I love peaches, when they're ripe and juicy, but it's really hard to get that fresh-peach flavor into ice cream. If you add too much peach pulp to an ice cream base, it doesn't have enough fat, so it gets icy. If you cook the peaches, they taste cooked. Which isn't terrible, but it's a different sort of flavor.But even cooked peaches don't add quite enough peach flavor to an ice cream base.
So, to get enough flavor, I added peaches three different ways - raw peach puree, cooked peaches, and a dash of peach flavoring.
This still isn't like biting into a fresh peach, because you only get that from a fresh peach. But this is a bright, fruity, rich, and peachy ice cream.
Welcome to Ice Cream Week 2014!
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| You could win these! |
Today is the last day that all these great bloggers will be posting ice cream recipes. Woah, there have been a whole lot of them!
Have you been inspired to made ice cream this week? Have you thought about it at all? Stocked up on ingredients?
This year Ice Cream Week is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen.
We have teamed up with 25 amazing bloggers to bring you ice cream treats all week long. I hope you have as much fun as we did. Break out those stretchy pants and celebrate Ice Cream Week with us.
Our sponsors for the event have provided us with some great prizes.
A huge thanks to Cake Boss, Anolon, Microplane, WÜSTHOF, Page Street Publishing and Quarry Spoon.
Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen have tossed in a bonus prize of a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
because they think everyone should own one!Be sure to swing by all of today's Ice Cream Week Participants:
- Baked Alaska by Cravings of a Lunatic
- Coffee and Donut Sundae by The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
- Pinot Noir Ice Cream by The Redhead Baker
- Triple Peach Ice Cream by Cookistry
- Root Beer Float by My Catholic Kitchen
- Ice Cream Shots by The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch
- Ice Cream Sundae with Homemade Hot Fudge by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
- Key Lime Pie Milkshake by Love and Confections
- Caramel Toffee Apple Parfaits by Farm Fresh Feasts
- Orange Creamsicle Float by Noshing with the Nolands
- Gluten Free Ice Cream Sandwiches by Gluten Free Crumbley
- Toasted Almond and Cherry Ice Cream by The Messy Baker
- Gluten Free Toasted Marshmallow Brownie Batter Ice Cream by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
- Coconut Ice Cream Snowballs by Mother Would Know
- No Churn Low Carb Zesty Citrus Ice Cream by Yours and Mine are Ours
We would like to thank you all our readers for joining in the indulgence this week. Ice cream is always best eaten with friends.
Kim and Susan would like to thank all the participants and sponsors for joining in the fun. It's take a village to make this much ice cream!
See you all next year for Ice Cream Week 2015. Be sure to stay tuned for news about Cookie Week in November and Christmas Week in December. Susan and Kim are always up for fun and food. Chow!
Peach Ice Cream
3 large peaches (divided use)2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
Milk (as needed, about 1/4 cup)
1/8 teaspoon peach flavoring
* (optional)2 tablespoons flavored** vodka
Peel the first peach, remove the pit, and cut into chunks. Place in a saucepan with about 1/2 cup of water. The water is there just to get the cooking started, so measuring doesn't need to be exact.
Cook on medium heat until the peach softens, then smash and mash the chunks until they're completely disintegrated.
Or, do it the easy way and use a stick blender, and blend until smooth.
Continue cooking, stirring as needed, until the puree is thicker than applesauce, but not quite jam. Turn off the heat.
Peel and pit the other two peaches and blend until smooth. Set aside. Pour into a measuring cup and add milk to reach 1 1/2 cups. I needed about 1/4 cup. You might need more or less, depending on how large your large peaches were.
Meanwhile, in another saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk to combine (the cornstarch will only blend into cold liquid, so don't turn the heat on and then start to stir. You will be sad.Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Add the cooked peach puree and stir well.
Add the blended (uncooked) puree along with the peach flavoring and the vodka. Stir well, then pass this mixture through a find strainer into a storage container. The reason we're doing this is that any larger bits of peach in the mix are likely to become icy in the ice cream, and that's not so great. It's fine to press the mixture through the strainer to get as much as possible.
Chill this mixture thoroughly, then churn in your ice cream maker
according to the manufacturer's instructions.I think this is particularly nice served with some peach slices. But maybe that's just because I'm so peachy.
*I'm referring here to the super-concentrated flavorings. If you have a peach flavoring that's the strength of vanilla extract, you can add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.
**Plain vodka is fine, but it's nice to add a little extra flavor, like whipped cream, cake-flavored, or a compatible fruit flavor. The alcohol in the vodka keeps the mixture from freezing quite as firmly, so there's less chance of encountering icy bits of peach in the smooth ice cream.
