Teenie Cakes™

| food, photography, edible gardening & more!

Olive Oil Gelato


Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato - Ice Cream recipe | TeenieCakes.com

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato – Ice Cream

Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Gelato.

Olive Oil gelato?

It’s the “olive oil” + “gelato” that caught my full attention. I just couldn’t fathom what an olive oil gelato (or even an ice cream) would taste like. So it was a sure thing that anything else that was on my list to make these next weeks was going to be gently bumped down the rather lengthy to-dos so I could make this unusual flavor gelato a priority!

One day I’m going to share on Teenie Cakes that I’ve actually visited Italy and that I enjoyed some divine gelato from a real Italian gelateria (a shop in italy that sells gelato). One day. Until that day, I’ve opened my own gelateria from my kitchen and the first menu item is this Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Gelato.

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato - Ice Cream recipe | TeenieCakes.com

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato – Ice Cream

Because I know what is in this gelato, since I made it, I could taste what is undoubtedly olive oil. However, if I didn’t make it and someone asked me to describe and name the flavor of this gelato…I would have never guessed it!   It’s just lovely, and I know that’s not a word used to describe food, but that is what this gelato is….lovely. It’s sweet, light and creamy with a hint of…is it floral? Challenging to describe but I enjoyed the novelty of it AND that it uses my very favorite cooking and baking oil…in an ice cream!

I don’t have a gelato maker, so my ice cream/yogurt maker was happy to be of use again since I had abandoned the poor unused kitchen tool. Also, unless you have a gelato freezer or a forced-air type freezer, your gelato may freeze hard.

Question to readers: Do you have a gelato maker and if you do, how does it differ in how it churns the gelato and does it really give a different consistency to your cold treat in comparison to ice cream? I’m just curious.

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato - Ice Cream recipe | TeenieCakes.com

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato – Ice Cream

I’m learning about gelato. If you’re interested, here’s a few tidbits:

Gelato Tidbits
  • The word gelato   is derived from the Italian verb gelare,   which means “to freeze.”
  • Gelato is made like ice cream and uses roughly the same ingredients.
  • The major difference between gelato and ice cream, is the amount of butterfat. American-style ice cream typically has 10-16 percent butterfat, while Gelato contains from 6-8 percent! Less air is whipped into gelato and it has a softer and denser texture than ice cream.

Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Gelato

 print[save_recipe]

Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Gelato

Makes about 1 ½ quarts

Ingredients
  • 2/3 to 1 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  •  
  • 2/3 cup organic, extra virgin olive oil
  •  
  • 3 cups low-fat milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  •  
  • Fleur de sel or coarse sea salt for serving (optional)
Method
  1. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl until pale yellow, about 3-5 minutes.
  2. Add the olive oil in a consistent stream and continue beating until smooth and airy, about 3 more minutes.
  3. Add the low-fat milk, cream, vanilla extract, and salt, and beat until combined.
  4. Pour mixture into an ice cream or gelato maker and freeze according to your machine’s instructions.
  5. Transfer the gelato to a freezer friendly container and cover until served.
  6. Sprinkle fleur de sel or coarse sea salt (optional).
  7. Serve a wafer butter cookie or small pizzelle on the side! © Images & content: Cristina A-Moore for TeenieCakes.com.
Teenie Notes
  • For a less sweet gelato, cut the sugar down to 2/3 cup.
  • Increased the salt by 1/2 teaspoon.
  • I’m using 2% or low-fat milk and it still has a creamy texture.
  • The gelato freezes very firm, but thaws quickly for serving.
source adapted & modified from Saveur


 

More Frosty Treats on TC

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato - Ice Cream recipe | TeenieCakes.com

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato – Ice Cream


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brandon @ Kitchen Konfidence says

    YES! I had Olive Oil Gelato in New York City one time, and I’ve been in love ever since. PS. Sometimes I get my olive oil dessert fix by drizzling good quality EVOO over vanilla ice cream with a little bit of sea salt. Also tasty!

  6. Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says

    How intriguing! I have a “recipe” on my site for serving super high quality vanilla ice cream drizzled with super high quality evoo. It’s an interesting combo, and one that I love, so I think I would adore your gelato.

  7. Carol Borchardt says

    Another one of your recipes I can’t wait to try! I had olive oil gelato at one of Mario Batali’s restaurants once and I’ve been wanting to make it ever since. Your photographs are stunning! Pinned, too!

  10. The Duo Dishes says

    Olive oil ice cream and gelato are both great desserts. Great surprises on the tongue if you’ve never had either one. Curious what brand of olive oil you used and if it was Italian (assuming that’s a yes)? There are so many different flavors, textures and scents depending on the olive, and it seems like a light, fruity, floral olive oil would be best. You’re probably an expert by now!

    • Cristina says

      Hi Chrystal: It’s actually supposed to be gelato. I added the “ice cream” context so as to attract interest to those who might otherwise not give the post a look thinking that it might be too difficult as “gelato.” I’ve never had either before and only just learning about gelato and loving what I’m learning about it. As for the olive oil…no not an imported organic brand (my wallet couldn’t afford it), I’m using an organic olive oil I’ve been using on breads, appetizers and cooking – found it at Costco! 🙂 I’ll be trying this recipe again with changes and adjustments to make it my very own -and- use some home infused EVOO. It’s gonna be delish!

    • Cristina says

      Hi Nami: I don’t usually buy gelato, but ice cream finds its way into my freezer! I’ll be including homemade gelato now as I’m learning about it and want to experiment with some ingredients using flavors from Italy. 😉

  12. Juliana says

    Yes, my first question was…”olive oil?” I would like to try this out…it sounds and looks delicious…the texture of the gelato looks great Cristina.
    Thanks for the recipe…have a wonderful week ahead 😀

  15. wok with ray says

    Nope, I don’t have a gelato maker. I only have an ice cream maker, so I am curious to know the answer from other readers. This gelato looks divine and the olive oil makes it interesting. You site looks more open and brighter. Did you make some changes or is it just me? Ha ha ha. I hope you are having a great week, Cristina! 🙂

    • Cristina says

      Hi Ray! Yes, thanks for noticing, my friend. An ice cream machine will do too. It may not be the consistency that might be found at a gelataria in Italy (I’m only supposing as I’ve never been to Italy or a gelataria) but it sure is good!! ;o)

  16. Jess says

    WOWee Christina, this gelato is just divine looking and you are right that its interesting and cannot imagine the flavors. Pinning to make and thx for this!!

[instagram-feed]