I made pear ice cream a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. When I found some cinnamon sugar candied walnuts in Whole Foods, I decided to make a candy apple ice cream. I started with the pear recipe I’d found on Pinterest, but ended up totally changing it.

I started by peeling and chopping 3 Pink Lady apples and adding about 2 tablespoons of grated ginger. I like to keep ginger in my freezer; it’s a lot easier to work with and doesn’t get stringy.

I put the apples and ginger into the blender and added 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. This ended up being too much; I would reduce the sugar by about 1/3 next time. I blended everything to a smooth puree, including the juice of a lemon and about 1/4 teaspoon of powdered cardamom.

I added 1-1/2 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup of buttermilk, a pinch of salt, and a little almond extract–sometimes vanilla is too much. I blended everything together, then put the mixture in the refigerator for about 1/2 hour.

The cold mixture churned for about 20 minutes, after which I layered it into an air-tight container with the caramel and walnuts. The container went into the freezer to ripen and harden for about 4 hours.

As I mentioned above, the final product came out a little too sweet for me. I had hoped that the combination of Pink Lady apples and buttermilk would keep the sweetness in check, but a glass of water is required with this ice cream. Besides cutting the sugar, I think adding some plain yogurt or sour cream could be an idea when I try this again. This could be a great Thanksgiving dessert if I figure out how to make it right.

Next day update: I tasted the ice cream again tonight and the flavors seem much more balanced after a day of ripening. Yay!