As some of you may be aware, I have a bit of a pistachio obsession, whether it’s in ice cream or in cakes, if it’s pistachio flavoured, I want it. So, with my love of these green jewels in mind, and a brand-new jar of pistachio paste in hand, I decided to create some sweet, pistachio flavoured treats of my own!

I decided straight away I wanted to try to make an ice cream, but without an ice cream machine, I had to find a no-churn recipe, and it seems the answer is condensed milk, but how to get the pistachio flavour? Enter The Nut Kitchen, who create pastes made from nuts and nothing else, much like pistachio butters or spreads. They are pricey, but the flavour they impart makes it worth the splurge, and a little goes a long way. Find out more about them here.

To give the ice cream a super nutty kick, I amped up the flavour by adding a teaspoon of pistachio essence, which I found by chance at my local farm shop. If you can’t find pistachio, you could use almond instead, or simply add some classic vanilla for sweetness.

To go with my ice cream, what better companion could there be but a rich, gooey brownie? For this I simply used my go-to brownie recipe, but added in some chopped pistachios. Make sure you serve the brownie hot alongside the cool ice cream for a truly indulgent pudding…

Pistachio Brownies & Ice Cream

Easy | Cook: 45 minutes, plus freezing time | Makes 8 brownies

Ingredients

For the ice cream:

½ a 397g tin of condensed milk

600ml pot double cream

2 tbsp pistachio paste

1 tsp almond or pistachio essence

For the brownies:

125g butter

125g dark chocolate

200g brown sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

50g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

¼ tsp baking powder

50g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Method

1. First, make the ice cream. Put the cream and condensed milk into a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until thick and quite stiff. Fold in the pistachio paste and essence and mix until combined, then pour into a freezer container (I used a loaf tin), cover with cling film and freeze until solid (approx. 6-8 hours).
2. For the brownies, preheat the oven to 180C, then combine the butter, chocolate and sugar in a medium saucepan and stir over a medium-low heat until the chocolate and butter have melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs.
3. Add the flour, cocoa and baking powder, followed by the chopped pistachios, and stir until well combined. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 18cm x 28cm rectangular tin and bake for 35 minutes or until cooked through.
4. To serve, take the ice cream out of the freezer and allow to stand for 10 minutes to soften – do this while the brownies are finishing off in the oven – and serve with the warm brownies. Enjoy!