Golden Gaytimes (known as Cookie Crumbles in New Zealand) are a famous brand of ice cream here in Australia, and are probably of the most popular ice-cream-on-a-stick type treats. Typically bought from one’s local ‘servo’ or various small stores, they consist of a core of plain ice cream wrapped in a layer of caramel ice cream, dipped in a soft chocolate coating and sprinkled with a soft malt biscuit. Replicating one is quite interesting, as a lot of the elements of the ice cream aren’t quite what you’d expect from looking at it. For example, the chocolate coating is (as mentioned) quite soft and closer to a ganache than the more snappy exterior of a Magnum, another popular ice cream here. Also, the biscuit coating isn’t just ordinary biscuit crumbs, or at least doesn’t feel like it. It’s quite soft, perhaps just as a result of the freezing and storage process).
The ice cream in the centre is pretty typical of store-bought, individual-serve ice cream. It’s kind of… icy, typically – the texture isn’t great. It’s almost a little reminiscent of a semifreddo? Maybe? I watched a video of some other people trying to make their own version, and they just outright went for what they called a ‘cheat’s’ ice cream, which is a no-churn custard made of condensed milk and thickened cream (cream with added thickener, such as vegetable gum, as the name suggests) whipped together. I guess that’s kind of an eggless semifreddo, so I can see why they went with that approach.
In this case, I personally do not consider faithfulness to the original ice cream to be a virtue. As we’re starting from scratch anyway, why not make improvements where we have the option? This recipe is therefore not intended to be an accurate representation of a Golden Gaytime (and we do have a vegan version in stores here now, so if you really want authenticity, you could just buy those), but rather a recipe inspired by its best elements.
To that end, I’ve designed a recipe for a mild caramel ice cream, served as a sundae with chocolate ganache and malt biscuits. I specifically recommend a light caramel as when you bite into a Gaytime, you don’t really get distinct notes of both the plain and caramel layers. Instead, the vanilla centre mildens the caramel exterior to give a nice, sweet complexity without being a full-on caramel hit. This is also why I’ve not gone for separate scoops of vanilla and caramel, though as that is a better visual match to the original so you’re more than welcome to go with that instead! I also suggest a very mild salting, to bring out that flavour a little more, which does seem faithful to the original recipe.
One last thing worth noting is that it is… tricky to get the biscuit cooking time right. I tested a few different temperatures and times and what I settled on seems to work fairly reliably for me, though They’re still probably a little crunchier then the original. Feel free to tinker to get it right for you!
Vegan Golden Gaytime Sundae
Time: 1 hour (active), 6 hours (total)
Makes: 1 Litre
Ingredients
| 700 grams | 3% Fat oat milk |
| Powders | |
| 150 grams | Sucrose (White sugar) |
| 50 grams | Dextrose (D-glucose) |
| 20 grams | Maltodextrin |
| 5 grams | Stabiliser, such as xanthan gum |
| Fats | |
| 80 grams | Refined coconut oil |
| 20 grams | Neutral oil |
| Biscuit Coating | |
| 25 grams | Plain Flour |
| 15 grams | Sucrose (White sugar) |
| 10 grams | Refined coconut oil |
| 5 grams | Light Malt Powder |
| 4 grams | 3% Fat oat milk |
| .5 grams | Baking Soda |
| Ganache | |
| 40 grams | Chocolate of your choice |
| 15 grams | 3% Fat oat milk |
Directions
- Combine the dextrose, maltodextrin and stabiliser (NOT the sucrose!) in a bowl and whisk for a few seconds to homogenise.
- Heat the fats and the milk in a small pot over low heat, whisking through the dextrose, maltodextrin, and stabiliser mix. Keep over low while you heat the sucrose and enough water to cover the sugar in a separate pot on a medium heat to make the caramel.
- Keep the sucrose over medium heat, brushing down the sides of the pot with a heat-proof brush and water. Once the sucrose takes on a light yellow colour, slowly add in the milk-fat-powder mixture and stir vigorously. Keep stirring until everything is one homogenous mixture with no clumps of sugar; this should take a couple of minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and allow to rest for a few minutes before stick blending for 30 seconds. Then refrigerate or put into an ice bath until the custard hits 4°C/40°F.
- To make the biscuit coating, pre-heat the oven to 150°C/300°C, then combine all the ingredients for it in a bowl and mix with a spoon. Give it a few kneads with your fingers to make sure the dough is nice and consistent. Freeze this mixture for 5-10 minutes, then grate with a box grater directly onto a lined baking tray. Don’t cover the tray too densely, the pieces should be spread out – it might take between 4-8 batches (depending on your tray size) to get through even this small lump of dough!
- Cook each batch of crumbs for 5-10 minutes (depending on desired crunch level!), making sure the oven is up to temperature first). I’d suggest testing the biscuits out a few times to get a crunchiness level you like – you’ll have excess crumbs, so it’s fine if a few batches don’t come out perfect.
- Once the ice cream base is cold enough, churn following machine instructions. Freeze until desired hardness is reached, 4 hours minimum.
- To make the ganache, just combine chocolate and oat milk and microwave in short (15-30 second) bursts until they can be mixed together.