Apple Pie Gelato

Once upon a time, I studied abroad in Spain, where I ate the most amazing food. One of my favorite desserts was Italian gelato from a shop in the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. They had an apple tart gelato that I still dream of. I've done my best to recreate the favors I remember, with a few twists to make it my own. You won't believe how simple this is. The hardest part is waiting 2 hours for it to freeze without digging in. 

I am adapting a recepie I found for simple gelato that has a base of just two ingredients - condensed milk and whipping cream. The basic idea is to make a thickened whipped cream and add flavors to it. 

For my Apple Pie Gelato, you'll also need a jar of apple butter, Nilla wafers, a sweet apple, a Granny Smith apple, cinnamon and nutmeg (not seen here). 

First, put the bowl of your electric mixer in the freezer. It makes the cream easier to whip if the cream, bowl and utensils are cold. 

Next, scoop about 6 oz of Apple butter into a separate bowl. 

Add as much cinnamon as you'd like. 

Then grate fresh nutmeg, or add in ground nutmeg. As much as you like. 

Stir to combine these. 

Once the apple spice mixture is combined, add the condensed milk and stir. 

Chop the apples into teeny tiny bits. Break up the Nilla wafers into chunks. 

Set up your electric mixer with the ice cold bowl and add the apple spice/condensed milk mixture. Then add your chilled whipping cream. 

Set the mixer on fairly high and let it go. (Instert Frozen soundtrack here). You are making soft peeked whipped cream, so it will take a while. It took my machine about 2.5 minutes on high to get there. When it's ready, the cream should stand up a bit when you pick the whisk up. 

Using a spatula, fold in the apples and Nilla wafers. 

Set the mixture into a container or two and pop it in the freezer. It will take at least 2 hours before it's really frozen. More if you keep opening the container to sneak a taste during the commercials of a Modern Family episode. 

I clearly didn't wait for it to finish freezing. It was too amazing. 

The gelato itself is like a bite of the melting vanilla icrecream that you lick off the plate of apple pie - sweet spiced goodness. Then you get a little crunch of sweet and tart applie bits. The Nilla wafers are just like bits of crust. Amazing. 

The final product is creamy and light and pretty darn close to what I had in Salamanca. Enjoy! Buen provecho!