Maple Walnut Ice Cream

When I was a kid, I loved Maple Walnut Ice Cream.

… Sort of.

“Maple Walnut Ice Cream” meant two very different things.

Maple Syrup

I am the BIGGEST walking stereotype of a Canadian sometimes… especially when it comes to maple syrup.

Love the stuff. Have literally done shots of it at times.

I was going to say “shockingly, I don’t have many maple syrup recipes up on this site, but I guess that’s not super accurate…

Maple Boubon Glazed CarrotsMaple Buttertart LiqueurMaple Butter TartsMaple Dijon WingsMaple Hard Apple CiderMaple Pumpkin PieMaple Pumpkin Spiced MuffinsMaple Walnut BaklavaMaple Walnut Spiced Pumpkin BunsMaple White Cheddar Popcorn

… I even have a DIY craft post on How to Make Roses Out of Maple Leaves

So maybe I’m a little biased (?), but I’ve never liked “Maple Walnut” Ice Cream that’s made with extract. It just doesn’t do justice to MAPLE, you know?

Proper Maple Walnut Ice Cream

When I was writing More Than Poutine, I decided to include a *Proper* Maple Walnut Ice Cream.

Is it particularly unique to Canada?

Not so far as I can tell… however, it can be hard to come by.

Finding *proper* Maple Walnut Ice Cream can be even more difficult, and this resulted in many requests to include it in this book. So, I did!

I designed this recipe to be the decadent ice cream I was always searching for.

For the purist, this is made using actual maple syrup – and plenty of it! – as the sole sweetener and source of maple flavouring – no extract!

It also has plenty of milk fat from the heavy cream, and additional richness from the use of a good number of egg yolks. All of this results in an ice cream that is incredibly rich and decadent.

Finally, there’s the matter of the walnuts. While many versions of this flavour seem to just toss walnuts into a maple flavoured ice cream, I wanted the walnut flavour more entwined with the ice cream.

SO, the walnuts are toasted – for maximum flavour! – before being steeped into the milk mixture. This gives a fantastic roasty, nutty flavour to the ice cream itself, and more of a complexity than many have.

Sure, it’s an extra step or two, but it’s still easy to make… and totally worth the effort!

Oh, and as a final note…

When I’m feeling extra indulgent, I’ll drizzle this with maple syrup and top with toasted walnuts!

This recipe is one of many fantastic Canadian recipes in my cookbook, “More Than Poutine: Favourite Foods from my Home and Native Land”. “More than Poutine” is a Canadian cookbook like no other – written by a Canadian living away, it includes both traditional home cooking recipes, as well as accurate homemade versions of many of the snacks, sauces, convenience foods, and other food items that are hard to come by outside of Canada! Order your copy here on this site, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller!