Brown Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Description
You read that correctly. Discovered in Food52’s book, ‘Ice Cream & Friends’, this may just be the greatest ice cream you’ve ever tasted. We were kicking ourselves that we didn’t double the recipe, until we realized that you can’t (with our Cuisinart ice cream machine anyway), once the pecans go in, the volume fills it up giving us 4 good-sized bowls. Plan ahead, the mix needs to be cooked and then refrigerated overnight – enjoy!
Ingredients
1 c. butter – browned
1 T. + 1 t. cornstarch (or tapioca starch)
2 c. whole milk AND 1/2 c. heavy cream
2/3 c. (150 g) packed brown sugar AND 2 T. light corn syrup (or tapioca syrup)
2 T. sour cream
1/2 to 1 c. toasted pecan pieces
Instructions
To brown the butter, melt it over medium heat in a medium pot until it begins to simmer, continue to swirl until the bubbling has become foam and the center of the action begins to turn a beautiful caramel color. Remove this from the heat, and leave it to sit for about 10 minute so that the solids can settle. Pour off the clarified butter and reserve it for another use, leaving the solids at the bottom of the pot.
Whisk together the starch and 2 tablespoons of the milk in a small bowl to form a slurry. To the brown butter pot, add the remaining milk, cream, sugar and syrup and whisk and bring to a boil over medium-low heat and then continue to whisk constantly for 4 minutes. Whisk in the slurry, turn the heat to low and continue cooking for another quick minute. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the sour cream.
Leave this mix to cool completely then scrape it into a well sealed container and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to churn, pour it all into your ice cream maker and make it happen according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is super close to being done, carefully pour the pecans in and make sure they’ve been well combined. Scrape the ice cream into a container to freeze until you need it – but oh-my-goodness we ate ours straight away!
