
  4. About 15 minutes before serving thge Baked Alaskas; unmold each Alaska one at time, keeping the others frozen until ready to pipe on and torch meringue. Wrap a warm, wet towel for a minute or two around the mold in case you have trouble unmolding them.
  5. In a pastry bag with the tip of your choice; pipe each Baked Alaska decoratively with the swiss meringue, or just frost them with a rubber spatula, lifting upwards to get peaks, and making sure they're completely covered. Place Alaskas (on a baking sheet) in a preheated 500°F oven for 1 to 2 minutes until the peaks are golden brown, or brown with a kitchen or propane torch (much easier and more room to be creative). Serve immediately.
notes:
* To make your own cake flour, click HERE.

** These peaches can be used in many dessert batters before baking, or just serve peaches with cake and/or ice cream or eat them as is since they're very low in calories and taste like the super soft candy! They're sticky/gooey and amazing! I love them with Greek yogurt!
Recipe by parsley sage sweet at https://parsleysagesweet.com/2010/09/01/cake-and-ice-cream-again-half-baked/