Check ingredients Add the pecans, maple syrup, and salt to a small saucepan.
Heat on medium, stirring constantly until the maple syrup crystallizes around the pecans.
Remove from the heat and let cool completely before chopping and using in the ice cream.
In a medium sized bowl, add the cashews and cover with boiling water. Cover with a plate and let soften for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, in a saucepan, add the maple syrup and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and continue cooking until the maple syrup is slightly darker in color and has reduced by approximately half in volume. This should take about 25 minutes. Watch very closely to prevent from burning.
Remove the maple syrup from the heat, measure ½ cup of it and and transfer that ½ cup to a high speed blender along with the drained cashews. Save any remaining maple syrup for pancakes or use in other recipes.
To the blender, add the soy milk, silken tofu, dark brown sugar, whisky, cornstarch, guar gum, and salt. Cover and blend until silky smooth.
Pour the ice cream mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Once boiling, allow the mixture to thicken to the consistency of a loose pudding or a rich hollandaise sauce.
Remove from the heat and stir in the maple extract.
Transfer to a container with a lid. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until cold (I like to let mine chill overnight).
Turn on your ice cream machine and slowly pour the cold maple ice cream base.
Churn for 20 minutes or until it has the consistency of thick, creamy soft serve ice cream.
Sprinkle in most of the chopped candied pecans and churn to incorporate for another 2 minutes.
Scoop the ice cream into a container, garnish with the remaining chopped candied pecans, cover, and transfer to the freezer to set for 2 to 4 hours.
Enjoy in a bowl or with in a waffle cone. If you notice that the ice cream is too hard to scoop. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes to soften a little before scooping.
It truly feels like I blinked and a whole year has passed since I published my last recipe.
The reason for this long break: the arrival of my daughter.
Although I had many moments where I craved to get back to writing blog posts, shooting recipes, and sharing them with my community, another part of me wanted to be fully present in the first year of life of my little one, even if that meant putting a little break on recipe creation and photography.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I stopped cooking and creating. In fact, I feel like this summer was one of the busiest in a while in terms of recipes tested! Many recipes I made were created by other bloggers (shoutout to Laura from The First Mess and Anthea from Rainbow Nourishment for their amazing recipes!), but a lot were my own creations as well.
This summer, I got really creative with ice cream making. I made close to a dozen different ice cream flavors. Some (like this one I am sharing) were significantly better than others, but through it all, I learned a lot about ways to make my vegan ice creams less icy, how certain ingredients behave differently when frozen, and how to achieve a luxurious smooth texture in my frozen treats.
This Vegan Maple Pecan Ice Cream was inspired by a childhood ice cream my mom used to treat us to.
The original version came in those traditional 1L tubs. It had a light packaging, was from the Nestle Real Dairy line, and was made with maple and walnuts.
Outside of making my own version dairy free and vegan, I decided to swap the walnuts with pecans, which I find are more decadent, creamier, and sweeter in flavor. They also pair wonderfully well with maple syrup.
Although I had 101 recipe ideas to share for the fall, life (or rather adjusting to motherhood and working again!) got in the way and I decided to share this recipe that I made sometime in July and that was just patiently waiting in my phone notes for her time to shine.
When it comes to the ingredients used in this recipe, below are the ones I used.
For any modifications, refer to the Swaps & Comments section.
Pecans: Rich, buttery, sweet, with caramel-like undertones, pecans are the ultimate fall nut in my books and they are the half of the duo that make this ice cream one that you will fall in love with at first taste.
Amber maple syrup: Sweet and decadent, maple syrup is the main sweetener of this ice cream, but it is also the second star. It complements beautifully the pecans and gives the ice cream a very robust, rich, and toffee-like flavor. Choosing a maple syrup that is labeled as “amber” is key for a more pronounced maple flavor.
Raw unsalted cashews: They add richness and body to this ice cream, while not competing with the other flavors.
Unsweetened soy milk and silken tofu: Together they are the liquid elements of this ice cream that act as the base.
Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps to naturally thicken the ice cream and give it a much smoother mouthfeel.
Whiskey & guar gum: Both of these are used as stabilizers in this ice cream. They help keep the ice cream creamy and prevent it from turning icy.
Sea salt: It helps balance out the sweetness of the maple syrup.
Maple extract: It enhances the maple flavor of the ice cream base and the candied pecans.
In the words of my husband, “Murielle, this one is S+ tier.” I would like to believe that this recipe is quite special indeed. It tastes very close to an ice cream you would buy in stores and one you cannot stop levelling out as you end your night in front of the TV (I hope I am not alone having this experience haha!).
Although I did not manage to share as many fall recipes as I had hoped, I am quite proud of this one. It is a great recipe to celebrate the autumn season and will even make a delicious holiday ice cream to enjoy alongside crepes on Christmas Day for example.
If you make this ice cream, I’d appreciate it if you left a review above in the recipe box and shared about it on social media. Don’t forget to tag me (@muriellebanackissa).
Happy ice cream making ✦
