Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted in my most recent poll. I have a hope that I will be able to keep anyone awesome enough to read about my food adventures, interested and entertained for a very long time. In order to do that, I like to get your input every once in awhile. But honestly, I was pretty surprised by the results. I thought breakfast would be the winner, being that I don’t have a single post dedicated to the most important meal of the day. Much to my surprise, it came in dead last, by a lot. Nevertheless, I was pretty delighted that I had to come up with a sweet treat. It didn’t take long for me to decide to make ice cream. I love ice cream, and would eat it every single day of summer if I could, and ever since getting an ice cream maker as a wedding gift, almost three years ago, I have truly enjoyed experimenting with homemade creations. I’ve made vanilla, almond chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, sweet cream, lemon ginger, and even cranberry sorbet. I love it…it’s just fun! So, inspired by my poll and the memory of some unbelievably sweet and juicy local peaches I set out to reinvent a classic summertime favorite…peach ice cream.
Ingredients
White Peaches (yellow are fine, too but the flavor is slightly different)
Honey ( mine came from Long Branch, NJ)
Heavy Cream
Milk
Eggs (Vineland, NJ…yay for Jersey Fresh!)
Sugar
Process
First, I want to remind you that if you are using an electric ice cream maker, you need to freeze the bowl at least 24 hours in advance. Now, of course you’ll want to peel your peaches (4-5 small to medium peaches).
This can be a trying and wasteful task, but if you drop the peaches in boiling water for a couple of minutes the skin will come right off. So, grab a pot fill it with hot water and bring it to a rolling boil.
Gently drop each peach into the water and return to a boil.
While the peaches boil, gather the rest of your ingredients.
After about a minute or two (the skin will lose some of its vibrancy), drain the peaches into a colander.
Run some cold water over the peaches to cool them off before you handle them.
Then, with a pairing knife or just your hands (in the end, I ended up using my hands, it’s considerably easier), rub off the skin.
Repeat the process until all of the peaches are skin-free.
Next, cut the flesh off of each peach. I did this by scoring a grid pattern into them with my knife.
Then, scrape the segments back into the colander ( I recommend you place a couple paper towels under the bowl so the juices don’t run all over your counter).
Pour the cut peaches into your blender.
Pulse on high until the peaches are about the texture of a smoothie.
Pour into a bowl and place in the refrigerator. Now you are over the hump. This may seem like a long process, but it really only takes minutes. Next, you are going to make the ice cream base. For this recipe, I used a sweet cream custard base, you could use vanilla, but I didn’t want it to overpower the main flavors of peach and honey. Start by cracking two eggs into a bowl.
With a whisk and some elbow grease, beat the eggs until they are frothy and lighter in color.
Now whisk in a little less than half a cup of sugar.
Next add a little less than half a cup of honey (you want about 3/4 cup of sweeteners total, but taste it and see how you like it).
Whisk well to incorporate the honey.
Add one and a half cups of heavy cream.
Now, add one and a half cups of milk.
Stir until everything is well blended and homogenous. Assemble your ice cream maker, plug it in and add the base to the bowl.
Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions, when the base is semi-frozen, add the pureed peaches to the bowl and continue to freeze for about five more minutes.
Yours may be a little firmer than this, before putting it in the freezer depending on your ice cream maker. Mine usually takes about 25-30 minutes to reach this texture at which point I cover it and pop it in the freezer for about an hour or two before serving.
Please take a moment to relish in the sweet deliciousness of fresh summer peaches, local honey, and cream…ENJOY, with a cherry on top!
Mmm this looks great!!!