Maple Walnut Ice Cream for the last days of winter

It's been a few months since I embarked on this ice cream making escapade and its also been three long months of being requested to make Maple Walnut ice cream. Since winter is almost over (finally!) and it will be time for some light and refreshing flavors, I thought I'd honor the request and break out the 100% Vermont maple syrup. The final batch was a light amber color with a smooth and delicate maple flavor. Overall it was pretty easy to make. I ended up adding extra maple syrup right before freezing for more flavor.

Maple Walnut Ice Cream

1 1/4 c maple syrup

6 egg yolks

1/4 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups heavy (whippoing) cream

1 1/2 cups half & half
1/2 cup toasted walnuts

Bake walnuts at 350 for 10 minutes until fragrant. Chop and put aside.

Cook the maple syrup over medium heat to reduce to 3/4 cup. Whisk together egg yolks, salt, and reduced maple syrup. In a heavy saucepan cook the cream and half & half over medium heat until almost simmering. Slowly whisk this heated cream mixture into the egg/maple mix.

Return this mix to a saucepan and cook over med-low heatm stirring consistently with a rubber spatula until the mixture lightly coats the spatula. Coll over an ice bath and chill overnight.

Freeze according to your machine's instructions and fold in toasted walnuts before freezing. Freeze for at least 8 hours.