Pecan Pie Ice Cream

By Florence Fabricant

Pecan Pie Ice Cream
Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
30 minutes, plus at least 8 hours’ chilling and freezing
Rating
4(94)
Notes
Read community notes

This pecan pie ice cream is built on a base of French vanilla, with toasted pecans, cloaked in maple syrup, swirled in. Making the vanilla custard for this French-style ice cream is a delicate operation, like producing hollandaise, because of the fragile nature of eggs when they are heated. Perform this part of the recipe when you can give it your full, undivided attention. If preparing this custard in a saucepan over direct heat makes you nervous about overcooking and curdling the eggs, you can make it in a double boiler, but it will take at least 20 minutes longer to get the custard to thicken.

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Ingredients

Yield:5 cups (about 8 servings)
  • 2cups whole milk
  • 1cup heavy cream
  • ½cup light brown sugar
  • 2eggs
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1cup coarsely chopped pecans
  • ⅔cup maple syrup
  • 2tablespoons melted unsalted butter
  • ¼teaspoon kosher salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

378 calories; 26 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 29 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 115 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place milk and cream in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the sugar. Heat on medium until scalded (about 180 degrees) — bubbles will form around the edges. Remove from heat.

  2. Step 2

    Beat eggs in a small bowl until well-blended. Gradually whisk several tablespoons of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, then slowly pour the egg mixture back into the pan, whisking all the while.

  3. Step 3

    Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spoon, 6 minutes or so. As soon as you see the first wisps of steam, remove the pan from the heat. Keep stirring another 5 minutes or so as the mixture cools down. Stir in the vanilla. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, about 6 hours or overnight.

  4. Step 4

    Place the pecans in a small, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Toast them, stirring, until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Pour in the maple syrup and add the butter and salt. Stir to coat pecans completely. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.

  5. Step 5

    Add the cold custard to your ice cream maker and churn until the mixture reaches the consistency of soft ice cream, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl. Fold in the cooled nuts and syrup, swirling them in so they are not thoroughly mixed in.

  6. Step 6

    Transfer the ice cream to one or more containers and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours. If necessary, let the ice cream soften a bit in the refrigerator or at room temperature before scooping.

Ratings

4 out of 5
94 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

John Golden

I just made it. I changed it to make more rich and creamy. Used 1 cup heavy cream (farm fresh) and 1 cup milk (farm fresh) for the initial mixture instead of 2 cups milk. Used 3 egg yolks instead of 2 whole eggs. You must use a candy thermometer to heat the sugar and cream-milk mixture, cooking until around 175 degrees, but no higher and not lower than 170. Add 1 TB honey and 1 TB vodka. Chill overnight and add pecans during last minutes of churning

John Golden

I’d use a higher proportion of cream if not all cream and at least 5 to 6 yolks for a really rich ice cream.

CBB

Made this for Thanksgiving and it was delicious! Instead of 4, it was just the two of us. The ice cream kept well in the freezer ( for the short number of days it was there!) I loved the pecan mixture and the coffee color of the ice cream. I'm making it again for one of the nights of Hanukkah along with apple cider doughnuts. In my kitchen aid IC maker it took about a half hour. Highly recommend!

MJB

I thought this was plenty creamy! It turned out delicious; fed it to friends at a bbq and they were blown away. Have decided I love the flavor imparted by the brown sugar, so using this base recipe for other ice cream flavor explorations, too!

Matthew

I think this recipe wants much less maple syrup—next time, I’ll try a quarter cup. It’s not possible to fold so much liquid into the relatively small amount of custard, and so you end up either with an extra-large maple-syrup float or a maple ice cream.

Kat Anat

Use good maple syrup.

MJB

I thought this was plenty creamy! It turned out delicious; fed it to friends at a bbq and they were blown away. Have decided I love the flavor imparted by the brown sugar, so using this base recipe for other ice cream flavor explorations, too!

Emily

2 eggs 1 yolk. 1/4 c maple syrup (for half batch)

Joe

did everyone use real maple syrup or the supermarket stuff?

Barbara

Agree - recipe as provided was icy. Higher cream to milk recipe worth trying. When I served it, pecan mixture had sunk to bottom of container. Next time... Would either combine pecan mixture in churning process or layer the churned ice cream with mixture in container before freezing.

CBB

Made this for Thanksgiving and it was delicious! Instead of 4, it was just the two of us. The ice cream kept well in the freezer ( for the short number of days it was there!) I loved the pecan mixture and the coffee color of the ice cream. I'm making it again for one of the nights of Hanukkah along with apple cider doughnuts. In my kitchen aid IC maker it took about a half hour. Highly recommend!

sky dancer

I just made the maple syrup pecans and stirred them into Strauss vanilla ice cream and it was fabulous!!!!

Janine

Did anyone transfer to a bowl before adding the pecan syrup.? Why not just add to the ice cream maker?

John Golden

I agree, just pour the mixture into the ice cream container during the last 5 minutes of processing. I suppose the other way might leave larger streaks of nuts and syrup I plan on making this on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and see how it goes.

JeanR

My result was good, but a little icy. I've had better luck with the recipe for Ginger Ice Cream: 2 cups cream, 1 cup milk and egg yolks. The toasted pecans are delicious (I only used about half the amount from Step 4). Plotting a mashup of the two recipes.

John Golden

I meant to add saying to put the remaining 1 cup cream in the bowl and pour in custard.

John Golden

I just made it. I changed it to make more rich and creamy. Used 1 cup heavy cream (farm fresh) and 1 cup milk (farm fresh) for the initial mixture instead of 2 cups milk. Used 3 egg yolks instead of 2 whole eggs. You must use a candy thermometer to heat the sugar and cream-milk mixture, cooking until around 175 degrees, but no higher and not lower than 170. Add 1 TB honey and 1 TB vodka. Chill overnight and add pecans during last minutes of churning

JBJ

I just made the custard - or tried - and it curdled. Did I cook it too fast? Too hot? I'll try again tomorrow with a double boiler, but I wish I knew for sure what I did wrong.

JBJ

Google was my friend. It was too hot. A useful piece of information that I found on another site was not to let the custard go above 160-165. One site even recommended having cold water in your sink for an emergency cool down.

Tizzylish in Provence

HI, do the wooden spoon test to see if the custard to ready to bring off the heat. Sometimes my custard is ready in 1-2 minutes so keep a watchful eye on it. Keep the heat low and stir. The custard will be transparent on the spoon and thin but as time goes....and you keep stirring slowly , you will notice a change in the color and texture on the wooden spoon. Take the spoon out of the custard and take your finger and trace the custard on the spoon. It the line keeps its shape , custard ready!

John

I liked this very much. Two suggestions. I'd make the pecan/maple syrup mixture earlier (before starting the churning process) so that it has plenty of time to cool. I'd also reduce either the brown sugar or maple syrup a bit. It was plenty sweet. There were a lot of pecans, more than normally found in ice cream. But as it was an alternative to "pie", I thought it just fine.

abi

I was skeptical of making the ice cream with whole eggs, but followed the recipe exactly and was pleasantly surprised by the texture. It turned out much better than I expected. Next time I would reduce the pecans by half. A cupful is just too much.

Danielle

I’ve used maple cream instead of maple syrup. It has a more intense maple flavor

John Golden

I’d use a higher proportion of cream if not all cream and at least 5 to 6 yolks for a really rich ice cream.

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