This homemade Black Walnut Ice Cream is a creamy rich ice cream with a bold black walnut flavor.
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You might be thinking that I weigh 400 lb and all I eat are baked goods and desserts, because let's be honest, that's all I've been posting recently. This black walnut ice cream recipe is no exception. Can I explain why without sounding like I'm making excuses? I'll give it a shot.
Lately, we've been eating staple Seeded at the Table recipes that are either easy, freezable, or make a lot to last... such as the Pasta Fagioli, Chicken Pockets, Enchilada Lasagna, Italian Meatloaf, Cornflake Chicken Strips, and Chicken Taquitos.
Other nights, we order in pizza and watch American Idol with friends. Why? Because I've been so busy at work that by the time I get home I do not have the motivation to prepare a new recipe, let alone take a photo and write about it. I've been dying to take new photos of some of the recipes above, but couldn't even find the time to do that!
Ben begged me to make him black walnut ice cream for a long time (it's his favorite) and I finally got around to doing it the other day. Poor guy. A baby shows up and suddenly his favorite foods are on the back-burner. 🙂
Can I tell you how sad I am that I didn't make this ice cream sooner? Ben grew up eating black walnut ice cream while I never heard of it. I had no way to tell if this recipe was a good comparison to other black walnut ice cream recipes until Ben took a bite and said, "This is perfect!" What relief, considering I had a tough time finding a good recipe, so instead used David Lebovitz' Coffee Ice Cream recipe as a base and played from there. I faintly remember Ben saying it was even better than the ice cream he grew up with. Recipe success!
Recipe Card
Black Walnut Ice Cream
Ingredients
- ½ cup chopped black walnuts
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream , divided
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line all of the walnuts in a single layer on a small baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 5 minutes and then let cool.
- Using a medium saucepan, heat the milk, sugar, half of the black walnuts, salt and ½ cup of the cream until warm. Cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Pour the remaining 1 cup of the cream into a large bowl; set aside. Whisk together the egg yolks in a separate medium bowl; set aside.
- Rewarm the mixture then slowly pour into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape back into the saucepan.
- Heat over medium heat while stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens (about 5-7 minutes). Pour the custard into the 1 cup cream through a mesh strainer and stir. Press on the walnuts to extract as much of the walnut flavor as possible, then discard them. Mix in the vanilla and stir over an ice bath until cool.
- Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. After transferring the ice cream from the maker to the container, stir in the remaining black walnuts. Freeze until ready to consume.
Notes
- Using techniques from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz
- Nutritional values are an estimate only.
Nutrition
