We served this to a friend last week and he said it was the best ice cream he had ever tasted! So here is the recipe.

This recipe requires you to make a tincture of Pine needles 24 hours before you make the Ice Cream. It’s very simple to do with Pine, Spruce or Fir tree needles.  

Pine Needle Tincture

• 3 tablespoons of washed and finely chopped Pine needles
• 30ml Vodka
• ¼ teaspoonful of sugar

Dry the pine needles on a piece of kitchen roll, chop very finely and put them in to a small jar. Add the vodka and sugar, put on the lid and give it a good shake. Leave for 24 hours shaking it every few hours. When you are ready to use it strain through a tea strainer into a small clean cup or jug.

Pine Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

• 2 Egg yolks
• 150g Caster Sugar
• A few grains of salt
• 200ml Milk
• 200ml Double Cream
• 2tbsp/30ml Pine Needle Tincture
• 100g Dark Chocolate Chips
• A couple of drops of green food colouring (optional)

Put the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a large bowl and beat until well blended. Put the milk in a pan and heat gently until very hot but not boiling. Then pour immediately onto the egg and sugar mixture stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Add the double cream and Pine needle Tincture then leave to cool. If you have an ice cream maker pre-cool it, add the Ice cream mixture and churn for 30 minutes or until nearly ready, add the Chocolate chips and churn for another few minutes. Then put it in a sandwich box and store in the freezer. If you do not have an ice cream maker put the mixture in a freezer proof box and freeze until nearly set, then stir vigorously. Repeat this until the mix becomes ice cream again adding the Chocolate Chips when nearly set.

I made some little tuile biscuits to go with the Ice Cream. (recipe below) The orange in them complimented the pine and chocolate nicely. A pine syrup would be good as well… Let us know if you come up with other good combinations.

Gluten Free Almond and Orange Tuiles

• 50g Ground Almonds
• 30g Potato flour (or plain flour)
• 100g Caster Sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg whites
• 70g butter melted
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon orange or lemon zest

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with baking parchment.In a bowl mix together ground almonds, potato flour, sugar and salt then whisk in the egg whites, butter, zest, and vanilla extract until combined well. Drop rounded teaspoons or batter about 10cm apart onto baking sheet and with back of a spoon spread into 7cm ovals. Try to keep these distances – if you let the tuiles get too close, they’ll morph into one giant slab. This is fine, but it won’t look as nice when cut into squares. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden on the edges.

Working quickly, remove the tuiles, from the baking sheet with a thin spatula and rest over a rolling pin to make then curl. If you want flat tuiles transfer them straight on to a cooling rack.

Continue until the remaining batter is used up. You can re-use the baking parchment until it becomes damp and wobbly, then replace. When the tuiles are completely cool store in an airtight container. They can be made 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container.