No-Churn Vanilla Bean Gelato with Two-Ingredient Fruit Sorbetto

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A dessert-case duo you can pull off without an ice cream machine: a dense, custard-sweet vanilla bean gelato folded together from sweetened condensed milk and lightly whipped cream, plus a raspberry-strawberry sorbetto blitzed from frozen fruit in a food processor. Serve two scoops of gelato and one of sorbetto in a chilled bowl, the way a neighborhood Italian spot does it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk, well chilled
• 1/2 cup cold whole milk
• 3 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla bean paste)
• 1 tbsp vodka or light corn syrup (for scoopability)
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 lb frozen strawberries or raspberries (or a mix)
• 1/2 cup simple syrup, chilled (or 1/3 cup honey)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, optional
• 1 pinch fine sea salt, optional

• 1/4 cup shelled roasted pistachios, chopped
• 6 crisp rolled wafer cookies or amaretti
• fresh mint sprigs

Instructions

1. Put a 9x5-inch metal loaf pan (or a 2-quart freezer-safe container) plus the bowl and beaters of your mixer in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cold equipment is what keeps a no-churn base dense instead of foamy.
2. Make the gelato base: in a medium bowl, whisk the whole milk with the dry milk powder until completely smooth and no lumps remain, about 1 minute. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, the vodka or corn syrup, and the salt. The milk powder adds milk solids, which is what gives real gelato its chew.
3. In the chilled mixer bowl, whip the cold heavy cream on medium-high speed just to soft peaks, 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Stop the moment the cream holds a droopy peak on the beater — overwhipped cream turns the finished gelato into frozen mousse.
4. Add about one-third of the whipped cream to the condensed milk mixture and whisk it in briskly to lighten the base. Fold in the remaining cream with a flexible spatula in 10 to 12 strokes, stopping while a few faint streaks remain; you want the mixture pourable and slightly deflated, not cloud-like.
5. Scrape into the chilled loaf pan, smooth the top, and press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Freeze at 0°F (-18°C) for at least 6 hours, or overnight, until firm enough to scoop cleanly.
6. Make the sorbetto within 30 minutes of serving: let the frozen fruit sit on the counter for 5 minutes to take the hardest edge off. Add it to a food processor with the chilled simple syrup, lemon juice, and pinch of salt.
7. Pulse 15 to 20 times to break the fruit into gravel, then process continuously for 2 to 4 minutes, stopping twice to scrape the sides and push the fruit down. It will go from crumbly to a smooth, glossy, sorbet-thick swirl that climbs the sides of the bowl. If it stalls, add cold syrup 1 tablespoon at a time — no more than 3 tablespoons total.
8. Serve immediately for a soft-scoop texture, or transfer the sorbetto to a chilled container, cover with plastic wrap pressed to the surface, and freeze 45 to 60 minutes for firm, round scoops. Any longer than 3 hours and it will need 10 minutes on the counter to soften.
9. Chill six small bowls or coupe glasses for 10 minutes. Let the gelato sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, then dip your scoop in hot water and wipe it between scoops. Give each bowl two scoops of gelato and one of sorbetto.
10. Finish with chopped pistachios, a wafer cookie tucked alongside, and a small mint sprig. Serve right away, while the gelato is still soft at the edges and the sorbetto is icy-bright.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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