Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Pistachios, Dark Chocolate and Balsamic Reduction Swirl

If you’re my buddy on the Faceplace, you’ve probably already heard this.. but I got an ice cream maker aaaand it’s probably the beginning of the end of the world as we know it (well, just as I know it I guess; I probably shouldn’t pretend I influence other people’s daily lives enough for that). In any event, if I gain a million pounds over the course of the next few months, at least we’ll know that’s humanly possible.

This is what I did Saturday: Cook custard for ice cream. Eat some custard. Chop chocolate and pistachios. Casually eat some of those. Make a balsamic reduction. Yes, I even ate some of that. Put custard in ice cream maker. Take “test” bites every 3-4 minutes to see how things were going. Add pistachios and chocolate. Take more test bites. Add balsamic swirl. You see where this is going. Remove ice cream from ice cream maker to quickly get it in the freezer, per the recipe’s instructions. Get ice cream ALL OVER the counter. Eat that. Literally spend the next 10 minutes licking every piece of equipment used in the production of the ice cream, because I believe in helping appliances do their jobs (dishwashers are people too). Wait 2 hours for ice cream to harden. Eat more.

Now I’m just sitting around eating it from the container WITH A FORK.

“Have some self control,” you say?

I’m sorry, did you say something?

While I’ve never actually been thankful that I have to go to work everyday, if I didn’t I imagine this pattern would have a “rinse. repeat.” at the end. And no one needs to eat that much ice cream.

I wasn’t going to post this dessert. I was going to keep it to myself as a test batch, not claiming to be an expert ice cream maker who just happened to only start making ice cream a week ago. But… GOOD GOD this is good. I had to share. Sharing’s my favorite (ok it’s smiling, whatever).

Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Pistachios, Dark Chocolate and Balsamic Swirl

2 large eggs*
3/4 cup sugar*
2 cups heavy whipping cream*
1 cup whole milk*
1/2 c coarsely chopped pistachios
1/2 c small or coarsely chopped dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp balsamic reduction
1/4 tsp vanilla

*These ingredients are needed to make the sweet cream ice cream. The recipe for the sweet cream base is from Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream Book. For the full recipe, including detailed, amazing and very helpful instructions for making the sweet cream base, please visit icecreamgeek.com. I’m no expert (yet.)

Before adding the balsamic reduction, whisk the vanilla into the balsamic.

To create the ice cream, follow your ice cream makers instructions on how to begin freezing the “base.” Add the pistachios and chocolate chips with 5 minutes left until freezing is complete. After the ice cream has reached it’s fully frozen state, move it in spoonfuls to an airtight container, layering in drizzles of balsamic reduction and swirling it into the ice cream as you go. Work quickly, because it’s important that the ice cream doesn’t melt. I did this myself, but made quite a mess, so it might be helpful to have a buddy.