Blueberry Ice Cream

What do you do with seasonal fruit?  Make a cobbler?  Make a pie?  Yes and yes again.  Well if you happen to have an 2-Quart ice cream maker you can also make ice cream with it!  The best most blueberriest, the most purple ice cream you've ever done seen.  Willie Wonka himself would be proud of this ice cream, check it out!

Did I mention my favorite color is purple?  This is the most lovely shade of ice cream I've ever seen

All you will need are your regular ice cream ingredients plus fresh blueberries.

3 cups blueberries (washed, de-stemmed)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 Tablespoons water
2 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cup whole milk (or 2%)

Printable recipe found here: 

Wash and drain them. Carefully go over them and check for any wayward stems or leaf debris.

Blue berries were very welled named

We are essentially going to cook these berries down into a sauce.  To do that place the 3 cups of washed berries in a medium to large pot on the stove top.  Add the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 Tbsp of water to the pot.

  
Next turn the heat on medium and keep stirring until the berries start to burst and a sauce starts to form.

It always amazes me how deep purple blueberries get when you cook them.

Keep cooking them as they reduce down into a thicker sauce, at least 10-15 minutes or more.  If you want you can "smash" some of the berries with the back of your spatula.  Once it gets thicker and most of the berries are pulverized and the sugar is dissolved, you can pour it into a bowl to cool.

I used my 2 quart pyrex glass bowl.

There is some mention in other blueberry ice cream recipes to now strain this mixture though a small mesh sieve before putting it in the fridge to cool.  This is entirely up to you.  Straining it will eliminate all skins and seeds.  We decided we wanted chunks of fruit here and there so we left everything in.  Once the berries are completely cooled down, you can add your dairy products.  Pour in 1 1/2 cup whole milk, and 2 3/4 cup heavy cream.

Still loving this color, it's fabulous!

Stir the ingredients gently together until you get everything incorporated.

A luscious lovely lavender concoction

After this you are going to want to chill this mixture over night.  Boo, right!  It sadly has to be absolutely cold before you put it in the ice cream machine.  This is quite the bummer because right now your whole house smells like warm blueberry sauce and you will be sorely tempted to pour a big glass of this stuff and drink it like a milkshake.  However I promise, you will be much rewarded the next day when you dive into this delectable treat if it gets a chance to chill first. 

This is how we normally do this ice cream, time wise (it takes 24 hours total).

1. Make the blueberry sauce in the evening.  Let it cool and add dairy, chill over night.
2. The next morning, make the ice cream in the machine and chill all day
3. Ice cream will be fully scoopable after dinner time.  :)

Ok so your ice cream mixture has chilled over night (and remember your empty ice cream chamber has also been freezing overnight).  Now all you have to do is pour it into the machine.  No other things to add, no sugar.  Everything for this recipe (including the sugar) is added at the beginning.  Sweet.

Set a timer for 22 minutes and let the machine do its job.

Swirl baby swirl!

I've said it before, but we often will put a kitchen mitt over the top hole to help keep things really cold in there.

Not sexy, but I want to believe this helps keep the ice cream extra cold during the process.

After that, scoop the batch out into a glass bowl (I used that 2-quart pyrex from before), cover and place in the freezer for 6-8 hours.  Then serve in bowls or fun sugar cones.  My kids could not get over the color of this ice cream.  I loved it, no dyes, just the natural blueberry goodness coming through.

A delicious and beautiful blueberry treat!!

The flavor of this ice cream was spectacular.  Rich, creamy and fruity at the same time.  Like blueberry pie a la mode. I bet this would probably work with other fruits as well.  Let me assure you we will try them all and report back to you soon.  Enjoy!