A Farm and Hazelnut Ice Cream

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Earlier this week we made the drive over the mountains to visit my sister and scope out the town of Bend as a possible place to live. During our too short visit I had the pleasure of visiting the farm my older sister is working on this summer. While visiting the farm, I learned a few things about myself that I didn’t know.

1. I’m afraid of chickens, especially chickens lurking through long grass.

2. I could photograph a pig’s face all day.

The farm is called Great American Egg, it is located about 30 minutes outside of Bend, OR in the most beautiful pasture setting with mountain views all around. The farm sells fresh eggs, chicken, and pork at local farmers markets and even makes a few house deliveries!  I had an amazing time walking around to see all the animals and getting a chance to snap a few shots along the way.

 

As always, when I see my sister I end up with 9 dozen eggs (this is no joke!), she is a hen whisperer.

So I was able to mix up some heavenly hazelnut ice cream! This week I used Lactaid as my milk of choice and the result was a great flavor and texture that has endless possibilities. 

At work there is a lot of talk about ice cream among the bakers, our dairy guy, and myself. One of our bakers swears by using a mixture of Lactaid and heavy cream for all her ice cream. So if you can tolerate the lactose in cream, try this recipe with 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of Lactaid.

Hazelnut Ice Cream

3 cups Lactaid milk

1 cup hazelnuts

3/4 cup sugar

5 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a food processor, combine the hazelnuts and sugar until finely ground.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, sugar and hazelnuts, cornstarch, and salt.

In a separate medium bowl whisk your egg yolks until they turn a pale yellow. When your milk mixture reaches a simmer, temper it into the eggs by slowly drizzle the milk into the egg yolks while whisking. Once about half of your mixture and been mixed into your egg yolks, transfer it all back into the saucepan and but back on the heat.

Stir constantly; cook your mixture until he reaches 170 degrees or thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Mix in vanilla and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight before churning.

Churn ice cream according to your machine, in my Kitchen Aid, this took 30 minutes and then was chilled for 2 hours before serving. 

Enjoy!