Being a lover of ice cream, I have tried out countless recipes, and yet black walnut gelato remains to be my favorite. Some of the attractive features about this snack are its exceptional taste as well as the numerous health benefits it has to offer. Everyone who has tasted this recipe beams about how they have never had ice cream that good. As such, it is a pleasure to bestow it to you to give you a way to cool off during the hot seasons as you enjoy this delicacy.
Tips
One way to bring out the walnut flavor is by performing a double dip. At first, infuse the cream with the walnuts as this step aids in adding flavor and color to the combo. Once you come to an end, use the same nuts in the cream. Given that the ice cream already has egg yolk flavors, the result is mouth-watering ice cream.
People who try out this recipe often ask if they can use regular walnuts in their ingredients. While I am not wholly opposed to the idea, it is important to point out that the taste derived from regular nuts could not possibly live up to that which you would get from these wild nuts. As such, it is best that you to start out with these nuts which you can either harvest or buy online.
There are many stores which stock these nuts, and if you have none in your garden, you can resort to the latter option, and the results are just as good. With these tidbits out of the way, we can now get down to making this amazing dessert.
Black Walnut Ice Cream Recipe
Making this ice cream does not call for a lot of time. You will need fifteen minutes to make the preparations and fifteen more for the cook time. The total time used averages thirty minutes, but it could be more for someone who has not tried making ice cream before.
This time does not have an allowance for the time taken to chill and churn the ice cream so be sure to factor this in your arrangements. Though you would get the best results when using black walnuts, you can create an excellent dessert with just about any nut; so you are free to work with what you have.
This meal is a dessert, and it falls under American cuisine. The ingredients stated below will easily amount to one quart of ice cream:
- 2 cups of cream
- 2 cups of milk
- 2/3 cups of roughly chopped black walnuts (or nuts of your choice)
- 2/3 cups sugar
- ½ scraped vanilla bean
- 4-5 egg yolks (which depends on the size of your eggs)
How To Make Homemade Black Walnut Ice Cream
In a heavy-bottomed cooking pot, add cream, milk, sugar and walnut pieces and proceed to heat them to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Ensure that the ingredients stem and remove them just before they begin to simmer. As such, you should be keen on the process. Remove the pot from the heat and add vanilla bean as well as its scraped insides to the mixture. Mix everything until evenly combined before covering the pan. This mixture should sit and cool for one hour without any disturbance.
After one hour, move the cooled mixture to a container and place it in a refrigerator for at least four hours. It is advisable to leave the mixture overnight if you are looking for the best results. It is thus a good idea to begin your preparations the day before you wish to serve the ice cream as it will exhibit more flavors as a result. That is why a double dip is necessary as the combo will have enough time to take in the walnut flavors.
After the four hours, or an overnight stay, strain the combo to get rid of the vanilla bean and the walnut pieces. Throw away the vanilla bean parts as you will not need them anymore. However, be sure to preserve the walnut pieces by placing them in a fridge. In this way, they will still be cold and fresh when you add them in the end.
Once again, place the strained mixture in a heavy-bottomed pot and heat the contents to an average of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, ensuring that they only steam but do not simmer. As the heating takes place, crack the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Mix in one yolk at a time in a different container while keeping an eye on the temperature of the combo. With one hand on the spoon, use your free hand to beat the yolks as you pour in some of the hot cream onto the egg yolks.
Beat the egg-cream mixture hard, ensuring that the eggs do not end up getting scrambled. Add two spoons of hot cream to the egg-cream mixture and beat thoroughly before moving these contents into the pot. Reduce the heat and let the combo cook for about five more minutes. You should take a great deal of care when heating the combo at this point because the mixture could easily simmer. As such, keep stirring time and again as you let the minutes tick. In five minutes, you should be set to turn off the heat.
Remove the mixture from the pot and proceed to strain it one last time. Chill the strained combo for a while, allowing it to get to room temperature and then place it in an ice cream maker. Ensure that you mix it until it reaches the consistency that you see in soft-serve ice cream. Having achieved this, you can then move the mixture to a large bowl where you can add the black walnuts. Gently fold in your chilled nuts and move your ice cream to the refrigerator for freezing. Three to four hours of chilling will result in fantastic ice cream.
Why black walnuts?
There are many reasons why it is advisable to use walnuts over other nuts in this ice cream recipe. Not only do they present a rich earthy flavor that will have you coming back for more but they also have some health benefits. Given that ice cream is a sure way to pile on some calories, you can make use of these nuts to add some health to this combo. You can even use them in salads, yogurt, oatmeal and chicken recipes.
First off, they come with seven grams of protein per serving, which according to research is the most protein that any tree nut can offer. Thus, it has proven to be a great source of nutrients for people looking to move towards plant proteins. At least five people I know have been eating more plant-based foods in the past year in a bid to eat healthier meals and guess what was in the nutritionist’s list? Black walnuts!
Have you ever felt that your metabolism was slowing down? You know those times when every task seems too big to handle, and you would prefer to stay put and do nothing. Well, these nuts work toward increasing metabolic rates and they thus increase the amount of energy one has. I cannot tell if the rush in energy I get after eating ice cream is from the sugar or the nuts but either way, I have no complaints. What’s more, the nuts aid in the improvement of bone structure as well as growth.
We all know the effects of bad cholesterol in the body, and there are many ways in which doctors advise us to reduce it. A straightforward approach is incorporating healthy foods into your lifestyle such as black walnuts. They contain omega three which has proven useful in the reduction of cholesterol, and thus the reduction of chances of getting heart disease.
Natural is one of the words people look for when buying foods nowadays as the emphasis on whole foods increases. These nuts are free of GMO and gluten and are thus safe for use even for kids. Thus, you will have no problem serving your guests with generous amounts of this delicacy.
One other thing about these nuts: they are superfoods. With their abundance of vitamins and nutrients, high levels of antioxidants and dietary fibers, these nuts are an excellent way to fight cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. As such, whether you are adding them to ice cream, salads or oatmeal, you are taking in a wide range of nutrients essential to good health.
And of course, the list of benefits would be incomplete if it failed to mention how sweet and versatile they are. When it comes down to making ice cream, I would not have it any other way. I sure do wish that you enjoy my black walnut ice cream recipe and that you share it with your loved ones. Thank you!
