Charoset Ice Cream
A new Passover dessert.
This wonderful creamy, just-sweet, fruit-and-nut-studded ice cream was published in our most recent book, Now for Something Sweet. USA food writer and cook Ronnie Fein shared her ‘Charoset Ice Cream’ with us, to great excitement. Charoset is a traditional spread we eat at Passover time with flavours of apple, cinnamon and walnut.
So this is simply the most perfect Passover dessert!
Dried Fruit + Nut Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 60 g brown sugar 1/4 cup
- 1 granny smith apple peeled and chopped
- 3 medjool dates pitted and finely chopped
- 2 dried figs finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons Sultanas
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 60 ml sweet Passover wine or port 1/4 cup
- 750 ml thickened cream 3 cups, whipping
- 115 g caster sugar 1/2 cup, superfine
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 50 g Roasted Almonds chopped, 1/3 cup
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the brown sugar and mix it in. Add the apple and toss for a minute. Add the dates, figs and sultanas and cook, stirring, about a minute, until the fruit is well coated. Add the cinnamon and wine (or port). Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat and mash the fruit slightly. Set aside.
- While the fruit is cooking, place 2 cups of the cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges. With an electric mixer, beat the sugar, the egg yolks and the salt for a few minutes until pale and thick. Gradually add the heated cream and beat together thoroughly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes or until it forms a thin custard. You should be able to lift the spoon from the saucepan and run your finger along the back, leaving a clear trail (‘coats the back of a spoon’). Pour in the remaining cream and stir to combine, followed by the fruit mixture. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 2 hours or until cold.
- Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s directions. When the mixture is the consistency of soft ice cream, add the nuts and continue to churn until it is ready. Place in the freezer until ready to serve.
- If you don’t have an ice cream machine, place the mixture in the freezer and cover with plastic wrap. It will still be good, just not as creamy.
- Makes about 6 cups which should serve 8 people.
