red beet gingerbread ice cream

it’s feeling like the right time of year for gingerbread! this time a creamy and spice-heavy red beet gingerbread ice cream. the beet gives it this sort of brightness in flavour and of course a gorgeous colour

This time around I just have to give it to the beets. They are doing some good work in this ice cream.

Abundant annual beet harvests and a lack of beet ideas soured my relationship with beets over the years. I broke back in high school when I brought the dinner leftovers, a large container of sliced boiled beets, for lunch – since that meal of pure beet, I’ve never been able to look beets in the eye in same trusting way as I used to.

And so in baking with an abundance of beets, I started to wonder how I could mask their flavour. Unfortunately for that quest, beets are pretty resilient. But I’ve realized that rather than trying to cover up the beet, beet-baking can instead focus on flavour combinations that attenuate the intensity of their beetiness, while still highlighting them in different ways. Of course, those sorts of statements never really make much sense without an illustrative example. Enter the red beet gingerbread ice cream.

It’s a gingerbread ice cream for sure – spices, brown sugar, melded into a creamy base. But it’s also definitely something else – the colour is a bit of an obvious hint (where else would someone find such a vibrant fuscia?).

There is a slight brightness to this ice cream, which I think I have to attribute to the beets. They take what is otherwise a cream and spice heavy base and give it a muted fruitiness. Beet and ginger is a combination I’ve seen around, and I love how they interact in this ice cream base – and even more so in the context of the whole gingerbread spice crew.

I think the ice cream is lovely alone, creamy and soothing, but I do love a drizzle of pomegranate molasses! I got this idea from a beet salad recipe with pomegranate molasses, and I’ve tried it here and loved the results. I think the pomegranate molasses pulls out the slight acidity and fruitiness of the beets – and as a drizzle is sweet, tart and festive with its pomegranate-brightness and deep molasses-like tones. And half the fun is the surprise that it’s not a sweet fudge or chocolate drizzle!

Partially out of curiosity, but more so because I’ve been on more of an egg yolk kick and gotten a bit tired of all the extra egg whites piling up, I’ve also tried using cornstarch as the stabilizer in the ice cream base. I think it works quite well – it’s a bit easier to pull together. I think the choice likely comes down to whether you want the custard-type taste in your ice cream. I do prefer the custard type ice cream, so the recipe below uses egg yolks, but I’ve included a note on how I’ve also tried this out with cornstarch again.

To complement the flavour profile, there is a bit of spiced rum in this ice cream. It also helps keep the ice cream a bit softer – not entirely scoopable right out of the freezer, but give it 10 minutes on the counter (or 30 or so minutes in the fridge).

• Servings: makes 2 cups ice cream base
• Print

• 180g milk 
• 250g heavy cream 
• 4 large egg yolks* see note
• 50g (1/4 cup) brown sugar
• pinch kosher salt
• 100g peeled and cooked red beets, cut into small chunks* see note 
• 2 1/4 tsp ground ginger* see note
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 1/2 tbsp spiced rum, optional (this also helps keep your ice cream soft!)
• pomegranate molasses, to serve, optional

Place the milk and cream in a saucepan. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, brown sugar and salt. Heat the milk mixture in a saucepan until steaming. Gradually pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture while whisking to combine to temper the egg yolks. Return to the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Constantly scraping the bottom of the saucepan with a rubber spatula, cook gently or until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a line drawn in it (or a temperature of around 165-180F). Transfer to a heatproof container and let cool.

Puree together the beets and about half of the ice cream base, either with a stand blender, immersion blender or food processor until it is as smooth as you can get it. Add the remaining ice cream base along with the spices – you can taste and adjust the spices as desired. Stir in the rum. Pass the ice cream through a sieve for smoothness. Transfer base to a container and chill completely in the fridge.

Churn the base in an ice cream maker according to the instructions. When serving, drizzle with a bit of pomegranate molasses if desired.

*Notes:

• For a cornstarch version, replace the 4 egg yolks with 10g of cornstarch (proportions vaguely based on Jeni’s ice cream base). Do as follows: Whisk together the milk, cream and brown sugar in a saucepan. Take a few tbsp and whisk into the cornstarch to make a smooth slurry. Heat the milk and cream in the saucepan until boiling. Pour some into the slurry while whisking constantly (a bit like tempering egg yolks), and then transfer the warm slurry mixture to the saucepan. Continue to boil until thickened, around a minute, being sure to whisk constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool. Then continue with remainder of recipe. Overall I tend to prefer egg yolk ice creams, but if you’re tired of having extra egg whites, an occasional cornstarch base isn’t a bad idea.
• To cook the beets, wrap the beets in foil and bake at 375 until tender all the way through, about 1 hour depending on the size of the beets. Let cool, then peel. Roast 150g of beets to ensure you have enough (100g) once peeled.
• This ice cream has a ginger kick – depending on your preferences, you can reduce the ginger to 1 1/2 tsp. 

Update note: images were updated Nov 2020, and recipe and images were updated again Sept 2023.