No-Churn Maple Walnut Ice Cream at Home

Why No-Churn Ice Cream Works

There is nothing wrong with an ice cream maker, but there is also no rule that says a proper frozen pudding needs one. The no-churn method relies on two things: whipped double cream, which traps air and gives you lightness without churning, and a tin of sweetened condensed milk, which supplies sugar and keeps the finished ice cream soft enough to scoop straight from the freezer. Sugar is not only for sweetness — it interferes with ice crystal formation, so a mixture that is too lean freezes solid as a brick.

Maple and walnut is one of the great pairings: toffee-ish, faintly smoky, with the bitterness of the nuts to stop it becoming cloying. It is also very rich, so portion modestly. This quantity makes around a litre, which is eight generous scoops or ten polite ones.

Choosing a Maple Syrup Worth Paying For

Read the label before anything else. Anything sold as "maple flavoured syrup" is usually glucose-fructose with a whisper of real maple, and it will taste thin and vaguely synthetic once frozen. Look for pure maple syrup, and if the label shows a grade, choose the darker end of the range — often sold as Amber (Rich Taste) or Dark (Robust Taste). Golden syrup-grade maple is delicate and lovely on pancakes, but it disappears against cream and cold. Freezing dulls flavour, so what tastes almost too strong at room temperature is usually about right in the finished tub.

Maple syrup is a less-refined sweetener than white sugar, with trace minerals and a caramel edge that suits British puddings, but it is still sugar and best treated as an occasional pleasure. If you want to experiment with other natural sweeteners, do it carefully. Honey works but brings its own flavour and makes the mixture slightly softer; date syrup is thicker and darker, so start with 75ml rather than 100ml. Whatever you do, resist cutting the total sweetener drastically — that is the quickest route to an unscoopable block of ice.

What You'll Need

• 300ml double cream, fridge cold
• 1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
• 100ml pure maple syrup, darker grade
• 100g walnut halves
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• A generous pinch of fine sea salt
• Optional: 1 tbsp bourbon or dark rum — alcohol keeps the texture softer
• A 1-litre loaf tin or freezer-safe tub, a whisk or hand mixer, cling film

Fifteen Minutes at the Bowl

• Chill everything. Put the tin of condensed milk in the fridge an hour ahead if you can. Cold cream whips faster and holds air better.
• Toast and chop the walnuts (see below), then leave them to cool completely.
• Whip the cream to soft peaks. When you lift the beaters, the tips should flop over lazily. Stop there — overwhipped cream turns grainy and the finished ice cream tastes buttery rather than clean.
• Fold in the condensed milk, maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Use a spatula, cutting down through the mixture and turning it over. Do not beat, or you will knock out the air you have just created.
• Fold in two-thirds of the walnuts, keeping the rest back for the top.
• Tip into the tin and level the surface. Scatter over the reserved nuts, then press a sheet of cling film directly onto the surface to keep ice crystals from forming.
• Freeze for at least six hours, ideally overnight. No stirring, no churning, no fuss.

After six hours it will be softly set, like a firm mousse; by the next day it slices cleanly with a warm spoon.

Toast the Walnuts — It Really Does Matter

Raw walnuts taste slightly damp and bitter. Ten minutes in the oven transforms them into something buttery and caramel-sweet, and that difference carries the whole tub. Spread the halves on a baking tray and roast at 160°C fan (180°C conventional) for six to eight minutes, until fragrant and a shade darker. Watch them closely — they go from perfect to acrid in under a minute. Cool them completely before folding in, because warm nuts will melt the air out of your cream.

Chop them roughly, leaving a mix of pea-sized pieces and finer crumbs. The crumbs season the ice cream all the way through; the larger pieces give you something to crunch. Any leftovers keep well in a jar for a fortnight and are excellent scattered over porridge.

Freezing, Serving and Keeping

Take the tub out of the freezer ten to fifteen minutes before you want to serve it, or dip your scoop in hot water between portions. It needs no accompaniment beyond a strong espresso, though it is very good with roasted plums, a slice of warm apple tart, or a spoonful of blackberry compote in autumn.

Covered tightly, it keeps for two to three months, though it is at its best within a month; leave it open to the freezer air and you will find ice crystals within a week. If it has firmed up more than you would like, a short spell in the fridge softens it without turning it to soup.

Once you have the base method, variations are simple. Swap half the walnuts for pecans and add a pinch of cinnamon. Stir through two balls of chopped stem ginger for a warmer, more Christmasy version. A tablespoon of bourbon in the base is excellent with the maple, and a small handful of dark chocolate chips folded in at the last moment never goes amiss. Whichever you choose, taste the mixture before it goes in the freezer — that is your only chance to adjust the sweetness, and maple varies from bottle to bottle.