Blackberry Ice Cream

I had a bunch of blackberries to use up and since I had recently made a list of culinary items I wanted to conquer and a custard based ice cream is one of them. I decided I should give ice cream a shot. When I saw this recipe on food gawker I knew it was fate. So I have to admit this is pretty good and I didn't need to be afraid of the custard. So I think I will be trying to make more ice cream in the near future. It was really creamy and melted on your tongue in a nice clean finish. The blackberry flavor is subtle and brings a nice sweetness to the ice cream. I have David's book and I have been too afraid to try anything but I think I will add more ice cream recipes to my repertoire very soon.

Blackberry Ice Cream

1 ½ cups half and half
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1 2/3 cups strained blackberry puree (from about 4 cups whole blackberries) – See note
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

In a medium size saucepan heat the half and half and sugar until the sugar granules have disappeared. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top of it. In another bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Pour some of the warm half and half mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Add in the rest of the half and half mixture and whisk to combine. Pour this back into the saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the cream and mix to combine. Add in the blackberry puree and the lemon juice and stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill in the fridge for 2-4 hours and then churn as directed by your ice cream machine.

Note - to make the puree I blended 4 cups of blackberries and then pushed them through a strainer to remove the seeds.

Adapted from Raspberry Ice Cream by David Lebovitz in The Perfect Scoop.


I entered this in You Scream , I Scream , We all Scream for Frozen Desserts.