For the last couple of week’s, I’ve playing around in my free time with some Canadian maple syrup. It is very versatile but whatever your intended use make sure you buy real 100% maple syrup and not a blend.

At the BBC Good Food Show on Sunday, I was given a bottle of A2* milk to try and together with some cream I have in my fridge so I decided to make ice cream.  You don’t need to have an ice cream to make good ice cream, you just need to chill the custard down overnight and then whisk well before freezing to help give you a creamy texture.

INGREDIENTS (YIELD Makes 1 quart)

3/4 cup pecans roughly chopped
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1.5 cups double or heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
5 large egg yolks
1Tbsp smooth peanut butter

1. Coarsely chop pecans. In a skillet melt butter over moderate heat until foam subsides. Toast pecans in butter, stirring often, until golden and fragrant, about 4 minutes, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
2. Cool, pecans and chill in a sealable plastic bag. Buttered pecans may be made 3 days ahead and chilled.
3. In a heavy saucepan bring cream, milk, maple syrup, and peanut butter just to a boil, stirring occasionally.
4. In a bowl beat yolks until smooth. Add hot cream mixture to yolks in a slow stream, whisking, and pour into a clean heavy bottomed saucepan.
5. Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly until a thermometer registers 170° F. Pour custard through a sieve into a clean bowl and cool.
6. Chill custard, its surface covered with plastic wrap, at least, 3 hours, or better still overnight to make the ice cream freeze faster.
7. Whisk the cold custard in a large bowl to get plenty of air into it.
8. Fold in chilled pecans and check the taste.
9. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in the freezer to harden. Ice cream may be made 1 week ahead.

If you want to also try my  Spiced Maple Cookies and Roasted Lemon Pears recipe  that are also pictured in the photograph then click on the link.

A2 Milk*
The great thing about food is there is always something more that can be learned. As I said at the beginning of the post, I was given a bottled of A2 milk to try when I mentioned I intended to make some ice cream the next day. Up until the Good Food Show, I hadn’t really heard about A2 milk or its claims that many people who thought they had a Lactose intolerance, in fact, have an intolerance to A1 protein in milk.

Lactose intolerance is a sensitivity to the sugars in milk. But it is also possible you have an intolerance to A1 protein in milk instead. The confusion arises because the symptoms of lactose intolerance and protein intolerance are pretty similar. For more information, I suggest you check out this website as a starting point.  You may just find that you can still drink milk as long as it has A2 proteins instead of A1.

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