Vanilla Gelato Delizioso
If you have an ice cream machine, this is going to be a breeze. If not, we’re going old-school, Bernardo Buontalenti style. You’ll put in a bit of effort, but it’ll be worth it. With kitchen science!
And since we’re not using eggs in this recipe, you don’t even need to cook it!
For the ingredients, it’s all about that fat, cats. That classic chewy texture, the creaminess, the decadence. Include that fat anyway you like – cow milk, goat milk, nut milk, coconut cream, cream cheese…anything you like.
And this recipe is for classic vanilla. But, if you’d like your gelato chocolate – add some chocolate syrup, or strawberry – chopped or pureed strawberries, or mint – mint extract or liqueur, or hazelnut – Nutella or Frangelico liqueur, rose water and pistachio, whatevs…
Any flavor your imagination can divine!
Please don’t let my embellished writing style and the recipe length deter you.
It’s simply – Mix, Churn, and Freeze.
TASTY BITS
1 1/2 cups milk (or nut, oat, coconut,…)
1 cup cream (or coconut cream, cream cheese, cashew cream cheese,…)
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar (white, raw, coconut palm, etc…
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
One gallon (4 quarts/liters) stainless steel bowl for the gelato
One big bowl, at least 2 times as big for the chilling ice
The big bowlful (plus) of ice – crushed or smaller bits better for chilling surface area
A bunch of salt (rock, coarse, kosher, fine, whatever…)
ACTION!
If you have an ice cream maker, just follow the manufacturer’s directions, and voila, you’re done!
If you’re going full old-school Bernardo Buontalenti, HERE WE GO!
Put the bowls and your cream and milk in the freezer for 10-15 minutes
Take out the bigger bowl and fill it halfway up with ice.
Evenly mix about 1 part salt evenly over every 4 parts ice into the bowl. That’s a lot of salt! The salt and ice together make for a crazy cold freezing environment that’s drastically colder than just ice. Science!
Nest the smaller bowl into the ice. Put all the ingredients into the smaller bowl and beat them with an electric hand mixer on its lowest setting – if you have one – for several minutes, until it doesn’t seem to be getting any colder or fluffier. If the gelato starts to freeze hard to the walls of the bowl, scrape it off with a spoon and keep beating.
If you don’t have a mixer, it’s time for that classic gelato wrist work out. Follow the same method with your mighty hand whisk, scraping the sides occasionally, until the mix thickens.
This is putting air into the mix. Ice cream is distinctive for it’s high air content, and that’s what makes that fluffy texture. Gelato usually has a thicker, chewier texture, so you don’t need that much air.
Pop the whole contraption — inner bowl, outer bowl, ice, everything — into the freezer for an hour. If the outer bowl is too large to fit, just pop in the smaller bowl..
Take the bowl/bowls out, add any extra ice and salt needed, and beat again for 3-5 minutes. We’re mixing the frozen bits into the almost frozen bits. It’s all about the smallest ice crystals possible, for the smoothest gelato.
Again, if there’s anything frozen hard to the walls of bowl, scrape it off with a spoon and keep beating.
Transfer the ice cream to any freezer safe container, pop on a lid or plstic wrap and harden in the freezer for 24 hours, or as long as you can stand waiting. If you’ve had gelato before, you’ll know that amazing chewy texture when it arrives.
However it turns out, Enjoy! It’s cream, sugar, vanilla, and frozen magic. Even when it’s a catastrophe it’s delicious.
And if you have any questions or hick-ups, there’s always the cyberweb or Youtube, and the keywords homemade gelato (ice cream).
BONUS – Bernardo Buontalenti’s original gelato recipe
And if you’d like to try Bernardo Buontalenti’s original gelato recipe it’s something like this…(there are several different interpretations of this fabled recipe, but they all seem to consist of these classic ingredients)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
Splash of sweet booze (moscato, marsala, Amaretto, Frangelico…
Bit of citrus zest – lemon, lime, bergamot
Follow your favorite gelato/ice cream technique, or the internet’s.
Basically, mix it, cook it, churn it, freeze it, and delight like it’s 1599!
