Saffron and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream With Crushed Pistachios and Rose Petals

I love icecreams! Eating a cup of ice cream is always soothing and satiating. And that is why when Kitchenif asked me to create some frozen desserts, I readily agreed since this gave me a chance to bring out my ice cream maker and put it to good use.

I had initally planned to make a classic Philadephia style vanilla ice cream. Philadelphia style ice creams, unlike French style ice creams do not have eggs in them and the ice cream mix can be assembled in a matter of minutes.

But as I started to mix in the vanilla bean into the cream, I couldnt help adding in some saffron and cardamom into it as I love this combination with hot milk and have it often.

My recipe is adapted from David Lebovitz’s Philadelphia style ice cream recipe from his book “The Perfect Scoop”. The Perfect Scoop was published in 2007, around the time this site was brewing. When I walked into my study and took out this book, I was filled with nostalgia. David is one of the earliest food bloggers in the world and I used to love visiting his site in the initial days when food blogs took the world by storm. An American living in Paris, his site was/is peppered with interesting stories and the cherry on the cake is ofcourse always the ice cream! He is after all a man who wrote an entire book on icecreams!

Inspired by David’s “The Perfect Scoop”, I even managed to get an ice cream maker from the US that stopped working in the first go. With no after sales support in India, my icecream making initiatives came to a halt until Kitchenif entered my life.

This ice cream has some of my most favourite flavours- that of vanilla, saffron and cardamom with a creamy texture that is cooling and satisfying. I decided to top it up with some crushed pistachios and dried rose petals making it even more exotic.

Truth be told, it was the food writer in me that chose the embellishments which was loved by all. Left to me, I love it plain. Hari said that it was the best ice cream he had had! And Ro asked me to open an ice cream parlour! Such are the glories of this recipe!

This is a great recipe and you must make it if you love ice cream and want to make your loved ones happy. Like cakes, homemade ice creams dont have any preservatives or chemicals and have their own charm. Ice creams taste wonderful and it is definitely one of the best ways to express your creative self and spread the cheer with this cool goodness.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post from Kitchenif Ice cream maker

Saffron and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream With Crushed Pistachios and Rose Petals Recipe

The nuts and petals are optional here and this ice cream tastes great even without them

Ingredients:

750 ml (3 cups) low fat cream*

150 gm (¾ cup) sugar

¼ tsp saffron strands

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

4 cardamom pods crushed into powder

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp pistachios, crushed or chopped fine

dried rose petals

Method:

In a saucepan, put in one cup cream along with the sugar and the saffron. Scrape the seeds off the bean into the cream, add the split vanilla pod into it and stir on low heat until the sugar melts. Make sure you do this on low heat or else you run the risk of the cream splitting.

Once the sugar melts, take off from the heat and pour in the remaining cream,the cardamom, the vanilla extract and mix well.

Chill this mixture throughly in the refrigerator and then make the ice cream as per the instructions of your ice cream manufacturer.

I used Kitchenif ice cream maker to make this ice cream.

• I used Amul cream