Danielle Alvarez's almond and cherry custard ice-cream
Prep 15 mins (plus freezing)
Cook 15 mins
Makes 1 litre
Difficulty 3.5
“This is a good base recipe for any ice-cream flavour, you can dream up,” says Danielle Alvarez. “Omit the almonds and cherries and replace with chunks of ripe peach, or fresh crushed strawberries, or toasted hazelnuts and Frangelico, or even drizzle some melted chocolate in at the last minute to create a chocolate chip ice cream. Do whatever takes your fancy.”
420ml full-cream milk
500ml (2 cups) pure cream
220g caster sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp amaretto or kirsch
65g toasted slivered almonds
400g fresh pitted or frozen sour cherries
1. Combine the milk, half the cream, the sugar and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over a medium–low heat. Warm until scalded and small bubbles appear on the edge of the pan.
2. To a bowl, add the remaining cream. Set a fine-mesh sieve on top of the bowl, then set aside.
3. Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. When your milk mixture has scalded, begin ladling it into the eggs while still hot, whisking with the opposite hand. Pour the whole mixture back into the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and making sure to scrape the bottom and side of the pan. When the mixture is visibly thickened and coats the back of a spoon (just before it begins to simmer and curdle the eggs), pour it through the sieve into the bowl with the cream to stop the cooking process. 4. Mix to combine, then add the vanilla, almond extract and amaretto or kirsch. Refrigerate until cold, then freeze according to your ice-cream maker’s instructions. Add the nuts and cherries to the ice-cream about 5 minutes before it has finished churning in the machine. Freeze until serving.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Extracted with permission from the book Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez, published by Hardie Grant Books, $50. Photography © Benito Martin and Jess Johnson.
