Recipe 23: Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream

*Please excuse the delay in this recipe.  I have various people choose what recipe to do, and if they take too long, my posts are delayed.  I’ll continue to try to prevent this, but thank you for your patience.

This past week, my sister requested that I make her peach ice cream.  According to this handy season fruit chart, peach season had finally arrived, so I thought it would be a snap to find and make a peach ice cream recipe.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  Peaches are not quite prevalent in the local grocery stores and markets, and it turns out that people have a lot of different recipes for peach ice cream.  I also don’t know if I’ve ever actually had peach ice cream, so I couldn’t quite figure out which of the many recipes available were any good.

As a result of my ignorance and the somewhat sparse pickings, I’m afraid I didn’t choose a very good recipe.  I went with one from Scoop Adventures called Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream.  Evidently, creating a base with peach pits in it flavors the milk and heightens the flavor of the peach you add later.  Supposedly, it’s the most effective way of getting a peach flavored ice cream while reducing the amount of ice crystals in it.  Supposedly.

However, I thought that the milk and cream tasted slightly metallic, not slightly peach-y.  This might be because I didn’t reheat the milk afterwards, but it might also be because the peaches (and pits) simply weren’t ripe enough.  The butterfat content was also a bit too high (18.6%), and the peaches ended up getting too ripe after I made the peach swirl so I had to throw them away (I ended up using a peach-apricot preserve I got from the store instead.).  Ultimately, it was a mess.

Therefore, I’d really rather not write up the blog post because, even though the pictures look really nice, it’s not an especially tasty or enjoyable recipe.  If you’re interested in Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream, I recommend you click on the link above and check it out.  I would also recommend you wait another month before trying to cook something with peaches.  While it may technically be peach season, unless you live in a big peach state like Georgia or South Carolina, there may not be anything good in the stores.

However, I have every intention of trying to make another peach ice cream this summer.  A friend recommended that I try to make my own recipe, and I’ll probably do just that.  So if you check back here by August, you should be able to find a good recipe.  Sorry again for the delay and the disappointment.  :C

Recipe 13: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

March 16, 2015

            This is a great Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe.  It’s smooth and flavorful but doesn’t suffer from that weird over-extract taste that some vanilla bean ice creams do.  It is, as I can attest, wonderful with both pie and floats.  Perfect flavor, perfect texture – a perfect recipe.  You’re all in for a treat.

            The following recipe comes from Scoop Adventures, Lindsay Clendaniel’s ice cream web site that I referenced in the last blog post for Banana Pudding Ice Cream.  It is titled, appropriately enough, Best Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and can be found here.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 ¾ cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 8” vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (Madagascar vanilla)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 

Directions

1. In a small bowl, make a slurry by mixing 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch.  Set aside.
2. Combine the remaining milk with heavy cream, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a large saucepan.  Bring milk mixture to a boil.  Cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves – about 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened (draw a line on a spoon) – about 1 minute.  Carefully remove the vanilla bean.
4. Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into a medium bowl.  Whisk in the salt.  Let cool, stirring occasionally, until cold.  Cover and put in the fridge.  Chill overnight.
5. Once chilled, pour ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Pack the ice cream into a plastic container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

            This ice cream will go great with anything – pie, fruit crisps, cake, soda, anything – and could be easily mixed with different sauces and fruits.  As summer nears, I’m going to keep this one handy and I suggest you do too.  Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: overnight
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: creamy with a strong but not overpowering taste of vanilla – extremely good paired with pie and fruit
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium
• Makes: 4 cups (1 quart)