This Roasted Fig Gelato is the richest and creamiest homemade ice cream I’ve made to date on the blog. It’s made with fresh figs and mascarpone cheese, and stays beautifully scoopable even after a night in the freezer.
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The mascarpone lends a lusciousness that lingers on the palate, and it has a long culinary history with figs — they bring out the best in each other. I can’t think of another fruit that is as full bodied as Black Mission figs. They have great color and flavor, too, which all translates into an extra special gelato.
But even though figs do have a wonderful natural flavor, flavors can easily get lost in ice creams and gelatos. It has to do with the dulling effect of the creamy ingredients and the cold temperature. The flavor of this gelato came alive when I made a few small but essential additions to it as it churned away for its last few minutes in the machine. A dash of brandy, a dash of balsamic vinegar, and most important of all, the juice of a lemon. They took what could have been a shy, understated flavor and woke it up.
This is definitely a sophisticated flavor, great for an adult dinner party, but I don’t think it would be as big a hit with the kids. Which could be a good thing, now that I think of it. That just leaves more for you and me.
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Roasted Fig Gelato
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.
Other fantastic fig recipes to try ~
- Baked Brie with Honey and Figs
- Cardamom and Brandy Poached Figs
- Fig Gruyere Crostini
- Homemade Fig Newtons
Don’t forget to pin this Roasted Fig Gelato!
It sounds delicious,but do you have any idea how to make without an ice cream maker/machine.
Thanks Jeraldine
Hey Jeraldine. One way you can adjust most ice cream recipes to be no churn is to make the mixture, then freeze it in zip lock baggies, flat, on a baking sheet. What you want is a thin layer of the mixture when frozen. Then, when it’s frozen solid, you can break it apart and add it to a food processor or high speed blender to blend it quickly into a thick ice cream. You may need to freeze it again to become perfectly scoop-able.
Sounds amazing. What makes it gelato and not just ice cream? i thought gelato had to have a special machine to infuse air…?
I remember sampling fig gelato in Italy—I was told it was a MUST flavor to try. Now I can make it at home!! You’re the best! xo
Not sure I can compete with Italian gelato, but I tried!
Just wanted to let you know that this came out delicious, thanks so much for the recipe! By the way, for anyone curious, the yield on this for my ice cream maker was just shy of 3 pints. 🙂
Thanks so much Kimberly, and I’ll update the recipe with the yield.
Found 15m/400F wasn’t nearly long enough to roast. More like an hour to get the figs to collapse and get caramelized. Later, splashing some port and balsamic to loosen up the developing fond, the puree is very intense and quite delicious!
Sue, wouldn’t you like for someone to say they made your recipe and it was amazing? I think it would be really great if people could rate your recipe with stars + comments. I hope this criticism is helpful.
Yes, for sure, Jenoise, it’s always helpful to me and other readers when people come back and report on a recipe, I encourage it!
Everything looks so very delicious! I have 1 question: what is MASCARPONE? And where can I find it??? Thank you, looking forward to trying this!?
Mascarpone is a soft Italian cheese, a little bit like cream cheese, and it’s usually found near the cream cheese or creme fraiche in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. I have a recipe for homemade mascarpone, here: http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/minimal-monday-homemade-mascarpone/
Do you have to use Mission figs? I have a fig tree, but they are the smaller sweet brownish figs. I don’t recall the variety.
Use whatever variety you like, Linda!
You had me at mascarpone cheese; the deal was sealed with sweet milk + brandy! Yes. Yes. Yes!!!
Wow Sue we love figs and mascarpone! We can only imagine how fabulous this must taste.
And your photos are stunning! Makes us want to dive into the cone right now.
Hope you are having a lovely summer!
Thank you 🙂