Apple Pie Ice Cream

 

Yeah, that's right, I went there.  Apple Pie Ice Cream.  Best of summer, best of fall, combined in one tasty treat.

Back in my Ben & Jerry's scoop shop days, they had an Apple Pie Ice Cream (number one on this list) and it was darn freakin' good.  Of course, being Ben & Jerry's, they pretty much just heaved whole apple pies into vanilla ice cream, crust and all.

..........Right?  What's bad about that?!  Heh, not a damn thing, bring it on.

Yeah so that's why, or partly why, apart from the obvious reasons (drool), I needed a homemade Apple Pie Ice Cream recipe in my life.  Which will now be in your life, and you will not be sorry for it!

Granted, this pie type is more along the lines of the Apple Walnut Crumble Pie in that there's no crust tossed in; it has a streusel instead.  Or maybe along the lines of the Brown Sugar Apple Crumble Tart. 

Goodness, no suffering any which way here.

I've made it quite plain that we're major ice cream fans in this household.  Well, except for Finn.  Can't quite get him tuned into the joys of doggie ice cream though I should try again as maybe he'll understand it by now.

Bunch of years ago I had a business making frozen treats for dogs and it was disturbing that the one dog I ever encountered who would not eat them was Finn.  He did come into our lives well after the business had started.  He is an odd duck though and was confused about everything, including peanut butter.

Right, this recipe.

Heh, so hard to photograph melty things!

Personally, I prefer the ice cream making method of using an ice cream maker.*  If I have yet to convince you to purchase one, I can assure you heartily that I will keep trying.  Hoping this Apple Pie Ice Cream recipe pushes you over the edge.

While I have not tried no-churn recipes myself, and I imagine the ease and no-machine-required makes for handy speedy results, I am struggling with how good those results might be.  But that's just me.  Maybe I'm stubborn.

The main purpose in churning is to get air into the base for that creamy, velvety smooth, lightened effect.  And as I've mentioned, no-churn is about the ingredients, using sweetened condensed milk, whipped cream, and/or Cool Whip, than method.

Churned ice cream allows you to control the sweetness (sweetened condensed milk comes to us at one sweetness level), the fat level (no-churn is very heavy on the fat), control the amount of processed foods, plus the texture is more in line with what one, I, feel is far superior.  I'm a snooty stickler sometimes, what can I say?

I do not begrudge anyone who loves the no-churn, absolutely not.  There's room for everyone!  But, I will be sticking with my ice cream making machine.*

For a while there, I seriously considered the type of ice cream maker that has a compressor* rather than a frozen bowl but talked myself out of the expense.  Close call.

Anywhooo.  Apple Pie Ice Cream.  As I said, it combines the best of summer with the best of fall:  apples.

But again, don't panic, you don't need an apple pie for this recipe, though you certainly could do that.  Note to self, post my dang vanilla ice cream recipe already.

I will concede, there are several steps here and it does take a bit of time, mostly in letting things cool, but everything is easy and so very very worthwhile.

Let's get down to it.

Since everything has to cool, there technically is no incorrect order to begin this recipe.  In fact, you can make some or each aspect in advance then churn it on a different day.

But let's start with the apples.  Peel and core 'em, then either dice them into small cubes or slice thinly.  Or, chop them up however you might prefer, honestly. 

You'll then sauté* them with some butter, brown sugar, and toasty spices for just a few minutes, until they soften, then set aside to cool.

The streusel is super dooper easy.  Melt some butter in a small bowl, throw in the flour and sugar, mix that around until lumps form. 

Hot tip:  chill the streusel in the fridge for at least fifteen minutes to keep it from melting in the oven.

You'll then bake that off for a handful of minutes then let that cool.

I did go a little longer than fifteen minutes to get more golden color.

And now the ice cream base which is generally the same process I use each and every time.

Pour the milk and cream in a sauce pan* and turn the heat on to warm it up.  Not looking to boil or anything, just get some steam going.

In the meantime, stretch out your arms so you can whisk* together the egg yolks and brown sugar.  It'll be quite stiff to start but it'll let go and become easier.  Whisk that up until lightened up in color to a paler golden brown.

Accidentally deleted the photo where it's mixed, sorry.

Then you'll temper that egg brown sugar business with the heated milk cream.  Temper is a fancy word for slowly heating and stabilizing ingredients of different temperatures together, not flying off the handle.

Drizzle the hot stuff into the eggy stuff while whisking constantly.  Add maybe a cup, cup and a half of liquid, there are no set rules.

Next, dump it all back into the  sauce pan, crank the heat to medium, and stir away until everything thickens up a bit.  It'll resemble, say, a uh, heh, just-melted ice cream in thickness.

Toss this through a fine mesh sieve* to catch any cooked bits, into an ice bath then squirt in the vanilla and chill.

Whew!  All right!  Almost home!

Churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer's directions of your machine and when it's just about done, say, about two or three minutes to go, scoop in the apples.  If the machine can't handle that, it's ok, mix 'em in by hand when it's done.

When it's ready, scoop half or so of the Apple Pie Ice Cream into your freezer storage container and sprinkle half of the streusel atop it.  Pile on the rest of the ice cream and top the whole shebang with the remaining streusel.

Hot tip:  be sure to freeze your ice cream storage container ahead of time to slow things from turning into a melty mess.

Pop it all in the freezer and ta-da, voilà, yay how exciting, Apple Pie Ice Cream!  Super yum!

Yessir-y, that, that looks delicious. 

Happy summer fall to you!

*The all the ice cream makers, sauté pans, sauce pans, fine mesh sieves, and whisks are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.