The ice cream recipe is another one from Ben and Jerry. I modified their recipe a bit but it is close to what they recommend. I changed the type and increased the amount of maple syrup and chopped walnuts. Ben and Jerry recommend grade C dark maple syrup, which is generally used as a food additive, not a syrup, because it is very strong in taste. Trust me, they are right. The Grade A syrups are far to diluted to be any good in making this ice cream. The Grade B syrup is better but you have to use more of it than the grade C syrup and even then the maple flavor is too weak.
Based on my experiments trying Grade A Dark Amber and Grade B Dark Amber neither syrup is sufficient to impart enough maple flavor to the ice cream. Grade C syrup is flat out not available. This means use grade B and supplement it with Crescent Mapleine® imitation maple flavor, which is what I have done with total success. Most recently I learned that what we used to call Grade B is now called Dark Amber Grade A. What silly game playing! No matter how any of it is named you still must use the Crescent Mapleine® to get a sufficiently strong maple taste.
I have also learned that using pecans instead of walnuts is great! You definitely want to try pecans in this recipe instead of walnuts. Both are delicious but clearly different from each other. Have fun!
Ingredients: (makes almost 1/2 gallon)
2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 cup of half and half
1/2 cup of whole (4% butterfat) milk
2 extra large or jumbo eggs
¾ cup of sugar
½ cup of Grade B (or now Grade A) Dark Amber maple syrup
1 teaspoon of Mapleine® imitation maple flavoring
1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans
Directions:
Mix the eggs at medium speed in an electric mixer in a 4 or 6 quart mixing bowl.
When they are well mixed add the sugar and continue mixing for two minutes.
Add the heavy cream, half and half, and milk while continuing to mix for two minutes.
Add the maple syrup and the Mapleine® and mix for one minute.
Pour the ice cream mixture into a gelato maker and process it for about 25 minutes.
When it is fairly stiff add the chopped walnuts or pecans and continue processing for two to three minutes.
Transfer the ice cream to a two quart plastic container with a tight fitting lid.
Put the ice cream into the deep freeze and let it harden for four or more hours.
Serve and enjoy!