Peach Ice Cream

While I was in Hilton Head last weekend, my parents got all ambitious and decided to make homemade ice cream for the first time in a while.

Peaches are ridiculously tasty in this area right now, so it was perfect timing to use some in a cool refreshing dessert.

You do have to plan ahead with this recipe since the peaches need to macerate for a day or so, the ice cream mixture needs to chill, and you need to freeze your ice cream maker basin.  Even so, it's worth the effort!

Here's what you'll need.

For the peach portion:

1 lb fresh ripe peaches (approximately 4)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

For the ice cream portion:

3/4 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Blanch peaches, by cutting an X at the bottom and boiling them in water for 15 seconds.  Transfer them to an ice bath to stop cooking.  Peel off skins and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  Toss with lemon juice and sugar in large bowl.  Chill for eight hours.

Whisk together cornstarch, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in medium saucepan.  Add cream and milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Whisk egg and yolk and addwhisk in a bit of the cream mixture to temper, then add it to the saucepan and whisk together.

Stir mixture with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of the spooon, or registers at 170 on a thermometer.  Strain through a mesh sive into a metal bowl, then stir in the extracts.  Chill with parchment or plastic wrap over to prevent skin from forming, for at least 4 hours.

When you're ready to make the ice cream, transfer half the peaches into a blender and puree. 

Start your ice cream maker and pour in the ice cream mixture and then the puree. 

It came together pretty quickly.  I think it was about 15-20 minutes before it appeared to be done.  Once done, we put it in a container and mixed in the remainder of the peaches so that we'd have chunks of fresh peaches throughout.

We froze it for a couple hours and had some later after dinner.  The result was pure delicious creamy peachy ice cream :)

Have you ever made homemade ice cream?  When I first got my ice cream maker, I made chocolate peanut butter, cherry, and a couple other kinds, but it's been a long time since I've used mine!