This ice cream? Yeah, it’s a good one. It’s a pear and blue cheese ice cream with honeyed walnuts. I’ll explain.
A few weeks ago during the polar vortex, I made ice cream. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but we fight fire with fire, so I thought it was a good idea to fight ice with ice cream.
You following my logic?
The flavor is one that I’ve had in my head for years. In case you forgot, I vowed to limit my ice cream posting on the blog to one flavor per season (a vow I took after I made approximately 8 batches of ice cream within the first 8 weeks of spring…). I realize that I did skip fall this year, and I really meant to make this last winter and then never got around to it and it really does just feel like a winter flavor, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I thought so, and since this year I find myself with time on my hands and inspiration in my mind, I plowed ahead with it and here we are today.
I know you’re thinking that it sounds gross, and that my kitchen experimenting went a wrong way left at crazy, but hear me out! Picture a cheese plate, and what just seems to go together? Blue cheese. Pears. Honey. Walnuts. See, I’m not crazy. Same foods, different context. Same fantastic flavor.
Okay, I can tell that you’re coming over to my side. I’ll keep going.
The blue cheese is melted into the hot base. A good mixing means that only a few solid specs remain, so rest assured that you won’t be eating a bowl of blue cheese chunks. The pears are roasted with a drizzle of honey to remove some of the moisture and avoid the icy fruit problems and diced finely and spread throughout. And finally, walnuts are pan-toasted with brown sugar, butter and and an extra dose of honey to bring it all together.
My kindred spirit in ice cream came over to give it a taste test and thumbs up all around. Or perhaps I should say spoons up?
In any case, this seems like a pretty sexy thing to make for Valentine’s Day this week. You’ve still got time, so get to it!
Pear and Blue Cheese Ice Cream
February 12, 2019
: 4-8
: 24 hr
: 24 hr
: Easy
Roasted pears and honeyed walnuts complement this homemade pear and blue cheese ice cream recipe for a sweet and smooth treat.
Ingredients
- For the ice cream:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 TB cornstarch
- 3 TB powdered milk
- 3.2 oz blue cheese
- 1- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup plus 2 TB sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 TB light corn syrup
- For the pears:
- 2 green Anjou pears (any pears should do)
- 1 TB honey
- For the walnuts:
- 1 cup unsalted walnut pieces
- 2 TB unsalted butter
- 2 TB honey
- 2 TB brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Directions
- Step 1 Make the ice cream base:
- Step 2 Mix the cornstarch with about 2 TB of milk to create a slurry. Set aside
- Step 3 To a saucepan, add the rest of the milk, heavy cream, sugar and corn syrup in a 4 qt. saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in cornstarch slurry. Return the mixture to a boil and cook about 1 minute until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add the salt and powdered milk and blue cheese, half at a time. Mix thoroughly until well combined and most of the blue cheese has melted (a few chunks are okay). Refrigerate overnight to ensure it is completely cool.
- Step 4 While the base is cooling prepare the pears. Preheat the oven to 350F. Peel and coarsely dice the pears, and place them on a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle with the honey and bake for 30 minutes until the pears have dried out a bit- not too soft anymore, but not hard either. Set aside to cool. Once cool, finely chop (or, pulse a few times in a food processor). Set aside.
- Step 5 While the base is cooling, prepare the walnuts. To a nonstick or cast iron pan, add the honey, brown sugar and butter over medium heat. Stir until melted completely. Add the walnuts and salt, and let cook, bubbling for a few minutes until the mixtures starts to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally and watch carefully to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and pour over parchment lined baking sheet to cool. Once cool, chop into coarse pieces.
- Step 6 When the ice cream is ready to churn, churn the ice cream according to manufacturer’s directions. Right before the ice cream is done churning, add in the pears. Fold in the walnuts and chill overnight until hard.
