Hands down, the undefeated summer treat: homemade ice cream. The best part about this recipe is you don’t have to churn a darn thing! With a little time, a few ingredients, and as many pistachios as your heart can hold, you’ll be chillin’ with this tasty treat by sundown.
Ingredients:
1 cup of Sugar Plum’s Kettle-Cooked Candied Vanilla Sea Salt Pistachios, plus more for topping
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions:
- Add pistachios to a food processor with a blade attachment. Process until a smooth butter forms. Be patient! This takes some time. At one point, it will form into a ball. Keep going, you’re almost there!
- Add the sweetened condensed milk, pistachio butter, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream with a hand mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. TIP: chill a glass or metal bowl to help the cream whip faster.
- Add the whipped cream to the pistachio mixture and fold in with a large spatula. Gently fold them together until there are no streaks. Take your time here! Be careful not to knock the air out of the whipped cream.
- If you’d like, add a couple drops of green food coloring to the mixture as you fold. For extra crunch, add about 1/2 cup of roughly chopped pistachios.
- Transfer the ice cream base into a freezer safe dish, like a metal loaf pan. Add more chopped pistachios on top if desired.
- Place in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight.
- Remove from the freezer a few minutes before serving or run an ice cream scoop under hot water and shake excess water away. Serve with even more pistachios on top and/or a drizzle of the chocolate ganache listed below.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
1 cup of your favorite Sugar Plum Chocolate bar (we recommend dark chocolate)
Instructions:
- Finely chop the chocolate into small pieces for even cooking. Place into a heatproof glass or metal bowl.
- Heat cream in a saucepan until just simmering. If the cream is boiling, it’s too hot which can separate or burn the chocolate. Once you see small bubbles forming around the edge, turn the burner off and pour the cream over the chocolate.
- Allow them to sit for a few minutes, then stir until smooth.
Drizzle the ganache over your ice cream and sprinkle some chopped pistachios on top. Use the ganache as a dip for fresh fruit and pretzels. Gently reheat leftover ganache on the stove, add another 1/3 cup of chocolate, and stir until smooth and melted. Chill for a few hours, scoop, form into balls, and roll into very finely chopped pistachios for easy truffles!
