Simple Gelato Base Recipe

 

A nice base recipe is worth its weight in gold, so today, I’m giving readers 841 grams of gold.

And gold it is, because gelato is undeniably fancy. “Ice cream” conjures up images of Americans pushing loud, shaky grocery carts through the aisles of a Walmart, while “gelato” calls to mind a relaxing vacation day spent wandering the streets of Rome. The word “gelato” has an air of grace, class, and elegance that an American big-box store could never hope to achieve.

Okay, I’m done doing my impression of a study abroad student who’s just returned home from Europe for the summer. I’m sorry. It was painful for me, too. 

Cookies and cream lavender tea gelato.

 This gelato recipe is endlessly riffable. Is that a word? It is now. This gelato recipe is a great base for any flavor of your choosing, but it holds up especially well to strong flavors.

I first adapted this gelato base from Joanne Eats Well with Others. Joanne posted a recipe for Thai basil ice cream which is undoubtedly amazing, but because of its ratio of milk to cream, it is arguably closer to gelato than ice cream—not that I’m complaining. After adapting that recipe, infusing tea into the base, and mixing in crushed cookies, I feel confident in posting this even though I haven’t tried it perfectly plain as written here. 

This gelato is sweet, silky, and smooth.

 The point of this recipe isn’t to make it plainly. This simple gelato base recipe is a mere vehicle for flavor and a very good one if I do say so myself.

Included after the recipe are instructions for how to turn this base recipe into cookies and cream lavender tea gelato, but please use your imagination and make any flavor you like! This recipe will work well with many flavors, but especially strong ones like extracts, herbs, whole spices, coffee beans, tea, and cacao nibs. You can also make the recipe plainly and drizzle in melted dark chocolate towards the end to make stracciatella, a classic gelato flavor.

While gelato is normally stored at a slightly higher temperature than normal ice cream, I chose not to account for that in this recipe, meaning this gelato can be stored in a normal home freezer without issue. No fancy storage needed for this fancy little treat, and no passport to Europe required.

INGREDIENTS

106 g or 1/2 cup sugar

1/4th tsp guar gum (0.74 g)

1/8th tsp salt (0.77 g)

1/8th tsp xanthan gum (0.62 g)

487 g or 2 cups milk

71 g or 1/3 cup invert syrup*

174 g or 3/4 cup cream

DIRECTIONS

1.       Mix sugar, salt, guar gum, and xanthan gum in a saucepan so the powders are evenly dispersed. This helps prevent clumping.

2.       Add milk and invert syrup to the pan. Heat on low and mix well with a whisk or a spoon until the invert syrup has melted into the base, the sugar has dissolved, and everything looks and feels homogenous.

3.       Let the gelato base cool.

4.       Add cream to the rest of the ingredients, then pour the completed gelato base through a strainer and into a sealed container.

5.       Put the gelato base into the refrigerator and let it chill until nice and cold, about a few hours but preferably overnight. At this time, put a clean, empty ice cream container into the freezer.

6.       Churn the gelato base according to ice cream machine instructions. Stop once it is almost the consistency of soft serve and the surface of the gelato looks dry. Put the finished gelato into the empty ice cream container and freeze until firm. Enjoy!

For lavender tea cookies and cream gelato

Proceed with the gelato recipe as normal.

Between steps 2 and 3, empty the contents of three lavender teabags into the base. Let steep for 30 minutes. Strain 2-3 times to get most of the tea leaves out, and add a few drops of purple food coloring, keeping in mind that the gelato will look lighter in color once it is churned.

Proceed as normal until just before step 6.

If you want the cookie pieces to stay crunchy, toss them in 1-2 tablespoons of unflavored, liquid coconut oil (or melt the filling from the cookies and toss them in their own melted icing). Churn the gelato base according to ice cream machine instructions. Stop once it is almost the consistency of soft serve and the surface of the gelato looks dry. Then, add 15-20 crushed sandwich cookies and churn until they are well dispersed. Put gelato into the empty ice cream container and freeze until firm. Enjoy!

Notes

*Invert syrup can be ordered online, but it’s extremely easy to make at home. I made it using a recipe from a cookbook and am not sharing it out of respect for the author, but this Wikihow tutorial should do the trick. I’ve also heard that light corn syrup is a good substitute for invert sugar, but I haven’t tried it myself and can’t guarantee favorable results.

If you have chocolate sandwich cookies left over from making lavender tea cookies and cream gelato, here’s a fun idea: Make mini gelato sandwiches. They’re delicious little bites for when you just want a little something sweet! Carefully twist apart both halves of a cookie, scoop out a small amount of gelato using a cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), and re-sandwich the cookies by gently pressing them together with the gelato in between. Divine! 

I highly recommend making mini gelato sandwiches. They're so cute!