I realize this intro may appear long. It generally sums my experience of Sundae Sundays and I want to thank you for following my journey and leaving beautiful and inspiring comments to further continue 🙂
It’s a bittersweet moment for me as today is the last Sundae Sunday. I originally started this summer-long project not knowing exactly what I was getting myself in to. Do you know how difficult it is to take photos of ice cream?! You may question: how difficult can this really be? And you must think all I do is just scoop it out, place it on a dish with a pretty spoon, and shoot. Oh, there’s so much more to it than that!
Ice creams are delicate and tricky to manipulate. The reason for this is that it MELTS and when it melts, boy does it get create such a mess – and I mean a mess everywhere! Then, you have to start over and starting over means you have to re-freeze and wait. We all know re-frozen ice cream may not look as pretty as when you first scooped it out of the bowl. It tends to have a flat look, surely not as fluffy or airy as it should. With that said, I hope you can imagine, it really isn’t “a piece of cake“ or “as easy as pie.”
I applaud those behind the photos seen on Google images and Pinterest with their creative abilities to use multiple angles, props and to integrate ice creams in cakes, cookies and the like. All-in-all, I’m glad I’ve committed myself into this project and couldn’t be more satisfied. It offered me an outlet to become more creative using simple ingredients and techniques while producing an assortment of flavors right from home. I only hope you are just as satisfied as I am.
As for now, I’ll be packing away my Cuisinart machine, but don’t worry, it’s only temporary. I already have a Fall ice cream/sorbet flavor in mind for a lazy day down the road. In the meantime, I’m crazily studying recipes and practicing with fondant. Ecstatic to start Fall baking, even I look forward to seeing the end results of what I am able to create which is only part of the reason why I enjoy baking so much. It’s fun to see the beauty in a masterpiece you’ve created from scratch and then share it with the ones dear to your heart.
Now back to the ice cream. From all the sundae posts, this one in particular has to be one of the oddest flavors I’ve made, but in a positive way. It truly is almost indescribable. The closest way I can describe this ice cream is when you take the very first bite, it has a distinct almond flavor. As you continuously dig in, the almond flavor subsides and is masked by the toasted cashews giving the ice cream a mild nutty flavor and crunch in every bite. A kind of texture I personally enjoy.
A recap of Summer 2013 Sundae Sundays:
- Chocolate Oreo Crunch Ice Cream
- Blueberry Blast Ice Cream
- Tangy Lemon Raspberry Sorbet
- Mini Frozen Ice Cream Cheesecakes
- Flirty Red Velvet Ice Cream Brownie Sundae
- S’mores Ice Cream
- Funfetti Carnival Frozen Custard
- Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream
- Pistachio Cashew Ice Cream
Pistachio Cashew Ice Cream
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 1 1/2 quarts 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- green food coloring (optional)
- 1/2 cup pecans, halved
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combined pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar, set aside.
- In a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the milk and cream just to a boil. Remove from heat.
- In a separate bowl, combine and whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Gradually whisk 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. Gradually add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream into the hot cream in the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 170°F on an instant read thermometer, about 6 minutes.
- Remove from heat and strain into a large bowl. Add pistachio mixture, almond extract and few drops of green food coloring, stir. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 – 2 hours or overnight.
- Pour mixture into the ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions.
- Five minutes before mixing of ice cream is complete, add cashews.
- For thicker ice cream, place into an air tight container and freeze for 2 or more hours.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Pistachio Cashew Ice Cream slightly adapted from FoodNetwork.