Dessert

Olive Oil Ice Cream with Thyme and Toasted Pine Nuts

An amazing sweet and subtly savory ice cream made with olive oil and fresh thyme. You might think this isn't for you but it's ice cream revelation, trust me!

To recipe
Creamy Pompeian olive oil ice cream mixed with fresh chopped thyme

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The days of half a dozen ice cream flavors are long gone, I grew up with the three flavors, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla and never complained. Fast forward to a few days ago, and I was licking up somejalapeno cream cheese ice cream with raspberry, super-rich and surprisingly unspicy.

Bring on this olive oil flavor!

Creamy Pompeian olive oil ice cream mixed with fresh chopped thyme

I love making ice cream especially a combination of savory and sweet flavors. The base recipe I always use from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream has some sugar but not a huge amount so throwing some fresh herbs or nuts into the recipe balances it out perfectly.

Fresh thyme and crunchy toasted pine nuts make this ice cream awesome

The Varietal Collection consists of three different kinds of oil- mild, medium and full bodied. The Koroneiki is the full bodied and you can tell.

It has a strong smell like fresh grass and the taste reminds me of arugula. I knew there'd be no doubt about being able to taste the olive oil in the ice cream and that's exactly what I was looking for!

A really cool aspect of the Varietal Collection is that you can go to the Pompeian website and enter a special lot number which can be found on the back of your bottle. This number will give you information about that particular harvest used and it's journey from the tree to your table.

When people drink wine I think they automatically realize that producing it can be a labor intensive, old school process despite the technology available now. But making olive oil is the same hands-on way of life, with so much love and attention going into making the oil and all of the different blends.

So how does olive oil ice cream taste?

I'm really pleased with the flavor, the sweet creamy ice cream cuts the strong Koreneiki flavor but you can still taste it. The thyme and pine nuts add another woodsy level...this would be a perfect dessert after a large family style pasta dinner!

Creamy Pompeian olive oil ice cream mixed with fresh chopped thyme

As a Pompeian Pantry Insider, compensation was provided for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Recipe

Creamy Pompeian olive oil ice cream mixed with fresh chopped thyme

Course:
Dessert
COOKing TIME:
5 minutes
Total TIME:
45 minutes
CUISINE:
American
PREP TIME:
40 minutes
SERVINGS:
12

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons cream cheese at room temp
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Pompeian Koroneiki Olive Oil
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

Ingredient Swaps

Instructions

  1. Take 2 tablespoons of the whole milk and add it to a small bowl along with the cornstarch, mix well.
  2. Whisk the cream cheese and salt together in a bowl for about 30 seconds and it becomes creamy.
  3. Transfer the rest of the milk, cream, sugar and corn syrup to a medium sized pot and bring to a boil.
  4. Boil for 4 minutes and then take the pot away from the heat.
  5. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir well with a whisk.
  6. Bring the mixture back to a boil and boil for another minute to a minute and a half.
  7. Add 2 tablespoons of the cream mixture to the cream cheese and whisk vigorously, you want to have no lumps at all.
  8. Add another 2-3 tablespoons and whisk again. The cream cheese will become saucy and then you can add larger amounts of the cream mixture to it but don't throw it all in at once.
  9. Once all of the mixture has been added to the cream cheese, add the olive oil and thyme.
  10. Whisk gently and transfer the mixture to a large gallon zip lock bag.
  11. Place the bag in a bowl of iced water and let it cool down for about 30 minutes.
  12. Once the bag is cool, transfer the mixture to the frozen ice cream canister and follow the directions. It usually takes my machine about 25 minutes to produce the soft ice cream.
  13. Transfer the ice cream to a plastic Tupperware dish or other similar container sprinkling with some of the toasted pine nuts as you smooth it out.
  14. Cover with some parchment paper and store it in the freezer for at least 8 hours or overnight.

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