This may not be my final blog post of 2025 but it probably will be my last one before Christmas (and may I take this opportunity to remind you of my recent 15th annual edible gift guide). So, I might as well stay right in my box of paints by offering you a no-churn brandy snap ice cream recipe that lends itself to post-Christmas-dinner carousing but which I’d be delighted to eat year-round. Being true to form begets itself; I’m also writing this at 2.30am on a school night because honestly, at this point, completing one blog post in 2025 at a normal hour would be the habit-forming equivalent of getting sunburnt all summer and finally applying some SPF15 to your left ankle the day before autumn kicks in.

Ice cream is, for me, both a favourite food to eat and make—its cool, billowing lusciousness is the ideal pillow upon which flavour can make itself comfortable with an amiable sigh. It’s also an ideal vehicle for a texture journey, which the toffee-crisp crunch of the crushed brandy snaps amply provides. As I’ve noted in the recipe, I would still happily have actual brandy snaps with whipped cream peeking out from each end alongside this ice cream; but then I like a groaning selection of puddings no matter how many or how few people are gathered around the table.

Brandy snaps don’t contain a lick of titular liquor; but they are heady with ginger and golden syrup and there’s something especially gratifying about the combination of a warm spice encased in a cold setting. I amplify and magnify this quality by introducing rivulets of golden syrup in a haphazard ripple fashion. For the “it’s not too sweet” insisters amongst you, fear not, the golden syrup is indeed, by its nature, liquid sweetness but it’s also sturdy and complex, and does not overwhelm the palate.

Now, I make a lot of ice cream recipes and I tell you a lot of them are good but this has to be one of the most pinnacled in relation to its exact midpoint of ease-of-execution and bonkers deliciousness.

And I mean really delicious: plush cream, its ice crystal tendencies tenderised by condensed milk, a golden syrup ripple that’s toffeed, peppery, and sticky, and the smashed-glass brandy snap shards subsiding between your teeth in a gingery rubble. Although this naturally suggests Christmas, there’s not a single birthday or gathering that wouldn’t be improved by a tub of this nearby.

I urge you to try this one, but if you’re in the mood and mindset for Christmas-friendly ice cream I also suggest—in order from easiest to hardest—my chocolate, rum and prune truffle ice cream; my mint choc-chip ice cream; and my cranberry curd white chocolate ripple ice cream. All no-churn, of course.

No-churn brandy snap ice cream

Stunningly straightforward to make, exceptionally delicious—though I wouldn’t say no to traditional cream-filled brandy snaps alongside this, using them here is a playful variation and texturally wonderful. As always, before going shopping for these or any ingredients, I recommend checking out the Boycott Aotearoa zines so you know which brands to avoid. Recipe by myself.

• 500ml cream
• 150ml sweetened condensed milk
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4-5 tablespoons golden syrup (see notes)1 x 120g (or thereabouts) package of brandy snaps

1: In a large bowl—more for the splashing than the volume, but the cream will expand—pour the 500ml cream, 150ml sweetened condensed milk, 3 tablespoons of icing sugar and teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk vigorously until thickened and floppy but just firm enough that when you drag your whisk through, a trail barely remains. You can use an electric whisk or beaters for this, which will make it very quick work, but 99% of the time I just use a regular whisk and some effort.

2: Crunch up all but two of the brandy snaps with your hands—very satisfying—and lightly fold these shards and crumbs into the thickened cream. Spatula this mixture into a 1-litre container or receptacle.

3: Tablespoon at a time, drizzle over the golden syrup, letting it sink a little into the cream, before swirling it gently with your spoon. The idea is to have ribbons and streams of the golden syrup haphazardly throughout. Crumble the remaining two brandy snaps over the top of the ice cream. Freeze for six hours, or overnight.

Makes about 900ml. For some reason—I think it’s the precise combination of sugars—this is perfectly spoonable straight from the freezer with no need to defrost on the bench; meaning very little stands between you and your next spoonful.

Note: If you’re American or in some other country where golden syrup isn’t readily accessible, alas this is one of those ingredients where there is really no substitute (unless you can find treacle, in which case…you can probably also find golden syrup.) A bottle or tin of golden syrup is a life-changing and worthy investment but if you really had to, you could leave it out (there’s plenty of sweetness as it is) and the flavour and texture of the brandy snaps will still be an excellent time.

what I’ve been listening to lately:

Foolish Harp/Waerera by the Bhundu Boys; it makes you feel like you are in fact the very light dappling in the spaces between the leaves in a lush forest; I haven’t listened to this in about a decade and it hit me like a ton of fireflies. It has a kind of Rez-ness to it—light, winged, ethereal—and just when you think it can’t get any more beautiful it changes tempo and in flutter even more plucked strings.

Sit Down by James, it’s almost mortifying how much this boisterous yet melancholy-tinged song makes you want to hug a stranger on the bus or something; and yet! We could all do with being 5000% more neighbourly.

Turkey Lurkey Time from the 1968 Broadway musical Promises, Promises as performed by Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee and Margo Sappington at the 1969 Tony Awards; it is my personal Christmas tradition that every year I wait until 1 December and then watch this (monumentally grainy, blurry and above all: silly) video of this performance and CRY. Despite maintaining this tradition for about sixteen years there’s still not yet any scientific reason why it makes me so emotional—it’s Baayork Lee’s enthusiasm and Donna McKechnie’s rubber spine of course, it’s the way they go from crossing diagonally to all in a line, I know—I know—that somewhere in a reference library or vault in New York City is a high definition video of this performance and one day I will watch it and cry in high-def, too. Till then, the blurriness is part of the emotive experience.

PS: Feeling hopeless is a luxury that serves no one but those perpetrating the hopelessness. The people of Palestine need us more than ever. Among others, you can donate to Emily Writes’ fundraiser which is still open, along with:

• ReliefAid’s Gaza Appeal, who are connected with teams on the ground in Gaza.
• Convoys of Good, another registered NZ charity distributing aid.
• I’d also like to highlight Welcome Back Slow Fashion who has relentlessly fundraised for mutual aid by selling off gaspingly beautiful and rare vintage clothing pieces one by one.
• As I’ve already mentioned, you can also demonstrate your control and power through the absence of your dollars. Boycott Zine Aotearoa has helpfully put together two comprehensive free zines so you can quickly see who to studiously avoid when buying food, drinks, household items and beauty products.
• You can also check out the Pro-Palestine Business Aotearoa account by the same people for a very solid list of places to actively focus your consumer attention on.