Maple Gelato

We recently had company for dinner and I had an excuse to make this delicious ice cream that I've had my eye on for a few weeks.  The base whips up very quickly- you just use pure maple syrup in place of any sugar.  Since this is a gelato, it contains mostly whole milk and very little cream.  It also contains egg yolks for richness. 

You are supposed to use the darker Grade B Maple Syrup, since that flavor is more intense, but I can only purchase Grade A here.  With Grade B, my gelato would have been darker with a more intense maple flavor, but I loved it just the way it was. 

We served this with a delicious Apple Crisp off the same food blog (ezrapoundcake.com)  What a delicious combination!  I'll share the crisp recipe sometime soon.  This would be a delicious ice cream to make for Thanksgiving and serve with apple or pumpkin pie, or an apple crisp like we had.  Our guests were raving over dessert!  :)

Note:  It's so important to always, always strain cooked ice cream mixtures like this before chilling.  I thought I had done a great job of not letting the eggs cook at all while this was on the stove, but when I went to strain it, there was a thin layer or cooked egg mixture on the bottom of my pan.  No problem, because I was straining it anyway.  If I hadn't, the finished ice cream product would be full of little bits of sweet scrambled egg- gross! 

Maple Gelato
adapted from Ezra Pound Cake

1 cup maple syrup, Grade B or darkest available (Grade A works too)

4 egg yolks

2 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1.  In a large bowl, combine the syrup and egg yolks. Beat together until it gets noticeably lighter in color, then set aside.  (I used my KitchenAid with paddle attachment.)

2.  Combine the milk and salt in a 3 quart pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then take off the heat.  Slowly pour 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the syrup mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the milk/syrup mixture back into the pot with rest of the milk, and add the cream.

3.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Take the thickened mixture off the heat, and pour through a mesh sieve into a bowl or tupperware. Let cool 20 minutes, then cover and refrigerate until cold (overnight is good). 

4.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.  For firm ice cream, transfer to a freezer container and freeze for about 6 hours or until firm.

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