What is mascarpone ice cream made of?

Making the Ice Cream Milk is warmed and whisked into egg yolks and sugar before the whole mixture is cooked together. Mascarpone cheese and a pinch of salt is added next, and the creamy mixture is allowed to chill until it is room temperature.

How to make ice cream more delicious?

Adding candy pieces, nuts or dried or fresh fruit to your ice cream can add a whole new flavor and texture dimension. Mix-ins should be small, around the size of a chocolate chip, so the ice cream maker can incorporate them into the frozen ice cream.

Is mascarpone good or bad for you?

Although mascarpone is a high-fat cheese, it does have some benefits including being satiating and a good source of calcium .

What is special about mascarpone?

Mascarpone contains 70 to 75% milk fat, giving it a smooth, creamy texture and pale ivory color . Unlike other cheeses, mascarpone is made by coagulating cream (rather than milk) with acid and heating it.

What is the secret to creamy ice cream?

As you churn ice cream, individual water molecules turn into ice-crystal seeds — which is what makes cream freeze. The higher the fat content, the more time you have to churn before these ice crystals congregate, resulting in creamier final texture.

What is the secret ingredient to ice cream?

The cream cheese helps create an ice cream with a denser, smoother texture. As explained by TASTE, cream cheese acts as a stabilizer in ice cream, preventing water from seeping out of the milk and cream as well as preventing the formation of ice crystals that detract from ice cream's creaminess.

What is the secret to good ice cream?

"The biggest key for good ice cream is keeping everything very cold," says Plyter, which is why as soon as his ice cream comes out of the machine, it goes straight into a chest freezer that maintains subzero temperatures.

Is mascarpone healthier than cream?

No, mascarpone cheese is not healthier than cream cheese as it contains 25% more fat than cream cheese. Yet mascarpone cheese is only preferred for its extra smooth texture. You can use cream cheese and mascarpone cheese for salty and sweet dishes.

Is mascarpone a cream or cheese?

Mascarpone is categorized as a cream cheese , but it is different than what we know as “cream cheese” in America. Mascarpone is made similarly to American cream cheese, but it uses a base of whole cream rather than milk. Like cream cheese, it is a fresh cheese that is not aged before it is eaten.

Is mascarpone a dairy product?

Mascarpone comes from a combination of acidity and heat applied to cream, which eliminates the whey. As such it is not technically a cheese, but simply a dairy product .

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

Toasting and skinning the hazelnuts helps maximize their natural flavor.
A long, slow infusion gives the milk and cream a complex hazelnut flavor.
Mascarpone has a nutty sweetness of its own, enhancing that of the hazelnuts.

When it comes to making nutty ice creams, my favorite way to achieve flavor is with an overnight infusion of toasted nuts in the milk and cream used in the recipe, rather than incorporating nut pastes or butters into the ice cream base. Time and heat help draw out the aromatic essential oils in the nuts, giving dairy a robust flavor even after the nuts have been strained out.

How to Make Homemade Nut Paste

Part of this is about cost and quality control, the rest comes down to issues both textural and philosophical. It's easy to find cheap nut pastes and butters, but the texture and quality of these affordable store-bought products aren't always the best; freshness and sugar content can vary, while some may be partially defatted to prevent separation. Meanwhile, high-end versions may be silky smooth thanks to wet-milling or conching techniques used to process the nuts, but they also come with eye-popping price tags.

In many dessert applications, churning out a batch of homemade nut paste would split the difference between cost and quality, but I find it to be a labor intensive project that produces a rustic texture, one that isn't ideal for ice cream. And besides, when a frozen dessert craving strikes, the idea of having to tackle such a time-consuming initial step can be as much of a bummer as waiting around for a special order of fancy nut butter or paste to show up at your front door.

I prefer to make ice creams that don't require specialty ingredients, or fancy equipment, aside from an ice cream machine. All you really need for great nutty ice creams are whole nuts, of the best possible quality, that get toasted and skinned.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (1)

Inmy cookbook, I take a one-size-fits-all approach for nutty ice creams, employing a technique that can be used with everything from black walnuts to cashews, peanuts to pine nuts. It's a workhorse recipe that'll get the job done with a wide variety of ingredients, but here I'm tailoring that approach to bring out the best in one specific type of nut: hazelnuts.

I start out by roughly chopping toasted, skinned hazelnuts. This optimizes their surface area, allowing their flavor to readily infuse in the milk and cream. The key here is surface area "optimization" rather than maximization.

Finely chopping or even grinding the nuts, whether into a paste or a butter, would truly maximize their surface area. However, this would also cause the nuts to absorb far more of the milk and cream, resulting in a final product that's closer to a purée than an infusion. For that approach to work, the nuts would need to be processed to a truly buttery consistency or else the finished ice cream would end up grainy and coarse.

What I want is to chop the hazelnuts just enough to facilitate the infusion without allowing for excess absorption. The same principle is used for cutting mirepoix for chicken or beef stock—if you chop the vegetables too finely, they will absorb too much liquid, leaving you with a lower yield of stock. Without being too prescriptive, I'd say to aim to chop each hazelnut into quarters, but there's no need to cut each nut one by one; running a knife over them for a rough chop will do just fine.

Infusing Nut Flavor Into the Custard

After chopping, I transfer the hazelnuts to a 3-quart stainless steel saucier before adding the milk and cream.

When I feel like splurging, I'll toss in a split and scraped vanilla bean as well (it's important to set aside the scraped vanilla seeds at this stage, as they would otherwise cling to the hazelnuts and be lost with straining later on). This is also a good occasion to wring out everything you can from aleftover vanilla bean. The mellow, almost oaky flavor the pod can give up with an infusion echoes the nutty, creamy quality of the hazelnuts in a lovely way, but if you don't have a pod (fresh or otherwise) on hand, simply leave it out.

The hazelnut and dairy mixture, with or without a vanilla pod, is brought to a simmer over medium heat, then covered and cooled to room temperature. From there, I'll refrigerate it overnight or up to 36 hours; anything past the 12-hour mark is less about flavor than convenience, so move the project forward at whatever pace works best for you.

After refrigeration, I return the mixture to a simmer once more, to ensure the layer of butterfat that congeals around the hazelnuts has fully melted and that the nuts have expressed as much flavor as possible. I then strain the hazelnuts through a fine-mesh sieve, stirring and pressing gently to prevent any flavorful dairy from being left behind; the hazelnuts will still be quite firm, so there's not much to press out.

While the ice cream base itself has no further need for these hazelnuts, there's no need to toss them in the trash. They can be re-purposed, as-is, in our creamy or crunchyhomemade Nutella. The recipe won't require any modification, but do be aware the cooking process will take a little longer thanks to the added moisture in the hazelnuts. Of course, the finished product will be milder in flavor than one made with fresh hazelnuts, but with all that added chocolate and hazelnut oil, homemade Nutella will still be nuttier and tastier than its store-bought equivalent.

Making the Custard

Once the saucier has cooled to the touch, I'll add my eggs and sugar (toasted sugaris a particularly nice option here), along with the reserved vanilla seeds from the bean I scraped the day before, and then whisk in the warm hazelnut milk. At this point, the mixture won't be hot enough to scramble the yolks, so there's no need for any sort of tempering.

Next, I whisk in a little mascarpone into the base.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (2)

Mascarpone has a naturally sweet and faintly nutty character that seems to amplify the flavor of the hazelnuts, and it also serves to top off the dairy content of the ice cream (as the hazelnuts themselves can absorb quite a bit).

Chilling and Churning the Ice Cream

The penultimate step is to chill the ice cream base down to 39°F (4°C) before churning. This can be done proactively over an ice bath, or passively in the fridge (with the ice cream base covered, to prevent odor absorption and excess moisture loss through evaporation). As former Serious Eats ice cream whispererMax Falkowitzhas explainedhere, ice cream bases don't need to be chilled overnight, so long they are properly chilled before churning.

While my go-to recommendation for an ice cream machine is the Cuisinart Ice 21, I used the Breville Smart Scoop here as I needed to churn up several quarts of this ice cream for....personal reasons. For more information about these machines, check out our completeice cream maker review.

After churning, the ice cream can be enjoyed straight away as soft serve, or transferred to a chilled container to freeze completely for scooping.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (4)

In photos, the hazelnut ice cream looks deceptively beige, like plain vanilla, but on closer inspection, it has a warm ivory color from the hazelnut infusion, the only subtle hint of the flavor inside.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (5)

Thanks to the mascarpone, the ice cream has a sweet richness and complex dairy flavor to underscore its nuttiness, making it an ice cream worth savoring on its own. That said, it pairs especially well with mild and creamy fruits like bananas or figs, with a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts for crunch.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe (6)

Or, when I'm feeling particularly extra, I'll top it with a spoonful of warm, homemade Nutella for a hazelnut sundae like no other.

July 2019

Recipe Details

Hazelnut Mascarpone Ice Cream Recipe

ActiveAbout 30 mins

Total12 hrs

Serves8 servings

Makes1 quart

Ingredients

9 ounces best-quality whole hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and roughly chopped (shy 2 cups; 355g)
10 ounces heavy cream (about 1 1/4 cups; 285g)
8 ounces whole milk (about 1 cup; 225g)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped; seeds reserved (optional)
6 ounces sugar (about 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons; 170g )
5 ounces egg yolk (shy 2/3 cup; 140g)
3/4 teaspoon (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or more to taste; for table salt, use about half as much by volume or the same weight
8 ounces mascarpone, brought to approximately 70°F/21°C (about 1 cup; 225g)
1/2 ounce vanilla extract; or Frangelico (about 1 tablespoon; 15g) (see notes)

Directions

In a 3-quart saucier, combine the roughly chopped hazelnuts with heavy cream, milk, and scraped vanilla bean pod (if using). Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring from time to time, then cover, and cool to room temperature off heat. Once cool, refrigerate overnight, or up to 36 hours.
Return the chilled hazelnut-milk to a simmer, then strain through a mesh sieve into a large bowl. The hazelnuts can be used as-is to make creamy or crunchy homemade Nutella (see notes), but will not be used further in this recipe.
Let the 3-quart saucier cool until safe to touch (no need to wash), then add the sugar, egg yolks, and salt, along with the reserved vanilla seeds (if using), and whisk to combine. When smooth, add the warm hazelnut-milk, followed by the mascarpone, whisking gently to combine.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring and scraping constantly with a flexible, heat resistant spatula until warm to the touch, then increase heat to medium. Continue stirring and scraping until thickened and steaming hot, or around 165°F (74°C) although precision is not required in a recipe like this.
Strain the ice cream base into a non-reactive container, then whisk in vanilla extract or a nutty liqueur. Cover and refrigerate until no warmer than 39°F, (4°C) or cool to the same temperature in an ice bath; the time required will vary considerably depending on the technique, as well as the container style.
Once cool, churn the base in an ice cream maker until thick, with a texture like soft-serve. Meanwhile, place a 1-quart container and flexible spatula in the freezer. When ice cream looks thick and light, shut off the machine and, using the chilled spatula, scrape ice cream into the prepared container. Enjoy as soft-serve, or cover with plastic pressed directly against surface of ice cream, then close lid and freeze until firm. In an airtight container, with the surface of the ice cream protected by a sheet of plastic, the ice cream will keep for up to 1 month in the freezer.

Special Equipment

3-quart stainless steel saucier, non-reactive sieve, stainless steel mixing bowl, ice cream maker, non-reactive, freezer-safe container

Notes

The milk-soaked hazelnuts can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week, and used, as-is, to make creamy or crunchy homemade Nutella, without any further modification. The cooking phase will take slightly longer to drive out the moisture absorbed by the hazelnuts, but otherwise no changes to the recipe are required. The flavor will be less intensely nutty, but still quite good. In turn, the homemade Nutella can be folded with the finished ice cream, to create a swirl, or else it can be used as a warm topping.

I flavor the ice cream with a shot of Frangelico, but any nutty or complementary flavor of liqueur will do, or simply use an equal amount of a good vanilla extract (but the flavor will be different).

Make-Ahead and Storage

In an airtight container, with the surface of the ice cream protected by a sheet of plastic, the ice cream will keep for up to one month in the freezer.

Ice Cream
Mascarpone
Heavy Cream
Hazelnuts
Summer Desserts