Gelato makin'

For Christmas I got this wonderful new kitchen gadget. I have a very nice sister. It almost eliminates the need to leave the house ever. It was an ice cream maker. For us, that means one thing: Gelato!!! We LOVE gelato. It is better than ice cream in so many ways, and now, we can make up our own flavors. Since the gelato maker came to live at my house we have put together some pretty yummy combos. We started with nutella gelato, of course, I mean who doesn't love nutella everything? Being that we didn't plan ahead, we did not have enough nutella...new plan: nutella and peanut butter gelato! It was tasty, but the natural self-ground peanut butter we use left a bit too much texture. Next, we tried chocolate, of course. In my quest to make it dark and rich, I might have over done it. It was really rich and almost too chocolaty. Next, nutella again, this time I bought the big jug of nutella (so what if there is some left over, I spoonful of nutella in the morning never hurt anyone).
My dream flavor, since we got the machine was fig and orange. Well, dreams do come true!

All of the other gelato attempt came from recipes online (thank you Giada). Surprisingly enough, there is no recipe out there for fig (from preserves) and orange gelato! Necessity is the mother of invention! With the lovely gelato machine also came a book of recipes. I took a very basic recipe and bent it to my whims, worrying the whole time that it would mean major destruction. It worked out beautifully and I think this has been my favorite flavor yet!

Fig and Orange Gelato
Adapted from Stracciatella in Gelato! by Pamela Sheldon Johns

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk (it calls for whole milk but I use either 1% or fat free lactose free organic milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 jar fig preserves
juice and zest from 1/2 cara cara orange

In saucepan combine milk, cream and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. When bubbles begin to form around edge of pan remove from heat and whisk in fig, orange juice and zest. Let stand for 30 minutes. Cover and refridgerate at least 2 hours (or until you can't stand it anymore and it feels basically coolish to the touch). Stick in ice cream maker and follow manufacture's instructions. Makes about 1 quart.