If you are a regular reader you will be aware that I steer clear of processed products with additives. My children are growing up fast and are on the constant look out for “treats”. I decided to bite the bullet and purchase an ice cream machine last year to make sorbets, frozen yoghurt and ice cream free from additives.  I am really  pleased that I did as I was unable to find a version in the stores that was not full of rubbish. 

As part of the discovery of this new appliance I have been playing around with different flavour combinations. This is one of those and it is an absolute delight. I can not eat anything that has milk in it but I scooped LOTS of tiny little bits of this off the spoon. I couldn’t stop!

At the top of my “Recipe To Do List” is a dairy free ice cream recipe so that I can enjoy it too.

This recipe is adapted from a vanilla bean recipe in the Cuisinart ICE-30A Series booklet.

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 and 1/2 cups of cream
• juice and zest of 1 orange
• 80 grams of pistachio nuts – chopped roughly
• 3 large eggs
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup of castor sugar

Steps:

1. Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil
2. Simmer for 30 minutes on low heat
3. Combine the eggs, yolks and sugar with a mixer and beat until smooth and creamy
4. Add 1 cup of warm milk and cream slowly and beating all the while
5. Add that back into the saucepan of milk and stir until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon
6. Stir in the juice, zest and nuts and place in the fridge to chill
7. When chilled add to an ice cream machine and mix for 25-30 minutes until thickened
8. Transfer to a container and freeze to firm for at least an hour and serve

Note: If you do not have an ice cream machine you can still make this recipe. Simply add the chilled mixture to a container with a lid and place in the freezer. Remove every couple of hours and mix around with a fork to break up the crystals forming and make the mixture smooth. Return to the freezer and repeat a few times.

The ice cream does tend to harden more than the store purchased variety so remove from freezer 5- 10 minutes prior to serving to make it easier to scoop.