Ingredients
For the yellowman toffee
4 tbsp butter, plus extra for greasing
170g/6oz brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp baking soda
For the apple custard and ice cream
9 medium free-range egg yolks
250g/8¾oz caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 litre/1 pint 15fl oz whipping cream
200g/7oz Bramley apple, finely chopped, sprinkled with the juice of ½ lemon (to prevent it from browning)
100ml/3½fl oz good-quality single malt whiskey
100g/3½oz yellowman toffee (see above)
100g/3½oz dulse (a kind of sea vegetable, available from health-food shops), chopped
For the crumble
100g/3½oz plain flour
50g/1¾oz porridge oats
70g/2½oz salted butter
50g/1¾oz caster sugar
For the tuile biscuit garnish
100g/3½oz plain flour
100g/3½oz icing sugar
1 small free-range egg white
100g/3½oz melted butter (at blood temperature)
Method
1. For the yellowman toffee, melt the butter in a heavy pan. Add the sugar, golden syrup, water and vinegar and boil, taking care as the toffee will be very hot. Meanwhile grease a load tin with butter.
2. To test it, carefully spoon out a mound of the mixture and drop it into a bowl of cold water. It's ready if the mixture turns into a crisp and brittle ball.
3. Add the baking soda when the mixture is at the hard ball stage described in the previous step. You'll find that it will foam and froth, so, with a spoon, rapidly keep stirring the bubbling broth.
4. Now pour it into the prepared tin and leave to cool.
5. When the toffee is cool, break it into bite-sized bits to eat. Measure out 100g/3½oz for the ice cream. Place the remainder of the yellowman into a freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin to a fine dust. Set aside.
6. For the apple custard and ice cream, preheat the oven to 170C/340F/Gas 3.
Place the egg yolks and 200g/7¼ oz of the caster sugar in a bowl. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod with a sharp knife, add the pod and seeds to the bowl, and mix together by hand with a whisk.
7. Bring the cream and the vanilla pod to the boil in a pan, add to the egg mixture, and whisk thoroughly. Pour the hot milk onto the eggs, a little at a time, stirring well. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until just thickened.
8. Divide the custard into two bowls, discarding the pieces of vanilla pod. Cool one half rapidly over a bowl of ice, and then chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Set the other bowl of custard to one side.
9. Place the diced Bramley apple in a pan with the remaining caster sugar.
10. Cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Place the diced Bramley apple into the base of four 12cm/5in moulds or cups.
11. Add the whiskey to the warm custard and stir to mix. Pour the custard on top of the apple.
12. Place the moulds or cups into a deep pan, pour in enough warm water to come halfway up the sides of the moulds (this is called a bain-marie). Bake for 30 minutes or until the custards are just set - they should wobble like a jelly when tapped.
13. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then place in the fridge. Keep the oven on.
14. For the ice cream, mix the chilled custard, yellowman toffee and chopped dulse in a bowl and churn in an ice cream machine until thickened (according to manufacturer's instructions). Decant into a suitable container and freeze.
11. For the crumble, place all of the crumble ingredients into a food processor and blend.
12. Spread the crumble mix out on a baking sheet and bake at the same temperature as the custards for 10-15 minutes until golden-brown. Leave to cool.
13. For the tuile biscuit garnish, sift the flour and icing sugar together into a mixing bowl. Add the egg white and beat to a smooth paste.
14. Add the melted butter a little at a time and mix to a smooth paste. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
15. To cook the tuile biscuit garnish, increase the oven temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Spread the mixture out on a baking tray to form long biscuit shapes.
15. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until golden-brown.
16. Remove from the oven and cool in the tray.
17. To serve, top the chilled whiskey custards with the crumble and garnish with the tuile biscuits and cracked yellowman dust. Arrange a spoonful of the ice cream alongside. Serve at once.
