I'm not going to bother with a real detailed post here. This is just a Jeni Britton-style ice cream base infused with ginger and mixed with lots of diced pieces of the apricot oat bars I made poorly last week. The points of interest here are the combination of flavors and the very low ratio of ice cream to stuff-mixed-in.
First, the flavor combination. A little bit of ginger in the stewing liquid enhanced the dried apricots for the oat bars, but here it doesn't play well with the cream. Maybe it's because I didn't blanch the ginger like a lot of recipes for ginger ice cream do. Maybe it's because the milk and cream are leftover from my last batch and, while not sour as such, are a little tangy.
It gets better as it warms up a little. Everything gets sweeter--balancing out the ginger and dairy--and the apricot's flavor blooms. That also helps the textural balance. While it's cold, I find I want a big scoop of ice cream with a few bits apricot bar, but when it's warmer the chewy apricot turns gooey, blending better with the creamy ice cream and contrasting with the chewy and still a little crisp oat bits. So the key to enjoying this ice cream is to sit at your computer and let its sit while you ponder the best wording to describe it.
