Browned Butter Pecan Ice Cream

It is a better-than-classic butter pecan ice cream, made with browned butter, brown sugar, and roasted pecans. It was creamy and rich, with a perfect, deep butter flavor. The flavor is rich, deeply nutty.  Makes about 1 quart (I doubled the recipe).

    1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter

    2 cups whole milk

    1/2 cup heavy cream

    2/3 cup packed brown sugar

    2 tablespoons tapioca syrup or light corn syrup

    1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch

    2 tablespoons sour cream

    1/2 cup to 1 cup roasted pecans or pecan pieces

If you have a cylinder-type ice cream maker, have the cylinder completely frozen.

Brown the butter in a medium or large saucepan, and reserve the clarified butter for another use. Keep the solids in the saucepan. (I found the easiest way to do this was to pour the browned butter into a clear glass 2-cup measure, let it settle a bit, pour off the clarified butter, and return the solids to the pan.)

Combine the starch with 2 tablespoons of the milk in a little prep bowl and place nearby.

Add the rest of the milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, and syrup to the solids in the saucepan.

Bring to a boil and boil, stirring, for exactly 4 minutes. Whisk in the starch-milk slurry, and continue cooking over low heat for just a moment, until the mixture no longer tastes of raw starch.

   

Remove from heat, and whisk in the sour cream. Let the mixture cool, then chill. (An ice bath will speed this up!) Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Pack into a container, adding the pecans, and put it in the freezer for a few hours, or until it has hardened enough to scoop.