Buone Feste Natalizie! The Spumoni has been sliced! Best Spumoni Ice cream recipe with an alternate vegan and organic version

This an Italian Christmas Eve tradition in our home. Spumoni originated in Southern Italy and consisted of pistachio, dark chocolate and rum laced cherry ice creams. Nuts and fruits pieces were usually folded into either another layer(s) made of whip cream or into the cherry ice cream. The less exotic Neapolitan ice cream was created by Italian Americans when we could not find the ice creams of our people as readily available in the new world. The layering order of spumoni has an exact science and I've found the pistachio-cherry-rum-whip cream-dark chocolate sequence to be the best.

My extremely delicious recipe costs only about 15 quid or $25.00 and serves 8 to 12.


SUPER AMANDA's BEST SPUMONI ICE CREAM EVER RECIPE

Ingredients:

1.75 quarts of Pistachio Ice cream
(should be green, Thrifty's is great if you are in the US. Read below if you don't want artificial dyes))

1.75 quarts of Black Cherry or Cherry Ice cream

2 pints of Häagen-Dazs Rum Raisin (I remove about half of the raisins)

2 pints of Häagen-Dazs Dark Chocolate
(you must use dark chocolate ice cream or the spumoni will taste chalky and sugary)

1 pint of unsweetened heavy cream freshly whipped
half a cup of maraschino cherries halfed
half a cup of pistachios
half of finely chopped nuts (no peanuts)

Chill a 3 Qt. Oblong glass Baking Dish in the freezer for at least an hour. Thaw the pistachio ice cream. If you are working with vegan or organic ice cream watch carefully so the ice cream does not melt.

Layer the pistachio at the bottom pressing the two half cups of nuts into the ice cream. Freeze for at least an hour. Repeat with the cherry ice cream, pressing the maraschino cherries into the cherry ice cream. Freeze for at least an hour.Repeat with the Rum ice cream. Next spread a very generous layer of whipped cream as the fourth flavour. Freeze for two hours. Finally top the Spumoni with the dark chocolate ice cream which should spread like ganache. Freeze for at least four hours, ideally eight. This should be sliced like cake and removed from the pan with a wet spatula. It is lovely on it's own or with unsweetened or lightly sweetened whip cream

For vegans and/or organic ice cream lovers: This dessert has to have green pistachio ice cream and pink cherry to complete the effect as this desert is very beautiful to the eye as well as the palate. There are various natural food colourings and favourings now available:

http://www.naturesflavors.com/default.php

For those who only eat organic and no favourings/dyes ever, you can take organic pistachio ice cream and blend in two to four tablespoons of fresh avocado and/or pistachio butter for a natural green food colouring. Be sure to blend in extra pistachio nuts, ideally crushed as well as whole. You will have to work fast because the ice cream cannot melt. You will barely taste the avocado. If organic rum ice cream is hard to find then generously flavour organic vanilla ice cream with rum yourself, the two flavours blend masterfully. Most organic ice cream brands usually feature dark chocolate and cherry ice cream so finding that should be easy. Use regular cherries instead of the post nuclear style maraschinos. A few crushed cherries or strawberries will make the ice cream pinker.

Vegan Spumoni fans will need to double the freezing times. You should ideally use Pangea vegan heavy cream or any preferred vegan whip cream and coconut bliss ice creams by Larry and Luna in flavours: Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Island (add RUM!) and Cherry Amaretto for the ice cream.
For Pistachio, either flavour/colour a vanilla vegan ice cream with pistachio flavouring, avocado and pistachios nuts or make your own:

Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons shelled pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons corn syrup (could use another liquid sweetner?)
1 cup Silk Creamer
1/2 cup sugar (could use Sucanat)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Pangea vegan heavy cream

Place 1/2 cup pistachio nuts in blender with the corn syrup. Blend until smooth.
Dissolve sugar in the creamer. Add to blender and blend until smooth. Stir in almond extract, vanilla extract, salt and vegan heavy cream. Refrigerate until cold.
Stir the chilled cream, then freeze in your ice cream maker as directed. When the ice cream is almost frozen, add the 2 tbsp of pistachio nuts and allow the machine to mix them in.


(Above recipe from Courtney http://www.vegsource.com/talk/recipes/messages/73317.html)