Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream
It is hard to find really good pistachio ice cream. Since it is one of my favorites, I searched for the perfect recipe to satisfy my craving for this delicious ice cream. Having it homemade, makes it even better.
Ice cream only takes a few ingredients. But make sure they are high quality because it will make a difference in the taste. Eggs, milk, sugar, cream and pistachios are the main ingredients.
Finely grind pistachios and sugar in a food processor~~making sure you don’t turn it into nut butter. Add the nut/sugar mixture to the milk and heat. The recipe says to bring to a boil….I heated it until it was steaming with just wee little boil bubbles. Remove from the heat. Add the almond extract.
Whisk eggs and remaining sugar. Here is where I altered the recipe~~I added whole eggs, not just the yolks (according to the comments whole eggs make the consistency creamier after freezing).
This is the important part. You need to mix the eggs in with the hot milk mixture, however, you do not want to “cook” the eggs. I slowly added a little of the hot milk mixture while whisking the eggs. I continued to add more milk, making sure I didn’t create cooked scrambled eggs.
Strain the mixture into a large bowl.
Chill until cold (about 2 hours) I did this by placing the bowl with the custard mixture inside a larger bowl filled with ice and then placed both bowls in the refrigerator.
Remove the custard from the refrigerator and add heavy cream and chopped pistachios.
Process mixture into an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
You will not be disappointed in this recipe. For another homemade recipe (Rum Raisin), check out my blog post here.
Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream
Recipe details
Ingredients
Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream
- 1 cup unsalted unshelled pistachios
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 2 cups of whole milk (do not use low or non-fat)
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3/4 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Finely grind 1 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Bring milk and ground pistachio mixture to boil in heavy large saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in almond extract.
- Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in hot milk mixture. Return custard to saucepan. Cook over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes (do not boil). Strain into large bowl. Chill until cold, about 2 hours.
- Stir 1 cup whipping cream and chopped pistachios into custard. Process mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to container and freeze. (Ice cream can be prepared 3 days ahead.)
Tips
- I adapted this Epicurious recipe and used whole eggs and salted pistachios
Comments
Share your thoughts, or ask a question!
Why strain the mixture?
I don't have an ice cream maker, how else can you process mixture or can you just pour custard into container and let it freeze?