Pecan Biscochito Ice Cream Recipe | Heating it Up

I served participants in my food writing workshops at the Santa Fe Literary Festival a couple of New Mexico’s best-loved desserts, biscochitos and creamy natillas custard. The next day, I interviewed the founder of Legacy Pecans in Las Cruces, Heather Salopek.

I started musing about a mash-up of those flavors. That reminded me of a custardy ice cream with mix-ins of our state cookie and the Southern New Mexican pecan crop that I had written about a decade ago. The recipe had been created by another Las Cruces resident, Pat Felhauer. I’m using her idea as inspiration for a simple but sublime ice cream upgrade. It’ll be memorable for a Memorial Day party or just scarfing down while binging episodes of your fave TV show.

A NON-RECIPE RECIPE

Pecan Biscochito Ice Cream, no ice cream machine required.

Go get a pint of some good quality vanilla ice cream, like that made by La Lecheria in Santa Fe. You can buy it retail at Kaune’s Neighborhood Market or pick it up at the company store on Marcy Street. Be sure to watch for the imminent opening of the new Railyard La Lecheria! It’s just days away.

Pick up some biscochitos, our state cookie, at the store while you’re out (or make some with our recipe here). I was lucky enough to have leftover homemade cookies from my writing class, made by the Santa Fe School of Cooking’s whiz-bang baker, Molly Mix. You want about ½ cup of broken biscochitos. Keep some of them in about ½-inch chunks. Others can crumble into smaller bits.

Let the ice cream sit at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes, until somewhat softened, and spoon it into a bowl. Save the ice cream carton. Mix in the cookie pieces as well as about ½ cup toasted pecans, or more to taste. Pack the mixture back into the carton. If it doesn’t all fit — well — cook’s treat! When firm, spoon out and enjoy. If you have any more biscochitos, serve them on the side.

Enjoy all summer long!

Story and photographs by Cheryl Alters Jamison.

Four-time James Beard Foundation Book Award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison is the host of Heating It Up on KTRC and is now the “queen of culinary content” for SantaFe.com. Find new stories about the Santa Fe food scene each week on SantaFe.com.