Oh happy day! Peaches are in season in Utah.
I just picked up a bushel of Lemon Elberta peaches (my personal favorite) and I have eaten almost half. I have been averaging 5 peaches a day. No kidding. After my morning run, I walk in the house then into the kitchen and cook my rolled oats. I top the oatmeal with two peaches, sliced, sprinkle on a little sugar, pour skim milk all over the top then I “ahhh” with each spoonful.
I seriously LOVE peaches.
Many years ago I found a recipe for Peach Pit Ice Cream in a cookbook by Lee Bailey. The recipe is a winner. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I have a pile of peaches but you will only need 4-5 large ones. You will need whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks and lemon juice.
I like to begin by peeling and pitting the peaches. Save those pits.
This is actually more peaches than you will need for the ice cream. I just thought I’d peel a few extra for the cook. Set the peaches aside.
The original recipe reserved the peels along with the peach pits, but I’m just using the pits. Sometimes the peels gave the ice cream an off color, but you can through in the peels if you would like. It really intensifies the flavor. Set the peaches and the pits aside for a few minutes.
In a medium size saucepan add the milk,
and the heavy cream.
Toss in the reserve peach pits.
Heat the milk until it begins to steam, but not boil. Let the peach pits and milk steep for about 25 minutes.
Add the sugar.
Stir to dissolve the sugar.
Whisk the three egg yolks together.
Slowly add 1/2 cup of the heated milk mixture.
Continually whisking so the egg yolks don’t cook. You just want to warm the egg yolks up a bit.
Gradually pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture while stirring.
Without boiling cook the mixture until it begins to thicken and coats a wooden spoon.
Remove from the heat, and pour hot mixture into a bowl.
Pits and all.
Press a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap to the top of the custard. Refrigerate until cool. I like to refrigerate any ice cream custard over night.
Place the peach halves in a food processor or a blender.
Add lemon juice.
Pulse until they are are smooth as you would like them to be. I personally like my peaches a little on the chunky side.
You can puree your peaches until smooth. Can you see those chunks of peaches? They freeze while the ice cream in churning and I love the bit it gives the ice cream. (mouth is watering)
You should have about 2 1/4 cup of puree. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the top of the peaches and refrigerate overnight along with the custard.
It’s time to make the ice cream!!!!
Custard is now chilled and thickened.
Strain the custard.
Discard the pits.
Pour the chilled peaches into the custard.
Stir to blend.
Oh my gosh! It’s time to freeze the ice cream.
This recipe only makes 1 quart of ice cream, so I using my tabletop ice cream maker.
DO NOT forget to freeze the freezer bowl for at least 24 hours. It takes a good 24 hours to really chill the baby. If you don’t, you will risk the chance of your ice cream not fully freezing.
Freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
I’m not going to lie. I have been eating spoonfuls of ice cream out of the top since it began to chill.
Listen very carefully…Only let the ice cream churn for about 20 minutes. If you churn longer than that, the
ice inside the freezer bowl will begin to thaw. Your ice cream will begin to thaw as well. Do you understand?
Remove the ice cream from the freezer container.
Yes. I over filled my bowl just a bit. No big deal, more for me to eat.
I call this piece the “dasher” because I believe that is what it is called. Yes. I licked it clean. I will be completely disappointed if you don’t do the same.
Place the ice cream in a container that can go into the freezer.
Yes. I licked that drip off of my counter top.
The ice cream set very nicely. Place the ice cream in the freezer until ready to serve.
I personally like the ice cream at this stage. It’s like soft serve ice cream.
For the sake of calling this “healthy” I topped the ice cream with fresh peach slices.
Actually, I dumped the whole thing into a bigger bowl and sliced an entire peach on top. I put my feet up and ate the whole thing…every last drop…then licked the bowl clean.
Peach Pit Ice Cream
4 – 5 large ripe peaches, unblemished
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Peal and pit peaches, reserving peach pits. In a food processor or blender, puree peach flesh with the lemon juice. You should have about 2 1/4 cup of puree.
Place pits in a large sauce pan along with the cream and milk. Simmer, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes, being careful not to let the mixture boil. It may look slightly separated because of the acid in the fruit, but don’t worry. Stir in sugar to dissolve and remove from heat.Whisk yolks and add about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid to warm them. Mix well and pour warmed yolks into the hot mixture, stirring constantly. Return saucepan to the heat and cook until custard coats the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. again, be careful not to let mixture boil; boiling may cause custard to curdle.
Press a sheet of wax paper or cling wrap directly onto the surface of the mixture and allow to cool. When cool, strain and combine with the fruit pulp. Mix and chill.
Pour mixture into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Makes 1 quart
Adapted from Lee Bailey’s recipe for peach pit ice cream. Original recipe calls for simmering peach skins along with peach pits in hot milk.
This is possibly the best thing I have eaten so far this year.
Oh my gosh. If I've never regretted not having an ice cream maker before, I certainly am now! I love that the pits are used for this. And thanks for the tips about using the ice cream maker!
Thanks, Chelsea. You should put an ice cream maker on your Christmas list. I love mine.
You should have a cooking show on TV. You're better than Anna Olsen (if you heard of her).
lol…yes, I should have a cooking show! I have no idea who Anna Olsen is, but I'm sure going to find out. Thank you for boosting my ego.
I think this one of the first times I've left a comment on your blog but I just wanted to let you know that I think you're pretty cool. I totally agree with the comment that you should start a show, not only do you make DELICIOUSNESS you're funny too. And as a side note, I pretty much only use real butter for everything now, Thanks!
Ok…which Jessica is this? Because I'm loving you.
wow…my mouth is watering..this is totally a wow recipe..Thanks for the recipe dear..
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/
Check out Aarthi's blog. It's amazing. If you love Indian food or want to learn to love Indian food this is the place. I love it.
Oh thanks, Jessica, for following my blog. Bon Courage.
Hi Janet …. greetings from DownUnder! No – we're not slow – (noting the dates on the previous comments) – some things just don't get discovered immediately on the vastness of the net, but turn up when one goes searching.
I don't eat sugar, and corn syrup doesn't interest me either. I've been reading some of your recipes, and see that you use both in some. I however, don't.
Does the chemistry of your peach icecream – or any icecream for that matter – rely on a chemical reaction from the sugar, or could I use Stevia or Natvia or Xylitol. I've seen various other sweeteners mentioned in other writers' recipes, but have never seen the likes of ZSweet, Just Like Sugar or Organic Zero in Australia, and if any of those are chemically based, they too will get the wide pass.
I do have a small icecream maker and love full fat milk, cream, butter, yoghurt etc …. I eat a low carb diet, so some of your recipes I would need to 'fiddle' with using nut meals, tapioca, coconut flour, etc.
But, hey! I'm up for a challenge.
Would love to hear from you regarding the possible sugar substitute – we're right into Spring, and they're tipping another record-breaking hot Summer just around the corner.
Thanks.
They only sugar substitute I use is Evaporated Cane juice or raw organic honey. I'm sure either can be substituted into this ice cream. I have used Lyle's golden syrup on place of corn syrup and have had great success. I'm not big on Stevia or Xylitol. Stevia lends a bitterness in large amounts. My daughter cannot have grains, gluten, processed foods or sugars due to an auto immune disease. She can only have sugar and everything she eats has to be pretty much homemade. She has had really good success substituting sugar with honey even on the Swiss buttercream. She uses nut flours and coconut flour as much as her system will allow. There are great blogs out there geared with advice for substituting. I'm jealous of your upcoming summer. I'm enjoying a beautiful autumn but winter is just around the corner with record breaking low temps and snow 🙁 Let me know if I can help more.