White Miso Ice Cream with Sesame Seed Brittle

I was watching the Cooking Channel recently and I saw a dessert that featured white miso.   It was peanut butter cookies, and they talked about them having a salty sweet dimention different than simply peanut butter could not give on its own.  To me miso is sort of salty and sweet, so I can see how it would be perfect in a dessert the way salted caramel is!  Now most people think of miso as simply being savory, but hearing about how it was used in peanut butter cookies inspired me to want to create a dessert of my own featuring miso!

  I thought it would be good in an ice cream because it was described as having almost a salted caramel flavor.  So I added a bit to a coconut ice cream base sweetened with maple, because I thought the maple would give it a nice caramelly flavor.  The ice cream base was delicious, and the finished product even better! 

It tasted like a salted caramel ice cream!  If you did a blind taste test not knowing ingredients you would have sworn it was butterscotch, or contained caramel.  I think this has got to be one of my favorite ice creams so far to date, the salty sweet caramel flavor in the smooth ice cream is simply heavenly!  I decided to make a sesame seed brittle garnish to go along with such a special ice cream and it was the perfect accompaniment!  To all of you skeptics out there try this recipe out, you will be hooked if you enjoy salted caramel!

White Miso Maple Ice Cream with Sesame Seed Brittle Garnish

Makes 4 cups

Ice Cream:
3 cups organic full fat coconut milk, chilled
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp white miso
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp maple extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients except poppyseeds in a blender, and process until well blended.  Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to package directions (mine takes about an hour, and is still a little soupy like the consistency of a malt, but firms up in the freezer later). Once processed, mix in poppyseeds until evenly distributed.  Pour into freezable container with a lid, and place in the freezer for at least a few hours, or overnight to firm up for best results. Serve with brittle (recipe below)

Brittle:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
2 Tbsp black sesame seeds

Lay out a sheet of foil sprayed with non-stick spray.  Place the sugar and sea salt in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat and cook sugar, swirling the pan until melted and dissolved.  use a spoon to mix it a little once it is almost all dissolved to ensure uniform color.  Continue to heat until light caramel color, then add the sesame seeds stir in and remove from heat once it reaches medium caramel color.  Pour out onto foil and spread out.  Let cool completely then break into pieces.  Serve with ice cream, or as a garnish for another fabulous dessert!