📋 Italian Gelato Recipe Vanilla Chocolate and Pistachio

This Italian Gelato recipe is made from scratch using all-natural ingredients, whole milk, heavy cream, egg yolk, vanilla and sugar. You can make vanilla as a base and add ingredients to make different gelato flavors. I make pistachio and chocolate here, but I also include the instructions to make coffee, tea, almond, hazelnut, walnut, or chestnut gelato. Create the flavors you like, keep them in the home freezer, and serve them with a biscuit during the hot summer days.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword chocolate gelato, Italian gelato, Italian ice cream, pistachio gelato, Vanilla gelato

Prep Time 1 10

Cook Time 15

Resting time 1

Total Time 1 1 25

Servings people

Calories 476kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla custard

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla pod
6 egg yolks
1 egg white
1 ¼ cup caster sugar

Pistachio gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
3.5 oz pistachio
3 tablespoon orange blossom water

Chocolate gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
3.5 oz cocoa
3 tablespoon sugar

Coffee gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
½ cup Espresso coffe at room temperature

Tea gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
½ cup Tea at room temperature

Almond gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
3.5 oz Sweet almonds finely grinded
3 Bitter almonds finely grinded

Toasted Hezelnuts

Vanilla custard above quantity
3.5 oz Toasted hezelnuts finely grinded

Chestnut gelato

Vanilla custard above quantity
9 oz chestnut cream

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making the vanilla custard

Cut in two the vanilla pod
1 vanilla pod
Simmer the milk and heavy cream in a large pan to infuse them with the vanilla pod.
2 cups whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream
With a food processor, whip the egg yolks and the egg white with the sugar until they reach a whitish-foamy consistency
6 egg yolks, 1 egg white, 1 ¼ cup caster sugar
Add them to the milk and bring to a boil, always stirring with a wooden spoon
As soon as it starts to boil, remove it from the heat
Pass it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl while it is still warm
Let it cool down to room temperature or rest overnight in the fridge in an airtight container

Making the Pistachio gelato

Finely grind the pistachios with the orange blossom water to make a smooth paste
3.5 oz pistachio, 3 tablespoon orange blossom water
Make the vanilla custard as above
Vanilla custard
Once the custard starts boiling, remove it from the heat, add the pistachio paste and stir
Let it cool down to room temperature and rest overnight in the fridge in an airtight container

Making the Chocolate gelato

Mix the cocoa with the extra sugar
3.5 oz cocoa, 3 tablespoon sugar
Make the vanilla custard as above
Vanilla custard
Once the custard starts boiling, remove it from the heat, add the mixture of sugar and cocoa and stir
Let it cool down to room temperature and rest overnight in the fridge in an airtight container

Making the gelato in the ice cream machine

Pass the pistachio and the chocolate custards through a fine mesh sieve
Place the mixture into the gelato machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions
It took my machine 45 minutes to 1 hour to make the ice cream, depending on the room temperature
You can serve gelato with a thin crunchy cookie or fresh fruits

Video

Notes

Coffee Gelato: Add the cold expresso to the vanilla gelato recipe just before putting it into the ice cream machine

Tea gelato: add the cold tea to the vanilla gelato recipe just before putting it into the ice cream machine

Almonds gelato: finely grind the sweet and bitter almonds with milk to make a smooth paste. Proceed as for the pistachio custard

Toasted hazelnuts: finely grind the toasted hazelnuts and add them to the vanilla custard. Proceed as for the pistachio custard

Chestnut gelato: you can buy the chestnut spread or make it as in the Mont Blanc recipe. Add to the vanilla custard and proceed as for the pistachio custard

Always use good fresh and best quality ingredients

All the containers should be perfectly clean and cold

Every gelato mixture should be passed through a fine mesh sieve

Every gelato mixture should rest for a few hours and be put into the gelato maker once it is cold at room temperature

The mixture should never fill up more than ⅔rd of the ice cream maker bowl

Gelati should be stored at a temperature not below 0 F / -18 C

Nutrition