I had some creme fraiche and maple syrup cobbling around the fridge, so I decided to do an ice-cream experiment.

I thought that something else in the mix would be nice, so I experimented with various combinations, and settled on added chopped up walnuts.

My approach was simplicity itself. I’ve guessed the quantities, as I didn’t bother measuring them.

Ingredients (makes about 500 ml ice cream)

  1. ~300 ml creme fraiche
  2. ~100 ml milk
  3. 50-100g sugar
  4. 4 tbsp maple syrup
  5. 75g-100g chopped walnuts

Method

  1. If using a ice-cream maker, do the freezy bowl thing plenty in advance.
  2. Put the creme fraiche in a mixing bowl, and beat in the milk until it has the consistency of single cream.
  3. Now beat in the sugar and maple syrup.
  4. Do a taste test – the mixture should be very sweet, and maple flavour should be very strong (both get suppressed by the cold). If not, add some more syrup.
  5. Pour the mixture into the ice-cream maker.
  6. A couple of minutes before it’s ready – when the mixture has thickened – pour in the walnuts.
  7. If you’re not using an ice-cream maker, add the walnuts, and transfer the whole lot to the freezer. After 3-4 hours, whizz it up with an electric whisk to break up all the ice, and return for a further 3-4 hrs until it’s fully frozen.
  8. Enjoy (or transfer to the freezer).

This melts pretty quickly – probably because it’s a fairly light base. If you like richer/heavier ice-cream you could hold back on the milk, or use a creme fraiche custard base. No idea who that person is – first hit on Google for creme fraiche ice cream at time of writing!