Homemade Pine Nut Ice Cream Sandwich
—By Chef Daniel Medcalf
A rich, nutty ‘no-churn’ handmade semifreddo, deliciously sandwiched between classic
shortbread biscuits and accented by roasted golden pine nuts.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 3 - 4)
‘No churn’ Pinenut Ice Cream
1/2 cup Golden Ghee
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups thickened whipping cream
200gm pine nuts
Shortbread
275g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
220g Golden Ghee
100g icing sugar, sifted
2 medium eggs
A pinch of sea salt
METHOD
Time: 45-60 minutes
To begin, the ice cream will need to be set aside to freeze so it will be the first element made in this recipe.
Take a medium saucepan and place on the stovetop at low heat. Once warm, add the Golden Ghee and pine nuts and cook until they are golden brown and the Ghee has completely melted. Make sure to watch closely (should take 5-7mins) as pine nuts can burn easily.
Once golden brown, immediately remove pine nuts from the melted Golden Ghee and pop into a bowl to cool.
Pour melted Golden Ghee into a separate medium mixing bowl and let cool, stirring occasionally until room temperature.
Add sweetened condensed milk to the cooled Golden Ghee, stir well until mixed in completely. Set aside.
Next pour the thickened cream into a clean, completely dry mixing bowl. Using a whisk or an electric beater (this will be quicker), mix at high speed, scraping the sides of the bowl often as you do. Continue until stiff peaks form.
Take 1 cup of the whipped cream and add into the Golden Ghee and condensed milk mixture. Fold in gently using a spatula or spoon until completely mixed in.
Next add in the remaining cream, gently folding until all elements are mixed together.
Pour cream and Golden Ghee mixture into a square baking paper-lined tray, then place pan into the freezer and leave to set for 6hrs or until firm.
While the ice cream is setting, the shortbread biscuits can be made.
To start the biscuits, place flour, Golden Ghee, icing sugar and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Hand mix together until the dough resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in egg yolks and roll dough together to form a ball.
Next on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough gently (for about 1 minute) and then re-form into a ball. Wrap this in cling wrap and place into the fridge for at least 30mins to cool.
Once cooled, remove dough from fridge and using a rolling pin, roll flat. Shortbread should be around 1cm thick.
Using a round biscuit cutter, cut 6 or 8 circles out then place onto baking trays lined with baking paper and pop into the fridge to rest for another 30 mins.
While they rest, preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius.
Once rested, bake the shortbread biscuits in the oven for 12-14 mins or until pale and just beginning to brown. The biscuits should be soft and potentially crumbly whilst warm, so leave on trays for a few minutes after oven removal to set, then transfer to a wire baking rack to cool.
Once the ice cream has frozen solid, remove from the freezer and use the biscuit cutter to cut into discs the same size as your short bread biscuits.
Place each ice cream disc between two shortbread biscuits and then roll each sandwich in the Golden Ghee infused pine nuts, allowing the pine nuts to stick to the ice cream.
Re-freeze the ice cream sandwiches until ready to serve!
