During the first year I lived in the United States, I had planned to go back to Australia to visit my family, except I had planned to go over Thanksgiving and was going to miss my first experience of this amazing holiday. I had heard so much about Thanksgiving, and I was incredibly sad to be missing out.
So, Ben and Pete organized an early Thanksgiving for me and invited a bunch of friends. I made pumpkin pie, which eventually became the inspiration behind our Pumpkin Ice Cream, and Ben made butter pecan ice cream. Through the years he tweaked and tweaked the recipe, eventually browning the butter for a nuttier and more developed ice cream flavor, which we’re thrilled to share with you here.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Immersion blender
8 tablespoons (1 stick/113 grams) unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1½ cups whole milk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) sugar
½ teaspoon (2 grams) kosher salt
8 large egg yolks
½ cup (64 grams) chopped raw pecans
1. In a medium skillet or saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to heat the butter until it turns chestnut brown and smells nutty, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Pour the cream and milk into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Whisk in ½ cup (100 grams) of the sugar, the salt, and the browned butter and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Warm the mixture until you see steam rising from the top.
3. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, with a kitchen towel underneath it to prevent slipping, whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks. Continue to add the dairy mixture, whisking it in bit by bit, until you’ve added about half. Add the yolk mixture to the remaining dairy mixture in the double boiler. Set the heat under the double boiler to medium and cook the custard, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and reducing the heat to medium-low as necessary, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Hold the spoon horizontally and run your finger through the custard. If the trail left by your finger stays separated, the custard is ready to be cooled.
5. Strain the custard into the bowl sitting over the prepared ice bath, and, using an immersion blender, buzz the liquid until the mixture is emulsified. Stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the custard has cooled. Transfer the custard to a quart-size container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
6. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place the container in which you refrigerated the custard in the freezer so you can use it to store the finished ice cream. Churn the ice cream until the texture resembles “soft serve.” In the last minute of churning, add the pecans and churn for 1 minute to incorporate. Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze until hardened to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can serve it immediately—it will be the consistency of gelato. The ice cream will keep, frozen, for up to 7 days.
ben’s note We were quite surprised, when we looked at the back of our butter carton, that there were more ingredients listed than just cream. Something mysteriously called “flavoring” is also added. We recommend seeking out a high-quality butter in which the only ingredient is cream. It will likely be made with cream from grass-fed cows and have delicious flavor without additives.