Apple Pie Ice Cream – Seriously Good Eats

I created this dish for our #letslunch on twitter, a group of fun foodies that cook dishes and then post them to the searchable hashtag #letslunch on a predetermined day. We select a theme for our dishes and this one was Fall desserts. So for my dessert I decided on apple pie ice cream with gingersnaps. I made the gingersnaps last week and posted them already but now they get a chance to join their partner in flavor.

I swiped the basic ice cream recipe from Alton Brown and it is amazing on its own, even though it is probably the easiest ice cream I’ve ever made. Then I sautéed up some apples with cinnamon, butter and enough sugar to make a nice caramel in the pan. Probably the most work involved in this ice cream was coring and peeling two apples, so roll up your sleeves and give it a try. I promise you will not be disappointed.



Ice cream ingredients

2 cups half and half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

For Ice cream:
Combine creams and sugar in a medium sauce pan. Split vanilla lengthwise and with the back of a knife scrape out the vanilla seeds and add to the cream mixture. Add pods to mixture and heat over gentle heat until mixture reaches 170 degrees or just starts to bubble at the edges. Do not scald. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight to steep the vanilla. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions until the mixture is slightly firmer than soft-serve ice cream. The vanilla will taste very strong at this point but when it’s frozen the taste is mellowed by the temperature.



Apple Mixture
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used Gala apples)
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
~ ½ cup granulated sugar

To prepare
Melt butter in medium sauté pan, add apples and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon atop. Stir well and sauté until apples have softened and sugar turns to caramel. Set aside and cool completely.



When Ice cream reaches the right consistency and apples are completely cool, remove ice cream from freezer (machine) and combine with apples in a heavy plastic freezer safe container. I use a Rubbermaid tub. Place into freezer for a minimum of 2 hours. I also like to stir the mixture a couple of times during freezing to prevent ice crystals from forming on top.



That’s it! Plate it with some of those gingersnaps and the taste of Autumn is right in your dish. The combination of the apple, cinnamon, streaks of caramel and vanilla is really amazing. I would make this dessert in a heartbeat and in fact plan on doing just that to serve to my thanksgiving guests atop, what else, but a big wedge of homemade apple pie!