The weather outside might be getting colder but one thing I learned on cold December day in Rome was it’s never too cold for Gelato! So I’ve decided to share my eleven favorite gelato recipes with you as we get ready for the holiday season.
Warm or cold weather, homemade gelato is a great addition to any dessert table and will impress your guests as you take your desserts to the next level!
Let’s start with the very first gelato recipe I tried. The Best Strawberry Gelato you’ll ever make!
Especially for the holiday season, two of my favorite flavors are sure to impress. Cranberry and Egg Nog Gelato.
But if you’re yearning for the sunshine state, nothing beats my Clementine Gelato.
And for one of my favorite “Boutique Flavors” try out my Strawberry Ricotta Gelato.
In Florida, it’s summertime most of the year and that means lots of fresh fruit most of the year. Two of the most flavorful gelato’s I made were my Blackberry and Mango Gelato.
Without a doubt, the most refreshing gelato I could ever have imagined was my Meyer Lemon Gelato. And of course, you can make it with regular lemons too!
The great thing about gelato or ice cream is how much fun you can have creating flavors. I love using whatever fruit is in season and for this post, I came up with My Blueberry Cheesecake and Very Cherry Gelato recipes.
Last but not least my recipe using the perfect summertime fruit the peach. We love, love, love grilled peaches in this house, so I thought why not make a Grilled Peaches and Cream Gelato. I was rewarded for my efforts with an OMG peach flavor. This is definitely a keeper!
So matter how cold it is outside, gelato will make you feel better. If you’ve never tried making gelato before it’s really quite simple, especially using my base recipe. The big difference between gelato and ice cream is that gelato uses milk which makes the fruit flavors stand out more, while ice cream uses cream to boost the flavors with a rich creaminess. The other difference has to do with the makers. A gelato maker doesn’t put as much air into the mixture as an ice cream maker does, creating a slightly denser finished product, which also helps the flavor profile.
Ice cream or Gelato, whichever you decide to make it’s still going to be delicious and your guests will be impressed that you took the time to make your own frozen desserts!
If you’ve tried my Gelato recipes or any other recipe on askchefdennis.com please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on Instagram @chefdenniseats and @chefdennistravels, Twitter and Facebook
Jean
How about a mocha gelato recipe? Any suggestions?
Chef Dennis Littley
The easiest way to make a mocha gelato would be to follow the base recipe, heat the milk (3 cups) and add chopped chocolate (4 ounces) and sugar (3/4 cup) to the milk and let it melt. Most chocolate gelato recipes will also add unsweetened cocoa (1/4 cup) for a deeper chocolate flavor.
If you want mocha use 1 cup of strong coffee, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 1/2 cup heavy cream and the rest of the ingredients or you can just add a double shot of espresso to the liquids or a teaspoon of espresso powder to milk with the chocolate.
Vickie
Hello Chef Dennis! I want to “Thank you! Thank you!” for your wonderful gelato recipes!
We have two small Meyer lemons trees and I wanted to make something really special with the 8 lemons harvested from the trees for the first time! I ran across your site and decided to try your Meyer Lemon Gelato. It was most excellento!! Then I decided to try another one of your gelato recipes and I went with the strawberry because that’s what I had on hand. I have got to tell you. . . I made some substitutions because I was making it to take to a fellowship luncheon where there are dairy free, sugar free and gluten free people. What a tough bunch to cook for! LOL! For the substitutions:
For the sugar I substituted Xylitol, brand name Xyla (because not all Xylitol is equal. Some of it is made in China and not from good things!) Xyla is made in the USA and comes from birch bark. For the milk I used coconut milk and for the heavy cream I used a cashew cream. I made a regular batch and a substituted batch and to tell you the truth, I liked the substituted recipe better! Not only that but it got RAVE reviews from the group! I’m going to take it to the Farmer’s Market and see if it won’t sell this summer along with the sprouted grain bread, einkorn wheat sour dough bread, specialty chocolates and a few homemade personal care products. We might be the next Ben & Jerry’s thanks to you! LOL!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Vickie
thanks for your feedback and I’m so happy you could make the substitutions you needed for your luncheon. It sounds like you made great choices in your substitutions, and I didn’t know that about Xylitol thanks for sharing that info! Good luck with the farmers market and the world could use a healthy version of Ben and Jerrys!
Vickie
Hello Chef Dennis!
I have to retract what I had to say about the Xylitol. Just yesterday a woman from the fellowship luncheons texted me an article about the Xylitol. My stomach had been feeling quite punky for a few days and I didn’t connect the two. You can go to this website to read about the Xylitol:
http://crunchybetty.com/xylitol-should-we-stop-calling-it-natural/
And it’s not just Crunchy Betty saying things either. You can read about Xylitol on the Natural News or Shane Ellison’s website, The People’s Chemist.
The other substitutions are great but don’t substitute sugar for the Xylitol. . . unless you want to have gut problems.
Thank you for your reply and kind words! Thank you again for your wonderful gelato recipes!
Vickie
An update on Xylitol. . .
Don’t substitute Xylitol for the sugar! See the post below or read this before deciding to use Xylitol or NOT!
See: http://crunchybetty.com/xylitol-should-we-stop-calling-it-natural/
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for the update Vickie!
Francesco
No ‘fondente”? Tragic!
There is a mind-boggling (in more ways than one) dessert that I’ve only found France, using lemon gelato. It’s called a Colonel, and is very simple: place two scoops of lemon gelato in a bowl. Pour app. two ounces (60 ml) of vodka it. Eat.
I was introduced to the Colonel as a young man interning with the UN in Geneva. It was a staff lunch, and we’d had at least 15 centiliters of wine (app. two glasses) with our measl– something which as an American I already wasn’t used to at lunch– and I was then encouraged by my coworkers to try this “really, really good dessert”. As it happens, it really is good; the flavors meld beautifully. However, when I was 25 I weighed under 125 pounds (which is no longer the case!), and I still had to go back to the office and work through the rest of the day. Not fun.
Italy has a wonderful dessert called a “Tartufo Nero”, or a ‘black truffle. It consists of a candied cherry encapsulated in a small scoop of vanilla gelato which is frozen hard, then covered with a thick layer of ‘fondente’ (dark chocolate) gelato, which is then sprinkled with powdered cacao before having chocolate sauce poured over it.. If you ask for the Tartufo Nero Afogato, you can have either an unsweetened espresso poured over it or else a shot of ‘whisky’ (sic). Both are delicious!
Amanda (@lambsearshoney)
Well now – you know it’s not autumn everywhere!
Some great inspiration here for our downunder summer.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Amanada I do love my Gelato!
Toni | BoulderLocavore.com
What a delicious list!
Maria
Many years ago, my aunt and uncle used to do the most fabulous 5 course tTanksgiving meal! It was such a treat. My uncle began a tradition of including sortbetto after the main course as a “palate cleanser” prior to dessert. I am hosting this year, and your gelato recipes are making me want to carry on the tradition;)