Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones – Bake Off Technical Challenge

Hi everybody! I am back for Week 7 of my Great British Bake Off Technical Challenge bake along 2022! Week 7 was a Bake Off first: Custard week! Overall, I thought this was a fantastic week with some great challenges! For this week’s Technical Challenge, Prue asked the bakers to make six Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones! At first, I panicked as I thought I couldn’t make these as I don’t own an ice cream machine OR a waffle cone machine (who even knew that was a thing?!). But don’t worry, I still managed to do it without the fancy equipment and the ice creams turned out really well! Again, I have made many alterations to make this recipe easier, cheaper and more home-baker friendly, so make sure to check out the tips and recipe below to find out how to make these Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones!

Check out the video here:

How to make Prue’s Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones without Equipment

If you don’t have an ice cream machine or a waffle cone machine don’t worry – you can still make this delicious pistachio praline ice cream! I have looked at recipes for making ice cream without an ice cream machine before, but had not given it a go until now! The basic principle of an ice cream machine is that it continuously churns the ice cream to make sure it has a creamy consistency and freezes it. So why not do that yourself by just placing it in the freezer and stirring it yourself every now and again? That is exactly what I did and it worked wonderfully!

The ice cream cones were certainly harder to make without a machine. I ended up cooking the cone mixture on a hot frying pan. This obviously meant that I didn’t get a nice waffle cone-like pattern around the outside. Also, it was hard to spread out the mixture into a very thin layer quickly before it started to set on the hot pan. After several attempts though (as well as slackening the mixture with a little milk) I managed to make a few very nice ice cream cones! You will though need some sort of cylindrical mould to make the cones, and I did have some from Lakeland that I used.

My Tips and Alterations for the Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones recipe

I have made a lot of changes to Prue’s original recipe, in order to account for not having the right equipment, cutting the cost and ingredients needed, and making the process more time efficient. For one, in order to reduce the amount of ingredients needed for the pistachio praline ice cream (especially the pistachios as they are expensive!), I only made 2/3 of the original recipe. Making the ice cream without a machine (see above) worked perfectly well, too.

For the ice cream cones, I had to slacken down the mix with a little milk to make it more spreadable and make really thin “pancakes” to roll into cones. Following this, the original recipe called for very large quantities of chocolate to merely dip the ends of the cones in, plus even more for making a chocolate drizzle sauce. Below, I have only included the amount of chocolate you will actually need. I have also made things easier by only having to melt chocolate once, and then using that both for decorating the cones and making the chocolate sauce! I hope these tips help you when you give this recipe a try!

More Bake Off Technical Challenge Recipes

I have been doing a Technical Challenge Bake Along for the last two seasons of Bake Off now, but made a whole bunch of other Technicals from over the many years of Bake Off. If you fancy giving some of them a go yourself, check out the list below for recipes!

• Mary Berry’s Religieuses
• Mary Berry’s Fraisier Cake
• Paul Hollywood’s Hand-raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies
• Mary Berry’s Bakewell Tart with feathered Icing
• Paul’s Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
• Mary Berry’s Frosted Walnut Layer Cake
• Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf
• Mary Berry’s Homemade Jaffa Cakes
• Paul Hollywood’s Wagon Wheel Biscuits
• Mary Berry’s Victoria Sponge Cake
• Paul Hollywood’s Mini Pork Pies
• Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls
• Prue’s Vegan Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts (S2UC Special)
• Pizza Star Bread (Junior Bake Off)
• Mary Berry’s Coffee and Walnut Battenberg Cake
• Paul’s Crusty White Cob
• Paul Hollywood’s Rainbow Bagels
• Prue Leith’s Malt Loaf
• Paul’s Jammy Biscuits
• Paul Hollywood’s Olive Ciabatta Bread Sticks with Homemade Tzatziki
• Prue Leith’s Sticky Toffee Puddings with Sesame Tuiles
• Prue Leith’s Prinzregententorte
• Paul Hollywood’s Baklava (22cm)
• Paul’s Caramel Biscuit Bars (Twix)
• Prue Leith’s Vegan Sausage Rolls
• Prue’s Sablé Breton Cake
• Paul Hollywood’s Sticky Belgian Buns
• Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
• Prue’s Garibaldi Biscuits with Feathered Chocolate Icing
• Paul Hollywood’s Pain au Raisins
• Paul’s Spicy Beef Tacos
• Paul Hollywood’s S’mores
• Prue Leith’s Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones
• Vegetable Spring Rolls
• Prue’s Vertical Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Raspberry Tarts
• Paul Hollywood’s Devonshire Splits

Prue’s Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones – Bake Off Technical Challenge

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE CUSTARD

• 400ml full-fat milk
• 100ml double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 6 large egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar

FOR THE PRALINE

• 70g caster sugar
• 40g pistachios (shelled)

FOR THE PISTACHIO PASTE

• 120g pistachios (shelled)
• 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil  (or pistachio oil if you have it)

FOR THE WAFFLE CONES

• 2 large egg whites
• pinch of salt
• 95g icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 65g plain flour
• 55g butter, melted and cooled
• 2-3 tbsp milk

TO DECORATE

• 150g dark chocolate
• 30g pistachio nuts, finely chopped
• 1 tsp coconut oil

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

• Large saucepan
• Whisk
• silicone mat (alternatively, just use some baking paper)
• pastry horn/cone mould (I bought mine from Lakeland)
• frying pan
• food processor (or stick blender)
• stick blender

Method:

1. Start by making the custard for the ice cream. Pour the milk and double cream into a large saucepan and add the vanilla bean paste. Set over a medium heat and warm until the mixture is just below boiling point. Separate the 6 eggs, adding all the yolks into one bowl. Place two of the whites in one bowl and reserve for later, the remaining egg whites can be used in a different recipe.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar in a heatproof (ideally non-slip) bowl until paler in colour and thick. The mix should leave a trail in the bowl when you lift out the whisk (ribbon stage).
3. Once the milk is almost boiling, carefully pour it into the egg yolks in a thin and steady stream, whisking constantly. Return the custard to the saucepan and stir continuously over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
4. Pour the custard through a sieve into a shallow dish. Cover the surface of the custard with clingfilm to prevent a skin from forming. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes, then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5. In the meantime, make the caramel for the praline by melting the sugar in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Do not use a metal spoon to stir it, swirl the pan instead or use a pastry brush to brush any excess caster sugar down. Once the caramel has turned an amber colour, add in the pistachios, swirl the pan, then tip the mix onto a silicone baking mat. Leave to cool, then roughly chop and set aside until needed.
6. For the pistachio paste, blitz the pistachios with the oil (adding a little at a time until you have the right consistency) until the paste is smooth. Set aside until needed.
7. Once the custard is cold, pour it into a large plastic container and add the pistachio paste. Blend with a stick blender until smooth, then seal the container with a lid and place in the freezer.
8. Remove the ice cream from the freezer roughly every 30 minutes and stir with a spoon. Once the ice cream starts to freeze, you may want to stir it more frequently. Once almost set, stir in most of the pistachio praline, reserving a little for the decoration. Then leave the ice cream to freeze completely.
9. To make the ice cream cones, place the two reserved egg whites in a clean glass bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Add in the salt and a tablespoon of the icing sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
10. Use a large metal spoon or spatula to first fold in the vanilla extract and remaining icing sugar, then gradually fold in the flour and melted, cool butter. The batter should resemble a pancake batter, so you may need to add a little milk to slacken the mix.
11. Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat until hot. Once hot, add around 1 tbsp of the waffle cone mixture to the pan, quickly spreading it into a very thin circle. Cook until the underside is brown, flip, then cook on the other side until the waffle cone is a golden-brown colour all over.
12. Working quickly, remove from the frying pan and carefully roll it around the cone mould to make a waffle cone. Set aside and leave to harden while you repeat this stage several times to make waffle cones from the remaining mixture.
13. To decorate the cones, roughly chop the dark chocolate, then place it in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of simmering water to melt. Once the chocolate has completely melted, remove from the heat and dip the top of each ice cream cone in the chocolate. Sprinkle over some finely chopped pistachios, then place the cones on a tray lined with baking paper. Leave the chocolate to set (if you’re impatient you can put it in the fridge) before continuing.
14. You shouldn’t have used all the chocolate from step 13 (if you have, just melt a little more), so add a teaspoon of coconut oil and stir into the chocolate to melt. This will be the chocolate sauce for drizzling over the ice creams at the end.
15. Once the cones are ready, remove the ice cream from the freezer and leave to stand at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes until it is soft enough to scoop. Scoop the ice cream (1.5 scoops is what Prue asked for – she wants a generous helping!) into each cone, drizzle with the chocolate sauce, and sprinkle over some of the reserved pistachio praline. Serve immediately and enjoy!