California Walnut Ice Cream, Berbere-Spiced California Walnut-Pumpkin Bread, Wild Blueberry Gelée
Pastry Chef Nicholas Larsen of Sugar Hill Creamery | New York, NY
“Fall is a favorite season for us at Sugar Hill Creamery because we love creating cool desserts with warm flavors. When developing flavors, we want the components of the ice cream to stand out on their own but, when combined, become something special and unique. We think of a communal dinner—like a cookout or holiday—where you create a plate of different dishes that begin to meld together as you eat, becoming a dish of its own. Walnuts are a good start because of how versatile they are. We began with a walnut cream ice cream base, infusing toasted walnuts by blending and steeping them in our ice cream base for 48 hours to extract all of their oils. This created an earthy, nutty base from which to build. As summer turns to fall, we wanted to add pumpkin in the form of a walnut bread and wild blueberries as a bright, fruity jam to create contrast. In a technique unique to Sugar Hill Creamery, we spice the walnut-pumpkin bread and the blueberries with berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend that brings a smoky, savory element to the ice cream. The butteriness of the ice cream, the earthiness of the pumpkin, and the smoky spiciness of the berbere — set against the bright blueberries — allow the walnuts to come through and highlight the complexity of the nut. As we headed into fall, the combination of pumpkin and blueberry tied together with toasted walnuts enhanced our seasonal flavor options with an original, nutty, buttery, spicy ice cream.” —Pastry Chef Nicholas Larsen
Adapted by StarChefs | November 2026 | Photo: Alexander Zeren
INGREDIENTS
Blueberry Gelée:
Yield: 2 quarts
1 kilogram wild blueberries
300 grams honeycrisp apples, peeled and cored
500 grams granulated sugar
1½ grams ground cinnamon
1½ grams ground berbere spice
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
20 grams pectin
5 grams kosher salt
Spiced Pumpkin Bread:
Yield: 1 sheet tray
1 whole pumpkin, halved and seeded
480 grams all-purpose flour
16 grams kosher salt
12 grams baking soda
8 grams baking powder
400 grams brown sugar
200 grams cane sugar
200 grams whole eggs
220 grams applesauce
12 grams vanilla extract
5 grams ground cinnamon
5 grams berbere spice
1½ grams ground nutmeg
1½ grams ground allspice
½ gram ground clove
250 grams vegetable oil
340 grams California walnuts, shelled and toasted
California Walnut Cream Ice Cream:
Yield: 6 gallons
1.12 kilograms California walnuts
6.724 kilograms whole milk
5.664 kilograms heavy cream
3 beans bourbon vanilla, scraped
2.24 kilograms granulated sugar
800 grams milk powder
45 grams kosher salt
28 grams locust bean gum stabilizer
1.92 kilograms egg yolks
METHOD
For the Blueberry Gelée:
In a large mixing bowl, combine blueberries, apples, and 100 grams sugar. Let macerate to desired consistency. Transfer to a stockpot over medium heat. Add ground cinnamon, berbere spice, and lemon zest. Cook until fruit has broken down. Remove from heat. Using a Vitamix Commercial immersion blender, purée mixture until smooth. Set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar, pectin, and salt. Add sugar mixture to fruit purée. Blend until smooth. Let cool over an ice bath. Stir in lemon juice. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
For the Pumpkin Bread:
Heat oven to 425°F. Place pumpkin, cut-side down, on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Roast until soft and caramelized. Scoop out flesh and let cool. Once cooled, transfer to a Vitamix Commercial blender and purée until smooth. Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat brown sugar, cane sugar, and eggs until combined. Add applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon, berbere, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and 500 grams reserved roasted pumpkin purée. Mix to combine. Alternating additions, add vegetable oil and sifted flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Using a rubber spatula, fold in toasted California walnuts. Pour batter onto a parchment-lined sheet tray. Level with an offset spatula. Bake 6 minutes. Rotate tray and bake additional 6 minutes. Let cool. Cut into ½-inch cubes and set aside.
For the California Walnut Cream Ice Cream:
Heat oven to 325°F. Spread California walnuts on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Toast 10 minutes. Let cool. Transfer to a 22-quart container and set aside. In a large pot over medium heat, combine milk, cream, and vanilla. Heat mixture to 140°F. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, milk powder, salt, and stabilizer. Add dry mix to warmed milk mixture. Remove pot from heat. Using a Vitamix Commercial immersion blender, blend until smooth. Return pot to medium heat and cook until mixture reaches 158°F. Place egg yolks in a small, heat-proof mixing bowl. Stream in hot milk mixture to temper, whisking constantly. Add yolk mixture to pot. Cook until mixture reaches 180°F, stirring and scraping the bottom constantly with a rubber spatula. Remove from heat. Using a Vitamix Commercial immersion blender, blend until smooth. Pour over toasted California walnuts. Transfer to a Vitamix Commercial blender and purée until smooth. Let cool over an ice bath. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. The next day, transfer mixture to a Vitamix Commercial blender. Blend until mixture is fully emulsified. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Process base in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set aside.
To Assemble and Serve:
In a mixing bowl, fold Blueberry Gelée and Pumpkin Bread into California Walnut Cream Ice Cream. Transfer to pint containers and freeze.
