Roasted pistachio ice cream

I've been staring at the blank page for hours thinking of what to write ......

Eventhough I've been lurking from blog to blog looking for some inspiration for most of the afternoon , words still eludes me *sigh*

Don't mind the drama queen lol 

The 3 sentences above was written few days ago and I'm not kidding !

Below er only an hour prior to posting .......

This was so far , my most expensive ice cream - okay , not that much , but for 75 grams of shelled raw pistachio , it cost me HK $ 45. , nearly 6 US dollars .

So , the price of raw pistachio was worth it ?

Absolutely !

But that doesn't mean that you can't use salted pistachios that you can buy anywhere here .....

For HK $ 48. up per pound  , it's such a good deal and really great in making ice cream as you can see from my 2 previous pistachio ice cream posts .

I'm not really looking for some raw pistachios since I'm just quiet happy using the salted ones .....

But I saw some in one of the baking shops I frequently go to , and its beautiful green color , the reason I bought some ^____^ ''

 I used the wok to roast the raw pistachios for 5 minutes and even without any salt , the taste was fantastic !

Still , when I made this ice cream , I've added some salted pistachios because you just can't have too much of pistachio in this ice cream ! 

What about ...... I scream , you scream , we all scream for pistachio ice cream lol 

Recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home  or check original recipe @ Food & Wine

Makes about 1 quart 

2/3 cup shelled pistachios , a combination of raw and salted ( plus extra add-ins , if prefer )

2 1/4 cups whole milk 

1 tablespoon + 1 tsp tapioca starch 

42 grams cream cheese , softened

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup whipping cream 

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup 

* Using the wok , roast pistachio over medium heat for 5 minutes , stirring from time to time . Transfer to a food processor and processed until pistachios become a very smooth paste .

* Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the starch in a small bowl , to make a smooth slurry paste . 

* Whisk cream cheese , pistachio paste and salt together in a medium bowl until smooth .

* Prepare a large bowl with ice and water .

* In a medium-sized saucepan , combine the remaining milk , cream , sugar and corn syrup , bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4 minutes . Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the starch mixture . Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat and cook stirring with a heat-proof spatula until slightly thickened , about a minute .

* Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth . Pour mixture into a heatproof container and place over an ice bath to cool completely .

* Pour the ice cream base into the ice cream maker and churn for about 40 minutes or until thick and creamy . Pack ice cream into a freezer-proof container , layering it with some pistachios , if using . Press a parchment paper directly against the surface and freeze overnight .