A couple of weeks ago, my mom gave me a great gift! Susanna Tee’s cookbook ‘Ice Cream’! It’s filled with the most mouth-watering pictures and interesting recipes, such as Brown Bread Ice Cream and Indian Kulfi. However, as I had an unopened bottle of maple syrup and some leftover walnuts lying around in my pantry, I was immediately drawn to the Maple Syrup & Walnuts Ice Cream.
Next to walnuts and maple syrup, the recipe only calls for two other ingredients: heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk. That’s right: no eggs!
Though I guess you already got that from the title of this post…
Anyway, whereas most ice creams are custard based and thus involve a bit of cooking, this recipe can literally be whipped up and placed in the freezer within 10 minutes. Of course you will still have to freeze it for a couple of hours, but really most of the work is done at this point! Even if you are as busy as I am – still trying to catch up on my reading list – this recipe will fit in your life beautifully!
Just drop whatever you’re doing, run into the kitchen and rummage through your pantry until you’ve found some walnuts.
First thing you’ll need to do is toast the walnuts until they are nice and, well… toasty!
What did I just say about not having to cook?? Never mind that, I guess… Although it is not absolutely necessary that you get out a pan and toast them… Just know that they’ll taste so much better if you do!
Once the walnuts are beautifully golden and crisp, set them aside to cool and whip up some heavy cream with a generous splash of maple syrup. Feel free to use more maple syrup if you want to, but mind that the flavor of the maple syrup will vary from brand to brand, so taste before adding more.
In the original recipe Susanna Tee uses twice as much maple syrup as I use, and the first time I made this, I followed Susanna’s instructions to the ‘Tee’ (pun intended!). But my man and I found the ice cream a bit too spicy, almost peppery actually. So I tweaked the recipe a bit…
But hey, if peppery ice cream is your thing, go for it!
Either way, next up is the sweetened condensed milk, which needs to be whipped. Make sure you place it in the fridge a few hours before even attempting to whip it, because, like cream, sweetened condensed milk can only be whipped properly if the fat in the milk is thoroughly chilled. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (trust me, you’ll want to use a mixer for this), beat the milk until it doubles in volume and forms a ribbon.
This picture basically shows you what you’re after: the milk falls from the lifted beaters in ribbons and doesn’t immediately dissolve back into the surface.
Once the milk is nice and airy, gently fold in the whipped maple-cream and most of the walnuts. Pour the mixture into a freeze-proof bowl and place it in the freezer. Once the mixture is in the freezer, you can return to your busy life. Just remember to take the bowl out of the freezer every hour to give the ice cream a good stir with a fork.
Make sure to taste it every time you stir! That’s really important…
When the ice cream is finally (FINALLY!) frozen after two or three hours, scoop yourself a big bowl of ice cream, sprinkle with some of the toasted walnuts, and dig in!
- 150g (or 1½ cup) unsalted walnuts, chopped into large pieces
- 300ml (or 1¼ cup) whipping cream, chilled
- 80ml (or ⅓ cup) maple syrup
- 200ml (or ¾ cup + 4 teaspoons) sweetened condensed milk, chilled
- Start off by toasting the walnuts in a dry frying pan over low heat until they smell beautifully toasty and have turned an even golden brown (check out the 'Basics' section of this site for details on toasting nuts). Once the walnuts are toasted, place them on a plate in a single layer and set aside to cool.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the cream and maple syrup. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a whisk, obviously) whip the cream mixture until stiff peaks form (but don't whip it into butter). Set aside. In another bowl, again using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the condensed milk until it ribbons. Lift the beaters to see whether the mixture falls from the beaters in ribbons (check the picture in the post).
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the cream and two thirds of the cooled walnut pieces into the whipped condensed milk. Pour the mixture into a plastic or stainless steel bowl and place it in the freezer.
- After an hour, take the bowl out of the freezer and give the mixture a good stir with a fork to break up the ice crystals (usually they have only formed on the sides of the bowl at this point). Continue to check and stir the mixture every hour until the ice cream is frozen, this will take probably 3 hours.
- Serve the ice cream with the remaining walnut pieces sprinkled over the top. If you don't want to serve straight away, cover the bowl with a lid and take the ice cream out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving to soften.
New favorite food quote:
