Toasted Almond Ice Cream

My grandmother once told me that ice cream “is just milk, cream, and sugar- it’s really not that bad for you, Kelly.” I chose to believe her and as a result, I liberally consume ice cream on a regular basis. Thanks, Mimi, for justifying my love of ice cream.

Now, I can’t entirely blame my grandmother for my love of ice cream. I also blame our local, go-to ice cream shop- Leatherby’s. Hands down, they have the best ice cream around the Sacramento area (although, nothing beats Mint Chip from Baskin Robbins in my opinion)! I guess I should clarify, Leatherby’s has the best Toasted Almond ice cream around. Seriously, the best!

That is, however, until I attempted to make it at home using Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Almonds. Watch out Leatherby’s, I’m giving you a run for your money!

This month we received some awesome goodies from Blue Diamond and when I saw these almonds were included, I knew exactly what I was going to make. Toasted Almond ice cream seemed like a no-brainer! These almonds are not only perfect for this ice cream and so many other yummy goodies, but I saved a handful to snack on at work this week! Come on, what’s not to like about dark chocolate covered almonds!?!

This ice cream is super simple to make- it only takes 5 minutes! The longest part is the churning and freeze time. I adapted this recipe from David Lebovitz’s Vanilla Ice Cream and what I love about it is that there is no egg tempering happening here- the base really is just milk, cream and sugar! Mimi was right! And although it may not be considered healthy by some (if this is you, please let me continue to believe it’s really not that bad for me), it sure is easy to make! Hope you enjoy 🙂

-Kelly

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp almond extract
• About 1/2 cup each of Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Almonds, chopped (more if desired)

Directions:

• In medium saucepan, heat 1 cup cream and the sugar, stirring continually until the sugar is dissolved.
• Remove from heat and add remaining cream, milk, vanilla and almond extract.
• Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
• Churn ice cream according to ice cream maker directions. In the last 3-5 minutes, add the chopped almonds.
• Freeze and enjoy!