This Roasted Fig Gelato is incredibly rich and creamy, made with fresh figs and mascarpone cheese. Best of all, it stays beautifully scoopable even after a night in the freezer.
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Mascarpone makes this gelato especially rich and creamy, and figs are such a natural match for it. Black Mission figs have deep color, great flavor, and a real presence that doesn’t get lost in the creamy base.
Figs have wonderful flavor, but fruit can lose some of its intensity once you add cream and freeze it. This gelato really came alive when I added a few small but important ingredients during the last few minutes of churning: a splash of brandy, a little balsamic vinegar, and, most important, fresh lemon juice. Together they sharpen the fig flavor and keep it from getting lost in all that richness.
This is definitely a more grown-up flavor ~ perfect for a dinner party, though probably not the first pick for most kids. Which, now that I think about it, may not be such a bad thing. More for us.
Tips for the best homemade fig gelato
- Use ripe Black Mission figs for the deepest color and flavor.
- Roasting concentrates the figs and keeps their flavor from disappearing into the dairy.
- Mascarpone adds richness and helps give the gelato that dense, creamy texture.
- Don’t skip the lemon juice ~ it makes the fig flavor much more vivid.
- Let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping if it’s been frozen longer than overnight.
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Roasted Fig Gelato
Equipment
- ice cream machine
Ingredients
- 1 lb Black Mission figs
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 8 oz package of mascarpone cheese, an Italian cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Brandy
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Set oven to 400F
- Rinse and cut off the stems of the figs. Slice them in half and lay out, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes.
- Put the roasted figs into a food processor and puree them until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the machine a few times to make sure you get everything thoroughly pureed. Chill the puree.
- Put the cream, sugar, condensed milk, and mascarpone cheese in the food processor or blender. Process until the marscapone is completely blended into the cream. Chill the mixture.
- When everything is really cold, pour the cream mixture into your ice cream machine along with the fig puree. Process until almost finished, and then add in the vinegar, Brandy, and lemon juice. Taste the ice cream to adjust the amounts. Continue to process according to your machine’s directions.
- Fold the soft gelato into a container and put it in the freezer for at least several hours to allow it to firm up.
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I had never made ice cream before. I have an abundance of tiger figs from our fig tree and was looking up recipes with fresh figs. I came across this roasted fig gelato recipe and it sounded so delicious that I wanted to make it. I borrowed an ice cream make from my daughter-in-law and made it. This ice cream is so incredibly rich and full of delicious flavor. I did not add the brandy since I didn’t have any on hand, but the flavor doesn’t seem to be lacking in anything! This will definitely become a regular during season for me!
Love this Dolly, figs are so magical.
Great recipe! I substituted amaro for the brandy
About to make this. Wanted to see what everyone else rated
One look of the picture of the Roasted Fig Gelato, and THEN, perusing the recipe for it and seeing that balsamic vinegar was in it, as was brandy…I KNEW this was a must make some day! Even if I have to purchase an ice cream maker!! I’ve made three or four ice creams that did not require an automatic ice cream maker, but the outline you provided for same for this recipe seems rather drawn out and involved. Let me just get an automatic ice cream maker! My hesitation has been not to get one because I work in and do volunteer work for an international hotel and conference center, and my home is the hotel room they provide for me. (I’m retired and am the present, one and only Baker for the Missions Cafe.) I would have to freeze my ice cream maker in our ‘shared’ walk-in freezer in a commercial kitchen. Still…that Gelato looks SOOOO good!!!
I just made this and it is wonderful! I added a little cardamom and I also used a balsamic fig syrup that I got in Italy and did not have Brandy so I substituted with a generous amount of sherry. It still maintained the subtle ness of the fresh roasted figs.