You know you’re a chemist when…
Idea for a V-Day dessert I didn’t actually get to make:
(Insert title here)
Materials:
4 liters liquid nitrogen
1 pint (good) ice cream (strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, whatever)
dark chocolate - probably about 4 oz. per half-dozen items
flavoring oil (optional - mint, complementary fruit flavor)
Procedure:
(1) Allow the ice cream to soften slightly, then shape it with a pair of spoons into elegant little lumps. Or, use a melon baller. Either way, drop the lumps into a big dewar of liquid nitrogen, to flash-freeze them *very* solid. In the meantime, warm (and flavor) the chocolate.
(2) Wear heavily insulated gloves. Decant the excess nitrogen (preferably into another dewar), then dip each lump into the melted chocolate. (They should be cold enough that the chocolate should instantly harden, without melting more than a thin surface layer of ice cream.)
Store in regular freezer overnight, to allow them to warm back up.
(Bonus geek humor: Google for liquid nitrogen and one of the ads that came up was:
Mmmm, tasty nitrogen.)
If anyone tries this, let me know how it turns out.