Maple Ice Cream with Wet Nuts

When examining the graham cracker box the other day as we were making s’mores, the girls asked why they aren’t spelled “gram” crackers. We explained that things are often named after the person who invented or popularized them (in this case, by Sylvester Graham in 1829). Following this logic, Tim then made the leap that his current ice cream “flavor of the month” should be called Tim Ice Cream. Curiously, he doesn’t want the wet nuts to be called “Tim’s Nuts” – go figure!

Maple Ice Cream (aka Tim Ice Cream)

adapted by Tim from Lee Bailey’s The Way I Cook

makes about 3 pints

• 1 cup (248 grams) cream
• 3 cups (736 grams) whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups (476 grams) pure maple syrup, preferably grade B or dark amber

Combine the cream, milk, and maple syrup in a bowl and mix well. Sounds difficult, right? Don’t despair – I’ll walk you through it step-by-step. The hardest part is pouring with one hand while taking a picture with the other, and you don’t even have to do that!

There’s no need to even dirty a measuring cup. After pouring in the cream, just refill the now empty pint bottle with the whole milk (well-shaken if you’re using Hatcher) and add it.

Pour in the maple syrup, which conveniently is an entire 12-ounce bottle. Use the good stuff here, not Aunt Jemima, please. C’mon now – Tim Ice Cream is worth it!

Mix well and then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. It comes out of the machine very soft but firms up nicely after a few hours in the freezer.

Wet Nuts

from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop

makes 3 cups

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (280 milliliters) dark amber maple syrup
• 3 cups (300 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and very coarsely chopped
• big pinch of coarse salt

Heat maple syrup in a small skillet or saucepan until it just begins to come to a full boil. Stir in the nuts, then cook until the liquid comes to a full boil once again. Stir the nuts for 10 seconds, then remove them from the heat and let cool completely. The nuts will still be wet and sticky when cooled.

Wet nuts can be stored for up to 1 day in an airtight container at room temperature, but they’ll lose a bit of their crispness overnight, so it’s best to prepare them shortly before using them.

Variations:

• Some may suggest adding black walnuts to this ice cream. They’re wrong. Black walnuts = blech!

• Substitute 4 cups (1 quart) of half-and-half in place of the cream and milk.

• Add a pinch of coarse salt and a small splash of vanilla to the ice cream.