plum ice cream

I love fruit in general, and plums are no exception.  They are sweet and tart, and a very convenient tiny size.  However, I can really only make so many plum tarts and pies before I get REALLY bored, and I have a ton of plums right now, thanks Jenna!  Have I mentioned before how awesome it is to have generous relatives with fruit trees?  Anyway, I was searching for new plum recipe ideas on Pinterest (of course!) and I saw plum ice cream.  None of the recipes were exactly what I wanted, so I made up my own.  I'm so glad I did!  It turned out great.  Sweet, tart, a beautiful consistency, and the most gorgeous color pink I've ever seen.

I just LOVE this color!  No food coloring necessary.  Puree all the ingredients and refrigerate for 2 hours. THen just churn in an ice cream maker, and freze.  Soo easy!

I love the consistency of this ice cream.  Some ice creams have to sit on the counter for 5 minutes before they are soft enough to scoop, and some ice creams are so soft they they are practically liquid.  This ice cream is a perfect medium.  Soft enough to serve immediately out of the freezer, but holds it shape post scooping for plenty of time before melting.

plum ice cream
makes 1 1/2 quarts

ingredients:

• 2 cups of plum puree
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup strawberry yogurt
• 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

directions:

1. Puree all the ingredients together in the blender.  
2. Refrigerate the puree for 2 hours.
3. Churn in an ice cream maker according to its directions.  Mine needed 25 minutes and perfectly filled the 1 1/2 quart capacity.
4. Scoop ice cream out into a freezer safe container with an air tight lid.  Freeze at least 1 hour.

note: I pureed lots of plums by themselves.  I poured out the excess after the needed 2 cups and froze for smoothies later.  I then added in the rest of the ice cream ingredients and pureed.

peach frozen yogurt

I love the quick easy fix for dessert.  Who doesn't? Especially when its pretty darn guilt free.  Even better, its ready in less than 30 minutes.

All you need for this frozen yogurt is a tub of vanilla Greek yogurt and a 1 pound bag of frozen peaches.  I tend to keep extras of both in stock, so I can make this any time.  Woohoo!

Stick the whole tub worth of yogurt and the whole bag of peaches into the blender and puree.  If you want to set aside several peach slices to dice and mix in later, that's fine, but I prefer my frozen yogurt smooth.

I like my frozen yogurt a bit sweet, with the tangy tartness of barely sweetened yogurt, but if you're not used to that, or you want to splurge a little go ahead and add a tablespoon of sugar now.

Pour the mixture into a prepped ice cream maker.  My model can hold up to a quart and a half, and this makes that exactly.

I only needed to churn the frozen yogurt for 15 minutes until it was crazy thick.  At that point you could eat or freeze for later.

Freeze in a freezer safe container with a tightly fitting lid.  I like to freeze my yogurt for about an hour after churning so its really thick.  If you wait until the next day or so to eat set the frozen yogurt container on the container for several minutes before scooping.  It will be pretty hard.

This yogurt is great for kids because its a great sweet frozen treat for hot weather and isn't full of extra sugar.

My goal is to try every fruit flavor I can think of by the end of the summer.  I'm thinking maybe cherry or raspberry next... yum!

Peach Frozen Yogurt
makes 1 1/2 quarts
20 minutes total time

Ingredients:

• 1 tub of vanilla Greek yogurt (preferably non-fat)
• 1 pound bag frozen peaches
• 1 tbsp sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Empty the full containers of yogurt and peaches (and sugar) into a blender and puree.
2. Pour mixture into a prepped ice cream maker and churn 15 minutes.
3. Eat directly or scoop into a freezer safe container with a tight lid.

classic strawberry ice cream

I LOVE ice cream.  I really love ice cream when I can make whatever flavor I want (can you say mint gummy bear?) whenever I want.  I love it even more when its free of unnecessary chemicals and preservatives and still tastes yummy.

This strawberry ice cream totally fits the bill.  Plus, who doesn't love being able to tell people they made ice cream (custard base and all) from scratch?  It makes it sound like you're a kitchen whiz, but really, its SO easy!

I love this ice cream recipe because its a great simple base with pureed strawberries added.  You could change the mix-in(s) to make so many different flavors.  Next time I'm adding melted chocolate.  I can't wait!

This recipe does use lots of egg yolks.  It's really the only reason I don't make ice cream more often.  I run out of eggs really fast around here, and sometimes I just don't have enough.  This time it was perfect though.  I had just made about a million sugar cookies for Liam's birthday and my royal icing uses egg whites instead of meringue powder.  I saved the yolks to make ice cream!  Other ways to utilize the whole egg include using the whites for omelets, baking, etc.

Begin by pouring 2 cups each of whipping cream and milk (I used 2%), and 1 cup of granulated sugar into a medium sized saucepan on medium heat.  Stir gently and allow to simmer.

Meanwhile, puree the washed and stemmed strawberries with 1/2 cup of sugar.  My ice cream was a nice light strawberry flavor, but if you want to kick up the strawberry part more, add an extra cup of them.

Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together in a small bowl.

Once the yolks are smooth and the milk mixture has simmered, ladle a cup of the milk mixture slowly into the yolk mixture, whisking well.

Pour the yolk bowl contents slowly into the milk mixture and whisk well.  Continue to simmer about 5 more minutes, until thickened slightly.

Remove from heat and stir in the strawberry puree.

Pour the mixture into a preferably glass bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly over top to prevent it from getting a skin.  Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Pour mixture into a prepped ice cream maker and churn according to instructions.  I churned mine for 25 minutes.  My machine says not to add more than 1 1/2 quarts of liquid into the machine, which is exactly how much this recipe makes.

My machine is crazy loud, so I like to stick it in a far corner of my kitchen and place a large dish towel over top.  Anything to drown it out!

Scoop the ice cream out of the machine and into a large freezer safe container with an airtight lid.  Go ahead and eat it now if you want, but I like my ice cream very firm, so I freeze it at least one hour before eating.

Ice cream doesn't last long in this house, even if we only take tiny portions!

There's nothing like fresh fruity creamy ice cream on a nice warm day!

I love that this recipe is so simple, and only uses a short ingredient list.  Its also the creamiest ice cream I can remember eating for a long time.  I think I need to go make some more.  Bye!

classic Strawberry ice cream
makes 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients:
4 cups strawberries, washed and stemmed
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 egg yolks

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine the whipping cream, milk, and 1 cup of sugar.  Bring to simmer.  Meanwhile, use a blender to puree the strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar.
2. Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.  
3. Once the milk mixture has simmered, ladle a cup of it slowly into the egg yolks and whisk smooth.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk to incorporate fully.  Simmer for several minutes until the mixture just begins to thicken.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the strawberry puree.
6. Pour the liquid into a large bowl (preferably glass) and cover directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.  Cool completely.
7. Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream machine and mix according to instructions.  (I used my ice cream machine for 25 minutes).  Scoop out of ice cream machine and into a seal-able freezer safe container with an airtight lid.  

Note: Ice cream can be consumed directly after churned in the ice cream machine, but I like mine a bit thicker.  I allow mine to sit in the freezer at least one hour after being churned.

If you eat your ice cream directly after being churned this recipe take 2-3 hours to finish, depending on how long your ice cream take to cool completely before adding to your machine.