Kahlua Pecan Custard Ice Cream

 

This tasty treat was inspired by my husband.  With Father's Day on the horizon I thought this would be a great recipe to share.  His favorite ice cream is butter pecan ice cream, only my sister and I can almost always take a favorite and make it better.  For this variation we used a caramelized custard along with our delicious Kahlua Glazed Pecans for an added boost of flavor.  The combination turned out delicious and a "keeper" in our book!  Once you try this yourself you will never go back to store bought again.

Kahlua Pecan Custard Ice Cream

1 1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup Kahlua Pecans, chopped coarsly (see recipe for Kahlua Glazed Pecans below)

For this recipe I used a Cusinart Ice Cream Maker.  Freeze the bowl of the machine overnight to start.

In a saucepan combine the milk, 3/4 cup whipping cream, and brown sugar.  Combine over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.

Meanwhile, mix the 2 beaten eggs and 1 cup heavy cream in a separate bowl.  When the brown sugar mixture comes to a boil, add slowly a small amount (1/4 cup approximately) of the boiling liquid to the egg mixture to "temper" the eggs.  Whisk constantly while doing so to keep the eggs cool so they do not scramble and "cook".  

Over a low heat setting on your stove, gently whisk the egg mixture into the remaining brown sugar and milk mixture.  Stir rapidly the whole time until mixture thickens but be careful again not to heat too much as to scramble the egg and get "clumps".  The mixture should be able to coat the back of a spoon.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and remove from heat.

At this point you may refrigerate the mixture until cool, or even overnight.  If you choose to do this your time in the ice cream machine may be reduced to approximately 20 minutes. 

Should you choose to go straight to the freezing stage, assemble your ice cream maker.  Turn the machine on and poor the liquid into the frozen bowl while it is mixing.  Total mixing time will be approximately 40 minutes, until mixture is a thick slushy to frozen consistency.  

While the mixture is in the machine, coarsely chop the Kahlua Glazed Pecans.  (see recipe)  or if you prefer you can add plain chopped pecans.  Approximately half way through the freezing process add the chopped pecans (use more or less nuts per your taste).  

When the ice cream reaches the peak of freezing in the machine you will still need to freeze the ice cream in the maker's bowl for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight is recommended for a hard freeze.  Serve with whipped topping if desired.  

Kahlua Glazed Pecans

2 1/2 cups shelled pecans

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter

1/2 cup Kahlua

In a nonstick pan, lightly toast the pecans.

In a separate saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the brown sugar until dissolved and cook about 2 minutes over medium heat.  Reduce heat to low and add the Kahlua then boost the heat to medium-high and boil.  Continue to boil, reducing the heat if necessary to keep from bubbling over, stir constantly to keep from burning.  In approximately 5 minutes the mixture should be thickened and reduced to more of a thin syrup consistency.   Turn off heat and thrown in nuts.  Stir to coat well.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  Poor out nut mixture onto lined baking sheet and spread/stir so there is a even and thin layer to avoid clumping.  Let cool then break apart the nuts.