Summer has arrived and temperatures are soaring. On hot days, nothing hits the spot like ice cream. I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Praline Ice Cream and decided to give it a try.
The ice cream was delightful with small pieces of pecans and crunchy caramelized sugar brickle.
Here’s the original recipe:
I think that there is a typo in the title of this recipe, and that it is for “Praline Ice Cream” and not “Prauline Ice Cream.”
The recipe called for chopped nuts. Of course, I used chopped pecans. (It just wouldn’t seem like Praline Ice Cream with any other kind of nut.) I did not combine the chopped pecans with the caramelized sugar prior to breaking the caramelized sugar into very small pieces. Instead, I spooned the caramelized sugar onto a buttered plate to cool, then put the pecans in the pan (which still contained a little melted sugar), and stirred for a minute or two. A mortar and pestle could be used to break the cooled praline mixture into very small pieces. I actually used the “pulse” feature on my blender to create the small pieces. I then combined the pecans and the praline pieces. I’m not sure exactly what was meant when the recipe said to sift the praline mixture after it is broken apart, so I skipped sifting.
I did not use a double boiler, and instead just stirred the milk mixture constantly, which worked fine. I always have difficulty with ice cream recipes that call for adding egg yolks to the hot milk. No matter how hard I stir, I end up with small clumps of cooked egg yolk in my mixture, so I strained it after cooking to remove them.
I did not stir the praline mixture into the milk mixture until the ice cream began to harden in the ice cream freezer. My ice cream freezer directions say that nuts, fruits and other additives should be added about 5 minutes prior to the completion of the churning.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Praline Ice Cream
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup sugar
butter
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Caramelize 1/2 cup sugar by putting in a small cast iron skillet; put over low heat and stir constantly until the sugar turns light brown. Spoon the caramelized sugar onto a lightly buttered plate and let cool. There will be a little sugar that has liquified still in the skillet; add the chopped pecans and stir for 1-2 minutes to lightly toast the pecans and to coat with the sugar. Once the caramelized sugar has cooled, break into very small pieces using a mortar and pestle (or the pulse function on a blender), then combine with the chopped pecans. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, the egg yolks, and salt. Stir until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Set aside.
In a saucepan, scald the milk using medium heat while stirring constantly. Slowly pour the hot milk over the egg yolk and sugar mixture while stirring briskly. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and using medium heat, cook while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and strain to remove any small pieces of egg yolk that clumped together during cooking. Chill in the refrigerator.
Shortly before churning the milk mixture into ice cream, whip the cream to the firm peak stage. Stir the vanilla into the chilled milk mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Freeze following freezer directions. Add the small pieces of caramelized sugar and pecans about 5 minutes before churning is completed. Continue churning until the caramelized sugar and pecans are distributed throughout the ice cream.
(When I made this recipe, I used a 1 1/2 quart automatic ice cream maker that with a bowl which is frozen in the freezer overnight, but a regular ice cream maker would also work.)
This looks delicious … but labour intensive….
Both your assumptions are accurate – The ice cream was tasty, but it also was more labor intensive than some recipes.
👍
Sounds yummy. Hope there is enough vanilla for the smell from egg yolks
The amount of vanilla that the recipe calls for works well. I didn’t notice any smell from egg yolks.
Ice cream sounds so good right now.
I can eat ice cream almost any time. 🙂
Now my mama would have thrown a chopped banana in with those nuts!!!!
I never would have thought of adding a banana to this recipe, but it might be a good addition.
I found New Orleans Prauline Ice Cream recipes in the 1925 newspapers. It may have been the earlier spelling, likely due to the French or Creole connection. At least as far as 1939, prauline was the spelling, often preceded by Louisiana or New Orleans. Language evolves in unexpected ways at times.
That’s fascinating. I just revised the title of this post to include the old spelling in parentheses. Thanks!
I could not find any information on why that was the spelling then, but certainly many other words have changed in both spelling and pronunciation. I had never seen nor heard of prauline before this post. I think the spelling likely reflects the French pronunciation (prah-lin) rather than how most of us pronounce it now (pray-leen). I would not know that either, except for our friend who spoke both French and Spanish fluently gave us a French pronunciation lesson on the streets of New Orleans when we said pray-leen.
This all makes sense. Until you made your comment, I never thought about the French and Spanish pronunciation of praline (or prauline). New Orleans, which is so strongly associated with pralines, has such a strong French influence.
Sounds absolutely delicious!
It was yummy.
this sounds delicious! but not something I’d make as I would definitely end up with scrambled eggs 🙂
cheers
sherry
Similarly to you, when I make this type of recipe, I am unable to get a smooth mixture with no small pieces of coagulated egg yolk. When I updated the recipe, I added an extra step to strain the mixture. Straining worked well to remove any coagulated egg yolk in the hot milk mixture, and the finished product turned out fine.
Looks tasty!
Lovely post