Features of the preparation of an Italian dessert. TOP-6 recipes for semifredo - in the classic version and with various fillings.
Semifredo is a dessert originally from Italy, which is ice cream with various fillings - berries, fruits, nuts, caramel, chocolate, etc. Translated into Russian, the name of the dessert means “semi-frozen”. Simply put, semifredo is an ice cream cake. Classically made from heavy cream, raw eggs and sugar, it is similar in consistency to frozen mousse, and its taste is pronouncedly sweet and creamy. It is usually served in the shape of a "log", garnished with berries. Dessert is ideal for summer holidays as a substitute for classic cakes.
Features of cooking semifredo
Dessert semifredo is prepared in three phases. The first is to mix the main components, the second is to freeze, and the third is to serve. Moreover, it should be noted that the third stage is no less important than the rest. Still, semifredo is considered an exquisite dessert, and therefore without the appropriate "attributes" it can lose its individuality.
If we talk about the professional intricacies of cooking, it is important to know that the proportions of liquid, dry and "air" components in the preparation of semifredo are different than in the preparation of the classic Italian gelato ice cream, in which about 60% of liquid and dry components, the remaining 40% - air, which is formed when whipping the mass. In semifredo, whipping takes place in a different way, and therefore 50% of dry and liquid components are obtained, and another 50% remains for air. That is why, if “gelato” is translated as “frozen”, then semifredo is “semi-frozen”, the air bubbles, of which there are more in the latter, do not allow the dessert to “take” very tightly, and therefore it melts faster than gelato, but at the same time more tender and cream. It literally melts in your mouth - this is about semifredo.
However, without even thinking about these subtleties, observing the proportions of ingredients in the recipes, you can easily cook a real semifredo at home. The main thing is to find good heavy cream and fresh eggs, this is already 80% of the success of making a delicious dessert.
It is worth noting that in most variations of semifredo recipes, eggs do not involve heat treatment, it is better not to give an ice cream dessert prepared according to one of them to children, and you should eat it yourself only if you are absolutely sure of the quality of the eggs.
TOP-6 recipes for cooking semifredo
Dessert semifredo originated in Italy, but today it is loved and eaten all over the world, hence the many variations of preparation. Semifredo is made classic creamy, chocolate, fruit, berry with various fillings - nuts, biscuits, meringues, etc. They also experiment with serving as much as imagination plays. Well, someone even allows himself to change the main components of the recipe and replaces, for example, cream with cottage cheese. Well, let's take a look at some interesting recipes for an Italian ice cream dessert.
Classic Semifredo Recipe
Of course, let's start with the classic recipe for the semifredo dessert. True, I must say that you can find a lot of variations of even the classic cooking method on the Internet, but one thing is invariably - for this we only need eggs, cream and sugar. However, to taste, you can also add vanilla and other ingredients at your discretion to the recipe, including for serving.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 300 kcal.
- Servings - 8-10
- Cooking time - 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Chicken egg - 3 pcs.
- Yolks - 2 pcs.
- Cream 33% - 500 ml
- Sugar - 220 g
- Vanilla to taste
Step by step preparation of the classic semifredo recipe:
- Break eggs and yolks in a small saucepan, add sugar, vanilla, put in a water bath.
- Whisking the mass constantly, heat it.
- After about 10 minutes, it will begin to thicken, and the color will become closer to white - at this point, the saucepan can be removed from the water bath and allowed to cool.
- In the meantime, use a mixer to beat the cream until crisp peaks.
- Combine the cream with the egg mixture.
- Transfer the dessert to one large or more small tins and place in the freezer for a few hours.
Classic creamy semifredo goes well with any ingredients for serving: you can use berries, pieces of fresh fruit, chocolate, nuts, etc. But it should be noted that it is in harmony with berries best, because their slight acidity perfectly sets off the sweetness of the dessert.
Please also note that this semifredo can also be given to children, as the eggs take a long time to warm up.
Chocolate semifredo
Semifredo with chocolate is one of the most popular types of dessert. Often it is suggested to cook it with cocoa, but we recommend buying a good bar of real chocolate and using it, this is the only way to get a deep rich chocolate taste.
Ingredients:
- Cream 33% - 300 ml
- Sugar - 150 g
- Chocolate - 150 g
- Chicken egg - 3 pcs.
Step by step preparation of chocolate semifredo:
- Grate the chocolate on a fine grater.
- Separate the whites from the yolks.
- Divide the sugar in half, pour one part into the whites, the other into the yolks. Whisk both masses alternately.
- Whisk the cream separately in a bowl.
- Combine all prepared whipped masses and chocolate, mix gently.
- Put in a hardening dish, put in the freezer.
When the time comes to serve the dessert, take it out and use a special ice cream spoon to form balls from the mass, put on the bowls. Garnish with white chocolate shavings, chopped nuts.
Semifredo with curd raspberries
Using cottage cheese for semifredo is not such a strange practice. The fact is that at home, delicate mascarpone cheese is often added to it, which in taste has much in common with delicate whipped cottage cheese. You can also use mascarpone in this recipe, but if you can't find it in the store, fatty cottage cheese will work as well.
Ingredients:
- Milk - 1 tbsp.
- Fatty cottage cheese - 125 g
- Cream 33% - 1, 5 tbsp.
- Sugar - 125 g
- Raspberries - 200 g
- Egg yolks - 3 pcs.
- Vanillin - to taste
Step by step preparation of semifredo with curd raspberries:
- Break eggs and yolks in a small saucepan, add 50 g of sugar, vanilla, put in a water bath.
- Heat and whisk for about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
- Mix milk with 50 g of sugar and vanilla, bring to a boil over low heat.
- Pour the milk carefully into the yolks, making sure that they do not curl.
- Simmer, stirring, on the fire for another 3-5 minutes and turn off the stove.
- Beat the cottage cheese with a blender, add the remaining sugar to it and continue beating until the texture of a cream.
- Combine the curd with the prepared milk and egg mass and mix well.
- Add raspberries to the mass and mix well again.
- Transfer the dessert to a mold, put it in the freezer.
When serving, this dessert goes well with other berries, it is ideal to serve raspberry curd semifredo with blueberries, blackberries, blueberries - the berries will look very beautiful in contrast.
Banana Semifredo with Wine
Often, in order to diversify the taste of the dessert, wine is added to the recipe. Of course, such a semifredo can already be served only at adult holidays.
Ingredients:
- Cream 33% - 300 ml
- Powdered sugar - 120 g
- Lemon juice - 40-50 ml
- Yolks - 6 pcs.
- Bananas - 3 pcs.
- Dry white wine - 80 ml
Step by step preparation of banana semifredo with wine:
- Combine yolks and sugar, pour in wine, put on a very low heat on the stove, or organize a water bath.
- Simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes, whisking constantly.
- During this time, the mass will thicken and turn white, after which it can be removed from the fire.
- Whip the cream separately.
- Mash bananas in a blender or finely chop and beat with a mixer.
- Add lemon juice to the bananas.
- Combine prepared mixtures - yolks, cream, bananas; stir gently.
- Transfer the dessert to molds and freeze.
Banana semifredo goes well with chocolate and caramel sauce.
Semifredo with pistachio, meringue and coffee
This recipe for semifredo is probably more troublesome than the others, as it requires pre-cooking the meringue, but the result is worth it. Crispy meringue with delicate creamy ice cream - a taste that will seduce everyone.
Ingredients:
- Cream 33% - 600 ml
- Any berries - 500 g
- Sugar - 1 glass
- Pistachios - 70 g
- Proteins - 7 pcs.
- Coffee - 1 tsp.
- Cream - 3/4 tbsp. (for the sauce)
- Water - 65 ml (for the sauce)
- Honey - 1 tablespoon (for the sauce)
- Butter - 1, 5 tablespoons (for the sauce)
Step by step preparation of semifredo with pistachio, meringue and coffee:
- Whisk 3 egg whites with coffee and 50 g sugar until peaks are stable.
- Add pistachios, mix well.
- Cover the baking dish with parchment paper, spread the resulting mass about 2 cm high. Do not try to put the meringue in a beautiful shape, then, one way or another, you will have to break it. It will take about an hour for baking, but the temperature will have to be adjusted so that the meringue will immediately take, you need to set it at least 180 ° C, then the temperature drops, up to 100-120 ° C.
- While the meringue is baking, beat the cream separately with a mixer until firm peaks, then the remaining whites with the remaining sugar.
- Chop the berries.
- Cool the finished meringue, break it arbitrarily.
- Mix all the prepared ingredients, put in a mold, put in the refrigerator.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce: mix water, honey and cream, put on low heat, add butter, wait for it to melt, whisk lightly and remove from heat.
It is ideal to serve this dessert with a warm sauce, and therefore it is better to start cooking the latter shortly before serving.
Semifredo on a pillow of cookies with a "drunken" sauce
Another not simple recipe for semifredo, which, however, will delight you not only with its taste, but also with its colorful presentation. Ideally, Italian savoyardi biscuits should be used as cookies in this recipe. If you haven't found such a thing in the store, there are two ways out: buy something similar (the closest will be cookies like "Ladies Fingers") or cook savoyardi yourself. We'll show you how to do this in the recipe.
Ingredients:
- Sugar - 100 g
- Cream 33% - 100 ml
- Milk - 100 ml
- Strongly brewed coffee - 50 ml
- Eggs - 6 pcs.
- Gelatin - 5-7 g
- Water - 1 tbsp.
- Flour - 65 g (for cookies)
- Eggs - 3 pcs. (for cookies)
- Sugar -2 tbsp (for cookies)
- Vanillin, salt - pinch each (for cookies)
- Frozen berries - 500 g (for sauce)
- Sugar - 100 g (for the sauce)
- Cognac - 50 g (for the sauce)
Step-by-step preparation of semifredo on a pillow of cookies with a "drunken" sauce:
- Prepare the cookies first. Mix egg yolks with a tablespoon of sugar, salt and vanilla, beat with a mixer until bubbles appear. Whisk the whites with a second spoonful of sugar until crisp peaks. Combine the whites and yolks, stir in the sifted flour. Using a pastry bag, place the cookies on a baking sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown at 180 ° C.
- Now let's make a semifredo. Pour gelatin with 50 ml of water, leave for half an hour.
- Brew strong coffee, add the remaining water, add sugar, put on the stove and, stirring, simmer until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the gelatin into the milk, stir and slightly heat the mixture, the gelatin should completely dissolve.
- Beat eggs with a blender.
- Whip the cream separately.
- Combine milk, beaten eggs, cream.
- Put the cookies in the coffee syrup, they should soften slightly.
- Then put the cookies in a freezing dish, mix the syrup with the total creamy mass and put it on the cookies.
- Place the dessert in the freezer.
- Prepare the sauce: put the berries in a saucepan, let them defrost. When the berries are thawed, put them on fire - a lot of water will be released in the process, you do not need to add anything extra. Bring the berries to a boil, simmer for about 5 minutes, cool, add cognac, stir.
At your discretion, you can serve the dessert with a sauce with whole berries, or you can pre-beat them for a denser sauce-puree. When serving, in addition to berry sauce, it will also be appropriate to use grated chocolate and nuts.
