Original Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate Gelato with Salted Caramel Pecans
Ice Cream Chef: Brett
What inspired this recipe? Originally the Take 5 Candy bar's salty mix of chcolate, caramel, and pretzel, but the pretzel's crunch did not hold up in ice cream as well as my stomach had hoped!
Tastetester comments and full recipe after the jump. Take a look, then vote here!
Tastetester Comments: "mmmmmmmmm. Decadently creamy chocolate-y goodness. There's more right?"
Chocolate Gelato with Salted Caramel Pecans
Makes about 4 cups
Chocolate Gelato:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 cups milk
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup cream
Salted Caramel Pecans:
2/3 cup pecans, toasted
1/2 cup cream
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/8 cup water
Gelato Base:
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk in a medium saucpan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cooking for one more minute.
Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until smooth, then add cream. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Caramel Pecans:
Bring cream, butter, and fleur de sel to a boil in small saucepan. Set aside.
Heat sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3 quart saucepan over high heat without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally. Pay close attention to the color, as mixture will caramelize in about 5 minutes.
When golden caramel color, quickly add cream/butter mixture. Caramel will bubble up vigorously - keep stirring until bubbling subsides. Add pecans and stir to coat, cooking 3 minutes. Pour onto silpat or greased plate to cool. Cut into small chunks.
Assembling:
Process gelato in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions, adding pecans during the last minute of churning. Serve immediately.
• The Best Lick! Ice Cream Contest: 2008 Edition
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• Roasted Apricot Ice Cream with Almond Praline Ripple
• Chocolate Gelato with Salted Caramel Pecans
(Images: Brett)
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
I am eating the second batch of this ice cream made in the last two weeks - great recipe. I wish there were more chocolate entries to compare to! Blows all the fruit ones out of the water, imho.
view ed51's profile
Nice pics Chef Brett! This looks like a good recipe for a chocolate fix!
view GregJ's profile
Found your recipe through google and I have to say, this was so tasty! The gelato was just so creamy and decadent. Looks like I missed the voting but in my book this gets 4 stars. My kids can't wait to make it again.
view buttermilk's profile
Were there pretzels in your original recipe? the gelato in the photo looks like it has pretzel pieces, but they're not called for in the recipe. Based on your comment, is one to assume the pretzel addition did not work out and is not recommended? I'm confused...
view Yellow33's profile
Hey Guys, Brett here. First, thank you everyone for your compliments. So glad y'all are enjoying the gelato.
Yellow33, the gelato in the photo was made sans pretzel chunks. You might have spied the 2 broken off pretzel sticks (on top and bottom front) which were casualties from trying to artfully arrange the fragile things for the most pleasing shot (huzzah food staging!). The rest of those brown hunks are the salted caramel pecans. I guess it's hard to tell since it's a whole lotta brown going on.
I had packed my original test batch with broken pretzel chunks, and I would not recommend this addition. The pretzels ended up a little stale (not soft yet not crunchy). All in all I think it was a happy mistake - this gelato is good enough without a ton of extra bells and whistles.
However, if you are truly sold on the pretzels, go for it. But instead of adding to the mix, I would recommend you crush and sprinkle them as a topping just before serving.
view bberry's profile
Wow. I was having some serious chocolate craving this week so I decided to test out this gelato. So. Freaking. Good. And I never would have thought to use cornstarch!
Brett, have you tried your cornstarch base withfruit flavored ice creams? It would be nice to have a 'healthier' ice cream without sacrificing the creaminess, but I wonder how much of this luscious mouth feel is owed to the melted chocolate.
view kasiav's profile
kasiav - I have tried the cornstarch thickener in fruit based ice creams with mostly good results. When you are cooking the base, as long as it reaches a pudding like consistency, it should work.
I will say, the one attempt that did not work out was a cinnamon banana vanilla ice cream. I think it was because the banana mash was just too thick.
view bberry's profile
I have tried tons of recipes since getting my ice cream maker this summer. This is HANDS-DOWN the best we've made since. Thanks so much for the heads up on the cornstarch tip... This decadent chocolate base is amazing.
view daynanayna's profile