Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Nocciolata Ice Cream

Have you ever heard of Nocciolata?

It's a chocolate-hazelnut spread. Yes, something like that very popular name-brand spread. But a little different.

A while back the lovely folks at Nocciolata send me a sample jar of their product, and the first thing I did was set up a taste test with the Nocciolata, a store-brand chocolate-hazelnut spread, and Nutella.

I knew which product was which, but my husband didn't.

We sampled all three, and we both chose the Nocciolata as our favorite.

To be completely fair, the other two weren't far behind. But there were differences in flavor and in texture. So, if you have a chance, do a taste comparison and see which one you like best.

Once the jar was open, the sane thing to do was to use some in a recipe, lest the rest of the jar travel by spoon to my open maw. Because that totally could have happened.

This is a rather pretty ice cream because the chocolate-hazelnut spread doesn't completely dissolve into the ice cream mixture, so there are small brown speckles in the ice cream.

Nocciolata Ice Cream

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup Nocciolata chocolate-hazelnut spread
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or a large measuring cup (for easy pouring). Mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved and the Nocciolata is dispersed into the ice cream. It won't dissolve completely.

If you have an ice cream maker with a freezer bowl, refrigerate this mixture until completely chilled. If you have an ice cream maker with a compressor, you can churn the ice cream right after mixing the ingredients.

Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. When it's churned, transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

I received a sample of the Nocciolata from the manufacturer; I was not required to write a post.
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