Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream

National Ice Cream Month is still rolling along, and I’m totally overwhelmed with all the potential flavor options I could share. I decided to try this butterscotch pecan because it’s certainly not a typical flavor for me. If you’ve been reading this blog long, you may remember that I used to declare hatred of almost all types of nuts. Then one Thanksgiving I discovered pecan pie and slowly began to warm up to them (well, at least some of them). I have been hearing good things about this particular recipe so I thought I would give it a try. I figured even if I wasn’t crazy about it, Ben would surely love it and there would be lots of interested readers.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that when I was younger, I would resort to eating butter pecan ice cream when there was no other sort of ice cream around and pick out all the nuts which left me with basically just vanilla ice cream. Once I got around to actually making this recipe, I realized this was a whole different ballgame. Butterscotch pecan ice cream – as in butterscotch, my dear sweet love. Well, hello, we have a winner. So rich, creamy and well, buttery! I even enjoyed the pecans. My biggest mistake? Only making a half batch.

Yield about 1 quart

Ingredients

For the buttered pecans:
1½ tbsp. butter
1½ cups pecan halves
¼ tsp. coarse salt

For the ice cream:
5 tbsp. butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar
½ tsp. coarse salt
2 cups heavy cream, divided
¾ cup whole milk
6 large egg yolks
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. scotch whiskey

Directions

01
To make the buttered pecans, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Melt the butter in a skillet. Remove from the heat and toss the pecans with butter until evenly coated. Sprinkle with the salt. Spread on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8-12 minutes, stirring once or twice during baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. If desired, coarsely chop the pecans before adding them to the ice cream.
02
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the brown sugar and salt. Stir in 1 cup of the heavy cream, and the whole milk. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream in a mixing bowl with a fine mesh sieve set over the top.
03
Place the egg yolks in a separate medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly add the warm sugar-cream mixture to the egg yolks to temper. Continue until all of the liquid has been incorporated. Return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and reaches 170-175˚ F on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat and pour through the sieve and into the bowl with the cream. Stir in the vanilla and scotch. Cover the bowl and transfer to the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. (To speed chilling, stir over an ice bath.)
04
Once the mixture is completely chilled, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and gently fold in the buttered pecans until evenly incorporated. Freeze until firm.

Source

The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz