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Nut Cream
1/4 lb. almonds blanched and minced. 1/4 lb. English walnuts. 1/2 lb. pecans. 1/2 wine glass of brandy or sherry. 1 quart double cream. 1 1/2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup milk.
Dissolve sugar in milk. When cool add the whipped cream, flavor with one teaspoon vanilla and fold in nuts. When it begins to freeze add sherry or brandy. Sherry and brandy can be left out if desired.
A still-frozen cream — no eggs, no custard, no churning required. The method is closer to a semifreddo than to modern ice cream, and it behaves accordingly.
- Double cream means heavy creamIn American books of this period "double cream" generally seems to distinguish rich whipping cream from thin table cream. Use 1 quart heavy cream; it must whip.
- Half a wine glassA wine glass in early-1900s measuring is about 2 fluid ounces, so half is 2 tablespoons. That is the right order of magnitude here — more alcohol and the mixture will not set firm.
- Dissolving the sugar1 1/2 cups sugar will not dissolve in 1/2 cup cold milk. Warm the two together just until clear, then chill completely before the cream goes in, or the whipped cream will collapse.
- Fold, do not stirThe whole structure depends on the air in the cream, since there is no churning and no custard base. Whip to soft-medium peaks and fold the nuts and vanilla in with a spatula.
- Add the spirit lateAlcohol depresses the freezing point, which is why Mrs. Wilson waits until the mixture has begun to set. Added at the start it slows freezing and gives a soft, weepy result.
- Toast the nutsA pound of nuts is a great deal, and untoasted they read as damp and bland once frozen. Toast at 350F for 8-10 minutes, cool, then chop; keep the pieces small or they freeze into hard shards.
- Freezing without a machineA still-frozen cream of this kind would have been set in a mold packed in ice and salt for several hours. A loaf pan covered with plastic in the freezer, 4-6 hours, does the same job — no stirring needed.
- YieldAbout 2 quarts, generous for 10-12. It is very rich; serve in small portions and let it stand 5 minutes before slicing.
Mary A. Wilson wrote for the Ladies' Home Journal in Philadelphia and built her reputation during the First World War food-conservation campaigns, which is why her books lean on economy and plain method even in the dessert chapters. A still-frozen cream like this one descends from the older family of "biscuits glacés", which were packed into molds and set in ice and salt rather than churned in a freezer. That suited a cook who had a mold but not a crank freezer, or did not want to hand-turn one at all. The optional sherry or brandy is worth noting: Wilson's tidy line that the spirits "can be left out if desired" may reflect nothing more than taste or a temperance preference, as such optional-spirit lines were long common.