Double the Dessert: Cramming Pie Into Ice Cream

By April Blake
November 8, 2013

April Blake is a daydreamer with a passion for food, South Carolina, and beer. She will unashamedly pull out a Sharpie to correct grammatical errors on public signage. She writes about all of this and more on her blog, The April Blake, and would like you to follow her on Twitter, but not in real life.

Trends are very targeted once fall even hints at happening, and with social media we can now all become overexposed to every facet of it, and you know which ones I mean. Instead of falling down the pumpkin spice rabbit hole (which actually leads you straight to Trader Joe’s, no joke), let’s appreciate a similar yet different spice combination this season: the great American apple pie.

Today, we’re going to be thinking about stuffing an apple pie into ice cream, no oven mitts required. Even though we were only just recently enjoying shorts weather, the aromatic scents of the season are now dancing in the breeze.

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, yolks separated
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Fuji (or your favorite) applies, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon apple pie spices (1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of both ground nutmeg and ground cloves, mixed)
1 tablespoon butter
Refrigerated pie crust, baked and broken into small chunks (optional)

Directions

1.    Heat the milk and sugar over low heat until thoroughly warmed. Use a thermometer to keep it from rising above 160 degrees.
2.    Temper the eggs by slowly drizzling a spoonful of the warm milk mixture into the eggs, constantly stirring them to keep the eggs from cooking. Add another spoonful and keep stirring. Add two or three more spoonfuls until the eggs are warmed up, but not solidifying.
3.    Slowly add the warm egg yolks to the milk mixture, still stirring constantly.
4.    Once the eggs are incorporated and not solid, add the whipping cream and vanilla. Keep over low heat until the mixture is no more than 160 F, then remove from heat.
5.    Heat 1 T butter over skillet. Add the thinly sliced Fuji apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, and apple pie spices over medium low heat. Stir thoroughly to coat, and flip occasionally until apples are softened, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
6.    Once the milk and apples are cool, pour the milk into a prepared and cooled ice cream maker and freeze according to machine directions. Add the apples in a spoonful at a time once the ice starts to thicken. If adding the pie crust chunks, add them here.
7.    Freeze for several hours to ripen the ice cream, and serve and enjoy the comforts of fall flavors while cooling down with a refreshing treat!

This weekly food column is curated by Tracie Broom, who serves on the board at Slow Food Columbia(http://www.slowfoodcola.org), publishes The Yum Diary, and is a founding partner at Flock and Rally: Events + Communications for a Brave New South. Follow her at @theyumdiary on Twitter. 

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