Hello there,

There was a time when making ice cream brought me so much joy. I’d spend days with David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop” propped open on the kitchen counter. I even let myself daydream about a tiny ice cream window, tucked into a quiet street, where I would hand out scoops in handmade cones. But then, without warning, that craving just... drifted away. I never stopped loving ice cream—how could I?—but I no longer felt drawn to it. I gave my Cuisinart ice cream maker away and that was that. I’d join my family for a scoop now and then, but it no longer pulled at me the way it once had. Just recently, something shifted. I was testing a recipe for America’s Test Kitchen when had made a fresh batch of pistachio butter—deep green, silky, rich with its own natural oils. As I tasted it, I knew instantly: this wanted to become ice cream. No eggs. No heavy cream. Just the pistachio butter, coconut cream, a touch of honey to keep it smooth, cardamom, and a bit of salt. It came together effortlessly—an intuitive sort of alchemy. It was good. Deeply good.

I find myself craving ice cream again. I scoop it into a favorite bowl, something handmade and a little imperfect, and take it out to the porch. Just a few quiet moments to sit, spoon in hand, with something beautiful and dare I say nourishing?

I hope you will give it a try. As always, make it and report back.

Love to all,

Aran

Pistachio, Honey and Cardamom No-Churn Ice Cream

This no-churn pistachio ice cream is creamy, refined sugar, gluten, dairy and egg-free – you won’t miss any of those things. You also don’t need an ice cream machine. Here are a few notes:

-       You need a food processor or high-speed blender to make pistachio butter. I haven’t tried making this recipe using store-bought pistachio cream, but I suppose it will work. I haven’t found any brands that are made only with pistachios – they usually have added milk and oils.

-       My favorite pistachios are the shelled and unroasted ones from Trader Joe’s, which are pretty reasonable in price. I also buy Turkish pistachios from Nuts.com and from Kalustyan’s. If I am trying to indulge, I’ll get Sicilian ones. You want them to be bright green to achieve that naturally green color.

-       To make pistachio butter, you will process the pistachios for a total of about 15 minutes. I know it’s a long time, but my food processor takes that long. The machine will get warm, but it can handle it. Once you start processing the pistachios, scrape the bowl every 5 minutes. You will go through different stages of consistency. Initially, the pistachios will turn into flour. After that, they will become clumpy but still be a dry mass. Finally, they will turn into a paste, which will be a dry paste first and then finally a little bit looser and oilier. That’s what we want for this pistachio butter.

-       Make sure you are using canned coconut milk and cream. Thai Kitchen and Whole Foods 360 are the ones I normally buy. I have found the Trader Joe’s canned coconut milk and cream to be really grainy. Don’t use anything that is grainy because it won’t have a nice mouthfeel.

-       If you don’t like cardamom, you can omit it and add a vanilla bean instead. There were suggestions that came my way on Instagram about using saffron and rose. Those would be lovely as well.

-       To make this vegan, you could use maple syrup in place of honey. I haven’t tested this, but I imagine it will work. Honey really does make the final consistency super creamy and not crystallized as it is a natural inverted sugar.

Makes 3 cups

4 green cardamom pods

1 cup (240 g) canned coconut milk

1 1/2 cups (180 g) shelled and unroasted pistachios

1 cup (240 g) canned coconut cream

1/2 cup (160 g) honey

1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt

·      Crush the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle revealing the seeds inside and also lightly crushing those. Combine the crushed cardamom and coconut milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat to a light simmer. Remove pan from heat and steep for 10 minutes. Strain the coconut milk into a clean bowl and set aside.

·      Add 1/2 cup (60 g) of the pistachios into food processor and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Add remaining pistachios into the food processor and process for 15 minutes, stopping and scraping bowl every 5 minutes, until you have a very creamy pistachio butter (see headnote).

·      Add coconut cream, honey, and salt into food processor and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl if you see there are pieces of pistachio butter not mixed. Add the strained coconut milk and pulse a few minutes until smooth.

·      Transfer the mixture into a freezer-safe container. Sprinkle the coarsely chopped pistachios all over the top and place in freezer for at least 4 hours until frozen solid. Let the ice cream come to temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.