Mascarpone Ice Cream

If you recall my recipe for goat cheese ice cream, the result was very good and very strong. I liked that sharp flavor but it didn't pair well with anything. That problem is solved with this recipe. Mascarpone is milder, but has pronounced flavor that merges well into many desserts.

When I made the Salad du Printemps from the French Laundry Cookbook it called for mascarpone sorbet. I reinvented it as ice cream with fantastic results. This is a bit richer than the mascarpone sorbet, because of the eggs. What can I say? I really like custard bases.

If you recall from the goat cheese ice cream, you should whisk in the cheese when the custard is still warm. It helps to better infuse the cheese into the base. Mascarpone, on the other hand is much softer so you can do it when the base is room temperature. Nevertheless, this fellow suggests doing it while the ice cream base is warm because it definitely makes it easier.

If you don't have time to make the French Laundry recipe (which I will not provide), you will do just great by pairing it with chocolate almond cookies.

Mascarpone Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
2 cups milk
1.5 cups cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mascarpone
pinch of salt

If you follow my recipes you should really know the drill by now, but for you newbies:

1. Heat the cream and milk with half of the sugar.


2. While the liquid is heating, beat the yolks with the remaining sugar and salt.


3. When the milk.cream mixture is at a very bare simmer, remove about 1/3 cup of it and take the pan off the heat. Slowly add the 1/3 cup liquid to the eggs to temper them. I like to do this in 3 small additions of the liquid. The slower the eggs heat, the better the final product (I don't know the science behind this, but try scrambling an egg over high heat and over low and compare the results. The low heat egg is much more appealing).


4. Pour the tempered eggs into the saucepan with the milk.cream, put the pan back on the heat. Cook stirring constantly until a thermometer reaches 175 F.


5. Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve. Cool to room temperature then chill over night.


6. Freeze in your ice cream maker.