Homemade Turkish Ice Cream Dondurma is perfectly thick and stretchy as it traditionally has to be. It is made with milk, sugar and salep. With its unique flavor and consistency, it is not like other ice creams you have tasted.
If you have always wanted to make traditional Turkish ice cream, this in-depth recipe is for you! It only requires three ingredients that all create the unique chewy, hard, and incredibly elastic texture.
And the creamy flavor is out of this world! This is a must-try ice cream that can be served in cones, on a plate, or with other desserts!
What Is Different About Turkish Ice Cream?
To Turkey, ice cream is one of its proudest dessert creations. This ice cream has actually reached world renowned status for its unique stretchy texture and creamy flavor!
It is also commonly called Maras ice cream, which refers to the region this ice cream originates from. The two main things that makes it incredibly unique from others is that it contains salep and that it is hand churned.
Salep is a powder that comes from the roots of orchids. This powder helps give the ice cream its consistency.
If you have ever tasted salep drink, you know how creamy and delicious it tastes. So dondurma made with salep is like the frozen version of this amazing drink.
Furthermore, the hand churning process, while time consuming and labor intensive, also helps develop an uber creamy and thick texture. So this recipe doesn’t require an ice-cream machine.
You can of course use an ice cream maker if you have one, but it is said that dondurma tastes better when it is hand churned.
Dondurma (Turkish Ice Cream)
Description
Turkish ice cream has a chewy and stretchy texture with a natural aromatic flavor coming from salep powder. No ice cream maker is needed for this recipe!
Ingredients
Instructions
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Combine milk, sugar and salep powder in a large saucepan. Whisk well with a hand whisk.
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Put it over medium heat and cook it until sugar dissolves, stirring continuously.
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Reduce the heat to the lowest and keep cooking until it gets thicker in consistency. This might take 15-20 minutes.
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Transfer it into a freezer-safe container. Let it cool completely.
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Cover it with plastic wrap and put it into the freezer.
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Remove it from the freezer after 30 minutes and mix with a fork for 2-3 minutes. Make sure to fold in the icy bits on the edges of the container. Put it back into the freezer.
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Repeat this 5 or 6 times every 30 minutes. You will see how it gets stretchy in the end and it will get really hard to mix. This shows that your ice cream is almost ready.
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Keep it in the freezer until serving time, at least for 5 hours.
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Take it out 15 minutes before serving. Then you can easily scoop it and serve on the scone or on your desserts.
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Nutrition Facts
Servings 6
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 218kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 1.3g2%
- Cholesterol 3.3mg2%
- Sodium 100.1mg5%
- Total Carbohydrate 46.2g16%
- Sugars 43.2g
- Protein 6.1g13%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Note
- Making it in an ice cream maker: After step 5, take it out of the freezer and freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Take it into an airtight container and freeze for at least 5 hours.
- If you can’t find authentic salep powder: It might be hard to find the genuine salep powder outside Turkey. Then you can buy salep mixture powder in sachets or packages at online markets like Amazon. Use one sachet (17g) for this recipe.
- Make sure to mix it well each time you take it out of the freezer if you are not using an ice cream maker.
- You can add a gum mastic flavor if you want. To do this: Freeze mustic beads(3g) for 10-15 minutes and then grind them well. Add in the ground mastic after the sugar dissolves in the heating milk.
