Cinnamon Ice Cream
My favorite thing that I bought this year is this old battered gelato dish, which was my score at a street market in Palermo. It was sitting there all by its lonesome, and there I was, to give it a happy home – it was kismet. (Or maybe it’s called something else in Italian, but I’m just happy I stumbled across such a fabulous find for only €2.)
So I’ve been trying to use it at much as possible. But since I only got one, that means I have to share. Which is pretty much a good thing when it comes to desserts anyways, as few of us can eat a whole cake, pie, or quart of ice cream.
Come the holidays, I start baking up as many desserts as I can – to share, of course. And nothing is better with a slice of apple pie or wedge of dark chocolate cake than ice cream. Vanilla ice cream is the classic, but it’s nice to offer something a little different every once in a while, something perhaps more wintery (although cinnamon goes great with summer fruits, like peaches and plums as well.) Since I’ve been churning up a storm lately, and had some fruit sorbets on hand, I paired my cinnamon ice cream with a few other flavors, to make a nifty trio.
Cinnamon can vary in flavor and intensity, and if you want a real kick, try Saigon cinnamon. But rather than rely on origins, or varieties, or labels, the best way to tell if cinnamon is good is to take a big whiff: if it smells good to you, that’s the one to use. I use sticks in this ice cream since infusing them gives the ice cream a fuller, more complex spice flavor. Right before I churn it, I taste it again (and sometimes, again and again and again) and grate a little fresh cinnamon into the custard right before I pour it into the machine, to focus and sharpen the spicy flavor.
Cinnamon Ice Cream
- 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
- pinch of salt
- 10 cinnamon sticks, broken up (in a mortar & pestle, or with a hammer in a ziptop bag)
- 2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- ground cinnamon: optional
- Heat the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup (250ml) of the heavy cream together in a medium saucepan. Cover, remove from heat, and let steep 1 hour.
- Rewarm the mixture and remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon.
- Nest a medium-sized bowl in a larger bowl that’s partially filled with ice water, to create an ice bath. Set a mesh strainer over the medium bowl and pour the remaining cream into the medium bowl.
- Whisk together the egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually add some of the warm cinnamon-infused milk to the yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens and coats the spatula.
- Remove from heat and immediately pour the custard through the strainer into the cream. Stir the custard until cool, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.
- Taste the mixture before churning, and add a bit of ground cinnamon, if desired, then freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
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