Tuesday, June 16, 2009

TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

I was glad for and nervous about this week's recipe. Glad, because us making ice cream signals summer at my house. (Last year, we traded who got to pick that week's recipe) My canister has been in the basement freezer sad and lonely waiting for a call to duty. But I was a bit nervous because it's not quite peach season. I can find some California peaches around here that are pretty good, but I'd rather use a fruit that's really in season. And I'm not a big fan of honey. There are few, if any, recipes that I use that call for honey. Still, I was going to trust that Tommi of Brown Interior knew what she was doing when she chose this recipe. (Check out her blog for the recipe. Or go buy the book already!)

So there I am at the store the other day. I found some peaches. They smelled pretty peachy. I took it as a good sign and bought them. I left them on the counter for a few extra days to get a little more ripe. Dorie called for four peaches that equaled half a pound. It took me six peaches to get there.

This recipe called for peeled peaches to be cooked with the honey and then pureed. It actually called for half the peaches to be cooked and added to the base and half to be added when the ice cream was being churned. We are not fans of chunky fruit in ice cream in our house. Too icy. So I cooked it all. I think it was a good decision. It mellowed out the honey flavor so that it was an accent and not overpowering. I made the custard yesterday. My custard came together pretty fast; faster than I think it was supposed to, but I didn't notice any ill effects. I added all the peach puree and then put it in the fridge to ripen overnight. Side note -- if the taste of the custard is any indication, this is going to be good ice cream!

I made the ice cream today. This made a very generous 1 1/2 quarts. It looked like the ice cream was trying to push its way out of the canister. More for us!

This ice cream was a big hit. The peach flavor was just right. The honey was subtle and added a nice sweetness. I used my homemade vanilla (read - alcohol based), so the ice cream stayed a nice scooping consistency. I absolutely think this is a recipe I would use again. I can see this being made with other fruit purees as well.

I used the immersion blender to puree the fruit. It was a good choice because it left little bits of peaches. You can see the peachy flecks.

Ice cream for everyone!

I've chosen next week as my skip week. I'll try to make something fabulous from another cookbook. As if there is such a thing...

16 comments:

The Food Librarian said...

So glad you were able to find everything and made it. It looks perfect!!

Susan @ SGCC said...

Your ice cream looks so luscious! Well done!

Michele said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the ice cream!

Kayte said...

I have the same ice cream maker and I am finding that with Dorie and David Lebovitz, that I can only do half recipes at a time b/c it would overflow...and seeing yours, I am happy I figured that out! Your ice cream looks great, and I love those bowls (we have the blue one from when the boys were little and I loved that little handle to hold onto while I spooned food into them...LOL). I think you should reconsider on the chunks of fruit, so good! Regardless, yours looks wonderful! Don't want to make that dacquoise, huh? I'm a littler nervous myself about that one.

Teanna said...

I loved this recipe so much! Your ice cream looks so delicious!

Megan said...

I'm skipping next week too -

So, what are you making? :)

Anonymous said...

It looks great! What a nice way to kick off ice cream season.

Amber Marie said...

The more ice cream the better! Glad you enjoyed.

Cakelaw said...

Your iecream looks great, and I like your colourful serving bowls.

Katrina said...

Glad you liked it so much. Looks great. I probably should have tried it with peaches in the ice cream. Oh well, my honey almond ice cream on peach crisp was still good.

Leslie said...

So beautiful! We loved this ice cream!

TeaLady said...

That looks so yummy!! I liked the pureed fruit more than the pieces.
Mine overflowed a little, but that was okay with us.

Flourchild said...

Yum it looks cool and refreshing! Nice job!!

Unknown said...

Your ice cream looks perfect! I love those little bowls too!

Erin said...

What a delicious ice cream!

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, homemade vanilla sounds lovely. Your ice cream looks great.