It’s been far too long since the last time I made ice cream.
Considering it’s something we eat on an almost daily occurrence (confessions), you’d think I’d be storing up batches and batches in our freezer. But we live in ice cream heaven here in Wisconsin, and so it’s never hard to get a good pint from any of the city’s local makers.
But during our trip to Miami a couple weeks ago, I sampled a Medjool date sorbet at Jugofresh and was totally hooked. I wanted to make it at home. Jason’s Miami trip obsession was shaking egg whites into our cocktails, and so you can probably already see where this is going.
I just couldn’t let a good egg yolk go to waste, so I scratched the sorbet idea and decided to try a date ice cream. I also added walnuts, because what’s better than dairy and nut fat? The answer is nothing.
I didn’t add too much additional sugar to the ice cream because the dates are, of course, so naturally sweet. The smell of dates seeped in warm milk take me to a total dream land so enjoy that while you make it.
The walnuts get stirred in at the very end, right before freezing, which is totally optional. Sweet but not too sweet, with a crunch from the nuts, this ice cream is one of the best I made to date.
In case you missed it, I made a pretty good pun in that last sentence.
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 7 ounces whole dates, pitted
- pinch of Kosher salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cup heavy cream, divided
- 5 eggs yolks, slightly beaten
- ½ cup walnut, chopped (optional)
- In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Continue to boil until the sugar has dissolved completely, stirring occasionally. Add the dates and salt and boil for 3 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and let dates sit for 5 minutes to cool.
- Use a food processor to puree the mixture until smooth. Transfer back to saucepan.
- Add whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream to the date mixture. Pour remaining heavy cream into a large bowl and set aside.
- Over a medium-low heat, stir date mixture until it just barely starts to simmer, then remove from heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour ½ a cup of warm date mixture into the eggs and continue whisking until eggs have tempered.
- Pour tempered eggs back into saucepan and turn up heat to medium. Stir constantly with a heatproof spatula until a custard forms and thickly coats the back of the spatula, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour into the large bowl with the remaining heavy cream. Stir well until custard cools, then transfer to refrigerator and chill for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.
- Churn ice cream based on your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions. Fold in walnuts and freeze overnight.
I will make it next and add cognac.
writes Joyce Perry1portions
writes 2trinidadI made this today and it is sheer heaven. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg and molasses and it made my knees weak. Thank you for posting this recipe.
writes Gribbly