🍨 Saffron Ice Cream
Saffron ice cream is a rich, golden frozen dessert made from milk, cream and sugar, flavoured with saffron and rosewater and studded with pistachios. It is dense and creamy with a floral aroma, and is served in scoops or between thin wafers. In Iran it is known as bastani sonnati, and it is a staple of dessert shops across the Gulf.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 ml whole milk
- 250 ml cream
- 150 g sugar
- 1 pinch saffron (about 0.3 g)
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 40 g pistachios, chopped
Method
- Grind the saffron and steep it in 2 tbsp hot milk for 10 minutes.
- Warm the rest of the milk with the sugar until dissolved, then cool.
- Stir in the cream, saffron milk and rosewater.
- Churn in an ice-cream machine until thick, or freeze and stir every 30 minutes for 3 hours.
- Fold in the pistachios and freeze until scoopable.
How to make it lighter
- Keep to one 100 g scoop and enjoy it slowly.
- Use part semi-skimmed milk instead of cream for a lighter mix.
- Sprinkle a few pistachios rather than a thick layer; nuts add calories fast.
History
Saffron and rosewater ice cream is strongly associated with Iran, where it is called bastani sonnati, meaning traditional ice cream; it is often linked to the confectioner Akbar Mashti in Tehran, though details vary. Today it is sold widely in Iran and the Gulf states.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →