Hazelnut ice cream recipe inspired by the famous chocolate-hazelnut tradition of Turin. Made with real hazelnuts using the Master Ice Cream Recipe for a smooth, creamy texture.
This hazelnut ice cream recipe creates a rich, creamy dessert with the deep roasted flavor of real hazelnuts. Hazelnuts bring a warm, nutty sweetness and a naturally buttery texture that makes this ice cream especially luxurious. The flavor is both comforting and sophisticated, with the gentle toastiness of the nuts balanced by a smooth custard base that highlights their natural aroma.
My appreciation for ingredients like hazelnuts also comes from my agricultural background. As a research assistant to the California Farm Advisor for nut crops, I spent learned about how nuts are grown, harvested, and used in food production, later working as a farm advisor. That experience gave me a deep respect for the complexity of nut crops, the remarkable flavor they bring to desserts and how important they are in sustainable agriculture.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from travel to Turin, Italy, a city famous for its long tradition of hazelnut confections. In Turin’s historic cafés, the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts appears everywhere, most famously in the beloved gianduiotto, a smooth chocolate-hazelnut confection created in the nineteenth century. Sitting in a café with a cup of espresso and a gianduiotto is a reminder of how extraordinary the flavor of real hazelnuts can be when treated with care.
Like many of the ice cream variations on this site, this recipe builds on the Master Ice Cream Recipe, a reliable foundation that makes it easy to create many different flavors with consistent results. By starting with that master technique and adding freshly roasted hazelnuts, the result is a smooth, deeply flavored ice cream that captures the elegance of the hazelnut traditions of northern Italy.
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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of contents
What it is
The best hazelnut ice cream recipe inspired by gianduiotto caffè, the Italian chocolate hazelnut flavored dessert we had in Turin, Italy
Gianduiotto caffè is a premium Italian chocolate and hazelnut flavored, ingot-shaped gianduiotto from Turin. It blends creamy Piedmont hazelnut paste, cocoa, and cocoa butter with coffee powder or espresso.
Ingredients
The key is to use the best possible ingredients. We made the ice cream using our master ice cream recipe, and selected all the best ingredients.
Hazelnuts
Hazelnuts have a naturally rich, buttery flavor that makes them one of the most prized nuts in pastry and confectionery. When roasted, they develop warm notes of caramel and toasted bread that deepen their flavor and aroma. These qualities make hazelnuts especially well suited to ice cream, where their natural oils create a smooth texture while their flavor remains bold and distinctive.
In this case, it wasn’t a brand so much as the region that mattered – the hazelnuts from Piedmont were definitely different. We used hazelnuts from Piedmont for this ice cream, but there are lots of sources for hazelnuts grown in the United States.
Hazelnut Chocolate Nut Butter
Instead of grinding and steeping nuts for the ice cream base, which is the start of most gelato recipes, we used a hazelnut paste. We have a producer at our local farmer’s market who makes an excellent hazelnut chocolate nut butter, but this kind of spread is readily available in most stores.
Coffee Powder
Starbucks VIA Instant Italian Roast Coffee Packets – one packet contains 3.3 grams of instant micro-ground coffee. We tried lots of different ways of adding coffee flavor, from espresso powder to making our own cup of espresso. This tasted the best and was also the easiest. We used the Italian Roast for this recipe.
Cream
Horizon Organics Cream is a high quality product – Organic and produced sustainably from pasture raised cows. It has a rich, sweet, and fresh dairy flavor.
Sugar
Wholesome Regenerative Organic Certified Cane Sugar – produced from organic sugar cane fields that are green cut and are not burned or treated with herbicides or synthetic fertilizers.
Vanilla
Heilala Vanilla – Ethically sourced and harvested, produced using environmentally sustainably methods.
Crème Fraîche
We use crème fraîche in the recipe to keep the ice cream from freezing solid. And to make sure it’s the best, we made it ourselves from Horizon cream and a real crème fraîche starter. It’s actually very easy. See the link to our recipe below.
No Affiliates Statement
We call this our “no affiliates” statement because we accept no advertising, have no affiliates and accept no payment. We are not paid to mention brands – we just love buying the best, sharing that information and saving the planet at the same time. The effort put into writing and photographing the blog is solely based on our dedication to the cause.
Sustainability
True to The Master Pantry philosophy, every ingredient in this recipe is chosen with intention—favoring quality, seasonality, and sustainable production practices whenever possible.
With a background in agriculture and years of experience working alongside farmers, regulators, and researchers, I’ve seen firsthand how the way our food is grown affects not only flavor, but soil health, ecosystems, and long-term food security.
This recipe reflects that understanding. Above, you will notice that the description of each ingredient includes some mention of how it is sustainable and why it matters—so you can cook with both confidence and care.
Method for making the Homemade Ice Cream
This recipe uses an easy, foolproof method that requires only a few minutes of active time. Check out our Master Ice Cream Method for a more detailed explanation on how this works.
- Measure the ingredients by weight
- Simmer the syrup mixture while whipping the sugar and egg mixture
- Slowly add the syrup mixture to the egg mixture, then add the rest of the ingredients
- Chill the mixture
- Freeze in an Ice Cream Maker
- Chill in the Freezer
This recipe uses our Master Ice Cream Method. An easy, foolproof, updated way of making ice cream.
Why this Works
The cream and syrup are heated while the egg and sugar are whipped. Then the cream mixture is added to the egg mixture, which brings the egg to a high enough temperature that it is safe to use in ice cream without having to temper the mixture, which can be more difficult to do. The flavors are added afterward so they are not cooked, which might reduce the flavor.
The highest quality ingredients are used, and flavor is added at every opportunity – Horizon cream, Wholesome sugar, hazelnuts, hazelnut liqueur and hazelnut paste.
This recipe is made with ingredients that help keep the ice crystals small while the ice cream is churning and afterwards while it is hardening. This keeps it smooth and creamy. The ingredients that are key to keeping the ice crystals small are:
- Cultured cream – the beneficial bacterial culture in Crème fraîche
- egg – the fat and protein in the egg, and cooking the egg denatures the protein
- invert sugar – the concentration of sugar in relation to water lowers the freezing point
- alcohol – the alcohol lowers the freezing point
Gianduiotto in Turin Italy
Northern Italy is famous for its hazelnuts, particularly those grown in the Piedmont region near Turin. These hazelnuts are celebrated for their intense aroma and balanced sweetness, which is why they appear in many classic Italian desserts. When blended into an ice cream base using the Master Ice Cream Recipe, roasted hazelnuts create a dessert that is both creamy and deeply flavorful, highlighting the character of the nuts themselves.
In Turin, we had a dessert called gianduiotto caffe – a chocolate hazelnut mousse covered with a chocolate shell and made in the shape of a gold ingot. It was created to imitate the hazelnut chocolate Gianduiotto, a chocolate candy that is shaped like a gold ingot and wrapped in gold foil, which is a classic from this area.
Italy is delightful in the fall. The air is cool. The leaves are changing color. Most of the tourists have gone home. Some of the vendors were roasting nuts over open fires. Mostly chestnuts and hazelnuts that are grown in the Piedmont. The hazelnuts are popular in desserts in Italy, especially in Gelato. And the hazelnuts from this area are said to be the best.
RECIPE
Equipment
CHOOSING BRANDS:
For certain products, the choice of brand will make a big difference in the outcome of the recipe and in your carbon footprint. So, for those products, we have listed the brand. We are not paid to mention a brand and have no affiliates.
Ingredients
- 450 grams Horizon cream
- 300 grams Hazelnut paste
- 85 grams corn syrup
- 1 egg
- 80 grams organic sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 50 grams Crème fraîche homemade from Horizon cream
- 1 packet Starbucks Via Instant Italian Roast Coffee
- 2 Tablespoon Hazelnut liqueur Like Frangelico, or one Tablespoon vodka
Instructions
PREPARE THE STORAGE CONTAINER
- Put a glass storage container in the freezer.
MEASURE THE INGREDIENTS – Use a scale to measure the ingredients, zeroing the scale between measurements.
- Into a small saucepan, measure the cream, hazelnut paste and corn syrup.
- Into the mixing bowl of the stand mixer, measure the egg, sugar and salt.
- Into a small bowl, measure the crème fraîche, coffee powder and liqueur.
MIX THE INGREDIENTS
- In the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together the egg, sugar and salt for at least 2 minutes on medium speed.
- While the stand mixer is whisking the egg and sugar, put the saucepan on the stove and bring the cream, hazelnut paste and corn syrup to a simmer and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring to combine.
- Switch the mixer to low speed and very slowly add the cream mixture.
- Continue whisking on low and add the crème fraîche and liqueur mixture. Whisk just until combined. The mixture should be 160 degrees F or more at this point.
- Refrigerate overnight, or you can use an ice bath to bring it down to 45° F, if you are in a hurry. Refrigerating overnight will improve the flavors.
FREEZE THE MIXTURE
- Pre-chill the ice cream maker by letting it run for 5 minutes before adding the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and freeze it according to the directions.
- When the ice cream maker is finished, quickly transfer the ice cream into the glass container that has been in the freezer, cover, and put it back in the freezer over night to harden.
- Store in the freezer for up to a week.
Nutrition
WHY THIS RECIPE IS A GAME CHANGER:
This recipe is a total game-changer — crafted with the finest [brand name] ingredients, simplified using a master recipe with pro-tested techniques from top chefs and bakers, and designed for deliciously sustainable cooking made easy.”
The Master Ice Cream Method can be Used for All Kinds of Flavors
These recipes use our Master Ice Cream Method. An easy, foolproof, updated way of making ice cream.
True to The Master Pantry philosophy, this recipe combines the best seasonal ingredients and quality brands with homemade methods to maximize both flavor and sustainability. It was inspired by our travels and works well as a holiday recipe.
Photos by Tony Fitzgerald Photography
Recipes created by Lisa LeCoump — Food Photographer, Agricultural Expert, and Home Baker. Sharing master recipes, chef secrets, and sustainable baking for every kitchen. Featured on various publications.