Saffron ice cream or “Bastani Sonnati” is a traditional Iranian ice cream made with saffron, rose water and pistachio. It’s sometimes sandwiched between two thin wafers, called “Bastani e Nooni” which means ice cream sandwich! But you can definitely enjoy it on its own.
This ice cream always brings back so many childhood memories and I think that’s one of the reasons I love it so much!
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Persian Saffron Ice Cream or Bastani Sonati
Saffron ice cream or "Bastani Sonnati" is a traditional Iranian ice cream made with saffron, rose water and pistachio. It's sometimes sandwiched between two thin wafers, called "Bastani e Nooni" which means ice cream sandwich! But you can definitely enjoy it on its own.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 cups whole milk
- 8 egg yolks - at room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp rose water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground saffron
- ½ cup unsalted pistachios - chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks for about a minute until lighter in color and set aside.
- Pour cream, milk, sugar, and saffron into a saucepan and heat it on medium, until the sugar is dissolved and it's almost simmering.
- Gradually add about half of the warm cream mixture to the egg yolks while you are whisking it. Do not add more than a little at a time or you may cook the eggs too fast and it will get clumpy.
- Whisk the mixture back into the saucepan. Place it on medium-low heat and keep stirring. Cook for about 10 minutes until it's thick and lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon, or measure the temperature with a kitchen thermometer, it should reach to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't let it boil or cook for too long or it'll get lumpy.
- Strain it to get rid of any cooked pieces of egg yolk. Add rose water and vanilla, mix. Let it cool down and then cover the top with plastic wrap (the plastic should be directly on top of the mixture to prevent forming a skin).
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight for the best results.
- If you have an ice cream maker, Just pour the ice cream base into the ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Before storing the ice cream, mix in the pistachios. Transfer the ice cream to your desired container and freeze for 4 hours. Decorate with more pistachios and some rose petals (optional)."Bastani" is often served sandwiched between two thin wafers. But you can definitely skip and serve it in a bowl. Here are the wafers I used.
- If you don't have an ice cream maker, Transfer the ice cream base that's been chilling in the fridge to the freezer. After about an hour or an hour and a half, it starts to freeze near the edges. Remove it from the freezer, and beat it for a few seconds with an electric mixer. You want to make sure that all the frozen parts are broken. Now it goes back to the freezer for around 30 minutes. Then you take it out, beat it, and freeze it again for 30 minutes (If your freezer is very cold, check on it after 20 minutes, you don't want it to freeze too much, as soon as the sides are frozen, take it out and mix.).Keep doing this about 6-7 times, you'll realize that after that, it gets thick and looks more like soft ice cream (It will take around 2-3 hours).At this stage, mix in the pistachios and transfer the ice cream to your desired container. Freeze 4 hours. Decorate with more pistachios and some rose petals (optional)."Bastani" is often served sandwiched between two thin wafers. But you can definitely skip and serve it in a bowl. Here are the wafers I used.
Video
Notes
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
7 comments
hello ms bahar – where do you get he thin wafers? can you share a recipe bc I looked all over the internet and not one recipe – thank you!
Hello! I bought these wafers from a local Middle Eastern store, they’re called “Oblatne wafer sheets”. Then I cut them into rectangles. Hope you can find them too!
https://www.instacart.com/landing?product_id=254399&retailer_id=60®ion_id=494744279&mrid=77097973
This is the exact brand I bought
Hi Bahar, how long can this keep in the freezer for? 🙂
Hi Dante, you can keep it in the freezer for up to two weeks! 🙂
What’s the ideal time to add the rose water and vanilla?
Hi Allan, you can add them after straining the mixture.