If you’re anything like me, you might have gathered with some friends last night to watch the big game while munching on 3 or 4 different dips, nachos, pulled pork, and brownies. Stuffed doesn’t even begin to describe it. Maybe you woke up today craving something lighter, something healthy, even. As for me? Sorry, but I’m not quite ready to turn the page yet. Instead, I’m nursing my disappointment over the Pats loss with some ice cream. All that build-up, all the hype, and another heart-breaking loss. Besides, it’s Monday, which is always sort of rough anyway so this day definitely calls for ice cream. Healthy can wait for Tuesday.
This is definitely one of the more unusual ice cream flavors I’ve made at home, and I was admittedly skeptical. Butter in ice cream? My grandparents loved butter pecan ice cream so it was often in their freezer when I was growing up, but I was never a fan. I don’t know if my palate has changed, or if this ice cream just doesn’t bear any resemblance to the one I remember, but I really enjoyed it. The nutty quality of the brown butter that I love so much is definitely prominent, and the texture is perfectly creamy. Originally, the recipe called for toasted pecans, which would have given this a nice salty-sweet contrast, but since I’m not a fan of them, I substituted chocolate chunks. The chocolate worked nicely too, so if I made this again for someone who did like pecans, I might be tempted to include both. Either way, it’s pure comfort food, which is exactly what I need today 🙂
Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
barely adapted from Dam Good Sweet by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel
9 tablespoons (1 stick + 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
8 large egg yolks
pinch salt
3/4 cup chocolate chunks (or chips)
Add the butter to a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat. The butter will melt then begin to bubble and foam. Continue cooking, whisking frequently, until the butter starts to brown and smell nutty – be patient and watch carefully, it can go from brown to burned quickly. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.
Add the half-and-half and sugar to a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Add the eggs and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (you could use a hand mixer too) and begin beating on medium-high speed. Slowly drizzle the cooled, browned butter into the mixer bowl – the eggs and butter will thicken as you combine them. With the mixer on low, slowly add the hot milk mixture to the bowl, just a little at a time. Continue until it’s completely combined.
Strain the ice cream base through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (overnight is good, but at least 4 hours). Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In the last minute of churning, add the chocolate chunks. Transfer to airtight container and store in your freezer.
Makes about 1 quart
Woah, Tracey. This looks so delicious!! I would love a couple scoops of that for lunch 🙂 or dessert tonight hehe
Mmm, I love browned butter. Putting it in ice cream sounds like a fine idea. =) Bookmarking this one now…
Love your comment that healthy can wait until Tuesday! This looks delicious and perfect. Of course, you know ice cream is my favorite to make and to eat!
I love to cook, but I have never, ever attempted ice cream. I might have to make this though!
I agree! Totally stuffed yesterday but I just had King Cake for my mid-morning snack (it traveled here from New Orleans yesterday I couldn’t deny it). I would love to have this on top of my cake too.
OMG, after experiencing the magic of brown butter this weekend I can only imagine how good this ice cream would be!
You and all this brown butter, girl. Killing me! This looks fabulous.
I’ll take an iv of this please.
What a GREAT idea!
soo cool.. lovin it….
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Love this! Chocolate chunks > pecans any day.
Brown butter in ice cream sounds like a fabulous idea to me!
I want a scoop!
brown butter ice cream sounds amazing!
Brown butter sounds interesting. I can see it the pecans. I should try it one day.
I’m pretty sure I had like the most unhealthiest dinner yesterday. Three handfulls of goldfish, three handfulls of tortilla chips and like 5 fluffernutter fudge squares. But it was nice all the same, and yesterday was the first football game/Super Bowl I actually watched for the whole thing. Just so you know, I’m not too disapointed with who won 😉
This ice cream looks amazing though. I love it when chocolate chunks are added to the mix.
This looks so, so delicious!! Browned butter adds so much to recipes. I can only imagine it in this ice cream.
Your ice cream recipes are keep making my “ice creams to make list” grow longer and longer. I’m not the biggest fan of nuts in desserts either, so swapping the pecans for chocolate sounds like a great idea to me!
Sorry for your loss Tracey. It was such a close game too! Oh my gosh, I ate obscene amounts of really bad food at the party we went to. Our friends had a deep fryer set up in their backyard. I may or may not have had a funnel cake AND a deep fried twinkie. LOL. Anyway, healthy can always wait another day when there’s ice cream to be had. 🙂 This sounds delicious.
This looks too sinful for words!
What a great idea of an ice cream! I am with you on the chocolate chunks instead of the nuts. Looks perfect for nursing a loss!
Sending this one to my mom! She loooooves butter pecan so I know she’ll be all over this!
I want a bowl. Healthy can wait until Wednesday too, right? 🙂
I’m sorry you lost your SuperBowl.
For me, it was chickflick night for just the girls.
There’s not just butter, there’s a lot of butter in this! I bet it’s really tasty with or without the nuts.
Wow! The ice cream is amazing!These pictures are beautiful and this recipe is fabulous. LOVE IT!
I’ve been wanting to make ice cream all summer…you pushed me over the edge. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Brown butter is so yummy but it ever occurred to me that it would make good ice cream. I can’t wait to give this a try!
This sounds great to me… I really love browned butter chocolate chip cookies, so I’m sure I’d love this ice cream. Suddenly, I’m dreaming of how tasty it would be on top of a warm cookie. 🙂
Wow, you never ran out of wonderful ideas, Tracey. This is superb!
That is a one so delicious ice cream!
Trying to catch up on comments here, this was delicious ice cream! I had in with the brownies you left us as well, and what a great combo THAT was! A truly sinful late night snack last night and I’m looking forward to more after dinner today. Thanks!
Had this this weekend, too. Loved the richness and buttery flavor of the ice cream. And I’m always loving the chocolate!!!
Didn’t work for me? There was a thick layer of film after cooling that I ended up scraping off, it looked like it was most of the fat. What did I do wrong? The flavour before cooling was fabulous though!