Browned Butter and Maple Ice Cream
This recipe is part of a massive blog post on ice cream, including all my ice cream secrets. If you really want to learn the basics of an AMAZING, soft and scoopable low-carb ice cream, I highly suggest reading this post.
I should also say that this recipe was originally conceived as a standard sugar laden ice cream recipe that I made for friends and family, as an alternative to whipped cream on their pumpkin pie, during a Thanksgiving celebration, many years ago. It was just a Maple Syrup Ice Cream made with real Grade B Maple. I hadn’t yet layered in the brown butter part.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had a Maple flavored ice cream before, but the thought just sounded incredibly appealing. The result far beyond surpassed my expectations. The lovely homemade pumpkin pie sat sadly in the shadow of the mammothly popular ice cream. From there, I’ve tinkered with the formula every year for Thanksgiving.
Recently, I made it to top my little Carrot Pies that I made for Thanksgiving. As fantastic as the carrot pies were, the ice cream still stole the spotlight. Something about the browned butter, combined with the maple flavor resulted in something that just felt like pancakes. I wouldn’t call this “Pancake” flavored ice cream, although I probably could. It’s just that the taste combination reminded me of pancakes, so much so that I felt the need to whip up a batch and adorn a pile with a lovely scoop.
The moral of the story? If you ever want to put ice cream on your pancakes... you could do A LOT worse!
I should also say that this recipe was originally conceived as a standard sugar laden ice cream recipe that I made for friends and family, as an alternative to whipped cream on their pumpkin pie, during a Thanksgiving celebration, many years ago. It was just a Maple Syrup Ice Cream made with real Grade B Maple. I hadn’t yet layered in the brown butter part.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had a Maple flavored ice cream before, but the thought just sounded incredibly appealing. The result far beyond surpassed my expectations. The lovely homemade pumpkin pie sat sadly in the shadow of the mammothly popular ice cream. From there, I’ve tinkered with the formula every year for Thanksgiving.
Recently, I made it to top my little Carrot Pies that I made for Thanksgiving. As fantastic as the carrot pies were, the ice cream still stole the spotlight. Something about the browned butter, combined with the maple flavor resulted in something that just felt like pancakes. I wouldn’t call this “Pancake” flavored ice cream, although I probably could. It’s just that the taste combination reminded me of pancakes, so much so that I felt the need to whip up a batch and adorn a pile with a lovely scoop.
The moral of the story? If you ever want to put ice cream on your pancakes... you could do A LOT worse!
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time2 hrs
Total Time3 hrs
Servings: 8 Servings
Calories: 349.94125kcal
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cream heavy whipping, divided
- 1 1/2 cup almond milk unsweetened, divided
- 1/4 cup 'Swerve' or other sugar replacement
- 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 large egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar free maple syrup
- 3 tbsp vegetable glycerin food grade (optional)
Instructions
- Take 1 1/2 cups (360 mL) of the heavy cream and put it on the stove, over low heat, to start reducing. You can't go too fast because the cream will boil up the sides of the pot and overflow and make a big mess of your kitchen. You need to go with a very low simmer and just let it gurgle away for a while. It can take a good hour or two, but ... in my own personal opinion ... it's worth it! Reduce the cream until it breaks (splits into yellow fats and solids) and starts to color. DO NOT burn it, though. There's a point at which it's too dark and becomes bitter. You want something that looks like a nice "sand at the beach" (floating in yellow butter fat). Much darker than a nice sand and it gets bitter. You'll need to play with it. Too light in color and ... you're not developing as much flavor as you could. It's a very fine line! Should be light brown/tan. Once it's like sand at the beach, set it aside. Keep it warm, but not "hot".
- Then, heat the remaining 1 cup (240 mL) of cream with 1/2 cup (120 mL) of the almond milk, until it’s hot and just about to simmer.
- While warming the cream and almond milk, in a small bowl combine the sweetener, xanthan gum and salt. Mix well, as this will help decrease the chances of the xanthan gum clumping. Set aside.
- Place the egg yolks into a large mixing bowl. Slowly whisk the hot cream/almond milk mixture into the eggs. Then, put the hot egg mixture back into the pot. Stir quickly, so the eggs don't scramble.
- Whisk in the dry ingredients, whisking while adding them. This should dissolve everything, further prevent scrambled eggs and eliminate xanthan clumps. Keep whisking, until the frothy bubbles stop forming on the surface and it thickens and coats a spoon.
- Once the mixture coats the spoon and/or is about 165 F (74 C), SLOWLY whisk your butter fat and browned butter solids into the egg mixture. I do this by taking a damp towel and twirling it, to make sort of a rope. Then, I make a circle on the countertop with the damp towel/rope. Then, pour the custard into a bowl. Wedge the bowl into the towel ring. This will help hold the bowl in place, so you can more freely (and aggressively) whisk the butter into the custard base. If you go too quickly, the base will break and you'll possibly need to start all over. Thankfully, it's fairly forgiving, but I'd still recommend going slowly. Drip, drip, drip the melted butter and butter solids into the custard base and whisk and whisk, until it's totally incorporated. You'll have a really nice brown butter ice cream base, at this point! You'll see the little flecks of golden butter solids in the base. They'll look like crumbs or grains of sand, but the rest of the base should be nice, smooth and delicious.
- Add the remaining cup of almond milk, pancake syrup, vegetable glycerin and vanilla. Here's a good place to adjust the flavor. Add salt or more sweetener, if you'd like (I like mine on the salty side). Then, it goes into the ice cream machine!
- That's it! Let the machine do its magic. Then ... freeze or ... EAT!
Nutrition
Serving: 8g | Calories: 349.94125kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.3175g | Protein: 4.66625g | Fat: 32.6325g | Fiber: 0.375g