Pistachio Ice Cream, Or to What Depths I Would Stoop

Updated Date:
June 8, 2023

In a past life, and by that I mean at my last job, I worked with a woman, let’s call her Ann, who would make, on a person’s birthday, his or her very favorite dessert in the world.

My favorite dessert in the world is not pistachio ice cream. My co-worker’s, however, was. Let’s call him Peter for convenience sake. Peter is how I became introduced to the world of homemade ice cream.

On Peter’s birthday, Ann brought a huge tupperware container of pistachio ice cream into the office along with homemade chocolate sauce. They were unimaginably wonderful, the ice cream especially, and a whole other dimension of how amazing food can be was revealed to me. I liked the stuff even more than Peter, so much so that for about a month after the day he was initiated into his 27th year (and I was initiated to homemade ice cream), I would sneak into the office kitchen late in the afternoon and serve myself a small bowl of the leftovers that Ann had conveniently forgotten in the freezer because she was on to me.

Once, she walked in on me in the middle of this devious act, and informed me that the chocolate sauce was sitting in the upper shelf of the fridge and I could help myself to it if I pleased. She then proceeded to heat it up in the microwave and ladle it onto my ice cream and after that day, I unabashedly claimed what was mine: (by then) freezer-burned pistachio ice cream.

All of this is of course to say that I never did get that ice cream out of my mind. The taste has haunted me for ages, but due to not having access to an ice cream machine (or a kitchen even. I quit my job shortly after and spent the next half year traveling), pistachio ice cream has been out of reach.

So how did my attempt to replicate Ann’s mind-blowing ice cream hold up? It was… a SUCCESS. The pistachio flavor is strong, but it’s tempered by the cream so that the combination is sensual, not too sweet. My ‘buds are fondled ever so smoothly—”hey baby,” the ice cream goes as it melts in my mouth. I also love its color, soft brown with the barest touch of green, and its texture, which is ever so speckled with pistachio dust. (Of course, that’s completely up to the maker—if you like your ice cream chunky, go for it. I’ve always been a smooth peanut butter kind of girl.) In short, this is the best homemade ice cream I’ve ever made.

PISTACHIO ICE CREAM

Adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes 3-1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Optional: 1/2 cup roughly chopped pistachios

Directions:

Finely grind pistachios in a food processor with 1/4 cup sugar (but not too finely unless you want a lot of granules in your ice cream). Combine this mix and the milk in a large heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla extract and salt.

Whisk egg yolks and remaining half cup of sugar in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in about 3/4 cup of the hot milk mixture. (the point of this is that you want to slowly heat the egg mixture to the same temperature as the milk mixture so that the eggs don’t cook when you add them fully to the milk mixture.) Stir the now warm egg mixture into the saucepan, turn the heat back on to low and add the heavy whipping cream. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens (a path should be left behind when you draw your finger across the back of the spoon). Don’t let it boil.

Strain the custard through a sieve (and save the ground pistachios! They make a great topping for anything breakfast-y like yogurt or pancakes). Chill overnight if possible, but at least 2 hours.

Pour the custard into your ice cream machine. If you wish, add the chopped pistachios into the machine in the last 5 minutes of churning. Freeze it further in a container in your freezer until it’s at the consistency you like.

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Churro Cupcakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting

Recipes

Christiana George

Updated Date:
December 17, 2022

I ran across a recipe for churro cupcakes online and immediately thought of the yummy fried pastry, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and filled with warm gooey dulce de leche that one of our Argentinian friends made for us. For Argentinians, they just aren’t churros unless they are filled with dulce de leche. I can agree to that one. I had my fair share of dulce de leche when I visited Buenos Aires two years ago with my husband to visit his family. I think they put it in or on just about anything. It’s good stuff. One day I will try to make some myself, but for now I will continue to buy it at the store. As a busy mom, recipes need to be kept easy.

So anyway, I knew that if I made churro cupcakes, they had to be filled with dulce de leche. I had some left over from my recent recipes, so it worked out good. First I picked out a recipe for the cupcakes. I chose one from Bakingdom-But I didn’t want a cream cheese frosting, so I chose a mascarpone frosting from Martha Stewart You can’t go wrong with Martha.

Churro Cupcakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 20-30 min.

Cook Time: 14-16 min.

Keywords: bake dessert cinnamon dulce de leche mascarpone cheese cupcake

Ingredients (18 cupcakes)

FOR THE CUPCAKES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 (1 stick) cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

FOR THE FILLING

3/4 cup dulce de leche
1/4 cup sour cream

FOR THE FROSTING

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

To make the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined then stir in the vanilla. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and gently stir in until barely combined. Add half of the milk, mixing until just combined. Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Do not over mix.

Fill each muffin cup with 2 tablespoons of batter. I used a measuring spoon. Bake the cupcakes for 14 to 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 2 to 3 minutes, then dip the top of each cupcake into the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat it. You really have to smush them in there to get it to stick. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling.

To fill the cupcakes

Combine the dulce de leche with the sour cream and mix well. The sour cream makes the dulce de leche less sticky and easier to pipe. Put the mixture into a piping bag or a thick plastic bag with the edge snipped off. Make a hole in each of the cupcakes, making sure you do not go all the way to the bottom. I used an apple corer. It worked quite well. Then pipe the mixture into each cupcake and fill to the top.

To make the frosting

With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone, cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately. After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle a little bit of the left over cinnamon-sugar onto the frosting.

I made a good match with these recipes. The cupcakes were a perfect blend of cinnamon and dulce de leche. And the frosting was like eating a cloud from heaven. It was well worth the extra money for the mascarpone cheese. Just looking at this picture makes me want to lick the screen. I will go compose myself now.