Now that Halloween is over, we get to move on to some ice creams that we have been dying to make! This one was inspired by a previous flavor. We LOVED the pistachio ice cream, and it tasted so authentic because we actually made a paste with real pistachios and mixed it in! It turned out way better than artificially flavored pistachio. Then, we got to thinking about other nuts that would be amazing in ice cream. Our first thought was hazelnuts! We’ve made nutella ice cream lots of times, but we wanted to try hazelnut by itself in the base. We also knew we wanted a deep flavor, so we roasted them before turning them into the paste.
And, what goes well with hazelnut? Chocolate, of course! This dense, rich brownie pudding worked so well in the mint brownie ice cream, we decided to add them in.
Now, in full disclosure, our kids did not love this flavor. However, that turned out great because then we adults got to eat it all. And truthfully, this may be one of my top 5 favorite ice creams ever! It is amazing (even if our kids disagree)!
Roasted Hazelnut Brownie
“Much too good for children!” (Name that movie)
Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
About 3 ounces hazelnuts
- Brownie Pudding (from this recipe)
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 sticks melted butter
Directions
- Make the brownie pudding and allow it to cool before you make your ice cream.
- Brownie Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Mix together the eggs and sugar for 5-7 minutes, until pale yellow.
- Add the flour, cocoa, and salt in the bowl. Mix to combine.
- Slowly add the melted butter and whisk until well combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared dish. Set that dish in a larger one, and add water to the bigger pan, until it is about halfway up your brownie pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, until mostly set, but still moist and almost fudgy. Allow to cool completely.
- Roasted Hazelnut Base
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes, until fragrant.
- If they have a burnt skin around the nuts, put them in a jar after roasting and shake it. That will remove most of it and will give the ice cream a better flavor.
- Using a food processor, crush the hazelnuts and then let the processor run until the hazelnuts form a smooth paste.
- Heat the 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 cup milk on low in a medium saucepan until it reaches 140° F, stirring occasionally. While the custard heats, using an electric mixer to whisk the 2 large eggs in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- While the cream is still heating, slowly add the 3/4 cup brown sugar into the eggs, whisking thoroughly to make sure the mixture doesn’t become grainy.
- After the cream reaches the target temperature, gradually pour it into the egg and sugar mixture, again whisking each time the cream is added to avoid cooking the eggs.
- Pour the entire mixture back into the medium saucepan. Add the hazelnut paste and whisk until no clumps remain (we often use the immersion blender to make this happen). Heat it to 170° F.
- Now pour the mixture back into the mixing bowl. Cover and chill for 1 hour or up to 3 hours.
- When ready, make in your ice cream maker based on the maker’s instructions.
- When adding the base to the ice cream container, add a thin layer of ice cream, then top with some brownie chunks. Repeat these layers until you reach the top of the container.
- Freeze until hardened (at least 4 hours).
