I served a sweet potato pecan pie to finish off my Thanksgiving dinner this year. The fact that the pie was already composed of two already great pies was not enough and I tried to make dessert even better by topping it off with some ice cream. At first I was thinking just some simple vanilla ice cream would do and then I thought; Why stop there? I could make it a maple ice cream and it would be including some of the flavours from the pie that it would be topping. Thinking of working similar flavours into the ice cream my next thought was to add some pecans because nuts always go well in ice cream. I had finally arrived at a maple pecan ice cream which sounded really good.
There was just one last thing to add to the ice cream, a splash of bourbon. I like to add a touch of alcohol to my homemade ice creams as it helps to keep the ice cream from freezing into a solid brick. The consistency of the ice cream straight from the freezer is always nice with the alcohol and there is no need to wait for the ice cream to start to thaw out before eating it. Since I was also including a splash of bourbon in the pie it was the natural choice for the ice cream in this case.
For the base of the ice cream I used a pretty standard combo of milk, cream and eggs and the maple syrup provided all of the sweetness without the need for extra sugar. I toasted the pecans in some butter and brown sugar to ‘candy’ them before adding them to the ice cream. Other than candying the pecans this ice cream was a pretty standard ice cream and thus really easy to make. You pretty much just make the custard, chill it and then throw it into your ice cream maker. The maple pecan ice cream turned out so well! If you like maple then this ice cream will be the perfect treat! The maple flavour came through nice an strong and the candied pecans provided a great texture and flavour. One of the things that I liked most about the ice cream was that I could make it the day before and not add to the load on the day of the big meal. I will definitely be making this ice cream again and again.
Maple Pecan Ice Cream
ingredients
- 3/4 cup pecans (roughly chopped)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 splash bourbon (optional)
directions
- Melt the butter in a pan.
- Add the pecans, toss to coat, sprinkle on the sugar and heat until the pecans are nice and toasted, about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the pecans from the heat and let cool completely.
- Heat the maple syrup, cream and milk in a sauce pan until it almost boils, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Temper the eggs and stir them into the cream.
- Cook at low heat until it thickens and can coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon.
- You may want to strain the mixture at this point to remove any bits that may have formed while warming.
- Chill the mixture in the fridge.
- Freeze the maple custard and toasted pecans according to the instructions for your ice cream machine.
I thought that ice cream sitting on top of that pie looked pretty special – and it is.
Looks like a winner recipe to me. You are doing so many great meals & desserts these days Kevin.
Looks great, my mom would especially love this so I'll have to make it for her!
Am I the only person who doesn't like nuts in ice cream? I have an issue with nuts in soft things; don't like the texture clash. Anywho, other than the pecans, that looks wonderful.
Holy. freaking. yum. ice. cream.
!!!
Sounds delicious and festive!
Oh wow. I've never tried to make ice cream at home. Maple pecan ice cream sounds spectacular! I want to give it a try sometime. 🙂
oh i wondered what that delicious looking ice cream was in your last post. this looks incredible!
Sounds yummy! Thanks for the touch of alcohol tip 🙂
My favorite ice cream ever if butter pecan. I'm sure i'd love this too because of the pecans. Yum!!!!
Wow! Just….wow! I want ice cream!!! (No scratch that. I want this ice cream!!!)
The icecream looks delicious! Your thanksgiving must have been grand 🙂
Maple pecan ice cream!! Waw,..what a neat idea, Kevin!!
Looks so tasty too,…
One of my favorite ice creams! Yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
such a fabulous creation!!
Thank you for this recipe. I've not made ice cream for about a month and have been trying to come up with a "fall" idea. This is perfect!!!!!
Lea Ann
Very nice! Looking forward to trying this 🙂
Pie with Ice cream!!..what could be more festive?
Looks delicious!
Yum! Looks way better than plain ole butter pecan ice cream!
Totally stealing this for my Thanksgiving. I can already see the grins at the table. Your entire menu is scrumptious.
Oh my! maple pecan Ice cream?! Great combo!
My Thanksgiving meal sounds paltry next to yours .. so loving this ice-cream … I'd eat this even if it's frigid outside .. which it is!
Delish! I love the ingredients in this decadent dessert!
YUMMY! I love pecan icecream, I'm sure the maple/pecan combo makes it even better.
~Camberley
A classic flavour that I never tire of…still some warm days left for ice cream.
I love maple everything. This would be great on top of waffles.