Brown Butter Gelato
Brown Butter Gelato
I love making a brown butter dessert, so when George Ormond sent me his Brown Butter gelato recipe I knew I had to try it.
The end result is amazing. Using browned butter makes a beautiful caramel-like flavor, whilst not being too heavy. It’s like an elavated vanilla bean ice cream – perfect served by itself or paired with a dessert.
The addition of crème fraîche gives it an extra creamy flavour and a unique texture – a must try!
As with all my gelato recipes, I recommend an ice cream maker that chills the ice cream as it churns, not one where you pre-freeze the bowl. Here’s the one I use.
Looking for other gelato flavours? Check out my other recipes.
Ingredients
Method
Into a small saucepan, add the unsalted butter and place it on a medium heat.
Stir the mixture continuously for 3–5 minutes, until it foams and develops a caramelised, nutty aroma. Remove from the heat immediately, then pour the entire mixture—including the caramelised milk solids—into a bowl. Place in the fridge to cool for 15–20 minutes.
Once cooler to the touch, weigh 100g, ensuring you add the caramelised milk solids. Set this to one side at room temperature.
Into a medium saucepan, add the skimmed milk, cream and crème fraîche. Over medium heat, heat it until it reaches 45C/113F on a digital thermometer. Note if you are using a lower-fat cream, that is totally fine, the texture and mouthfeel will just be slightly different.
Add in the sugar and salt, along with the egg yolks.
Continue to whisk the mixture until it reaches 83-85C/181-185F on a digital thermometer.
Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it through a sieve, into a tall measuring jug.
Add in the xanthan gum and cooled brown butter and use a hand blender, to blend for 30 seconds.
I find adding the mixture into a vacuum bag for food is a really efficient way to cool and store the gelato base, placing it in a large bowl of ice water to chill for 15 minutes. If you don't have one, simply pour the mixture into a large bowl, and stir it every few minutes in a sink full of ice water for about 15 minutes, then cover the surface with clingfilm and refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours.
Once chilled, add the mixture to a tall measuring jug and blend briefly one more time before pouring into your gelato/ice cream machine and churn. Note - the amount of time it takes for your mixture to churn will depend on your machine so follow the manufacturer's guidelines. The machine I use is a Musso Lussino 4080.
Once churned, the brown butter is a beautiful texture that can be served immediately. Alternatively, transfer it to an ice cream container and freeze until needed.
Note – the longer the mixture is kept in the freezer, the more the texture will deteriorate as water molecules form larger ice crystals. For the best texture, it’s best to churn and serve it the same day.
Hi Matt, is there a good substitute for creme fraiche I could use?
Mascarpone will work
Hi Matt, this looks sooo good, can I make it without a machine??
You will need some machine to churn it but it won’t work as a no churn sorry
This looks incredible! Do you have any idea if it can be made in the ice cream bowl attachment for a KitchenAid stand mixer? I don’t want to set myself up to fail if it won’t work. All of your gelato recipes look amazing!
Yes it totally can! The texture just isn’t quite the same that’s all.
Matt… this recipe is divine!!! Thank you so much for sharing!
so glad!!