New Meal Monday: Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE ice cream. It's truly one of my favorite things in the world (my husband has actually questioned where he falls in line - in front of or behind ice cream... honestly honey, its best that I don't answer that question). My love for this summer treat goes beyond the taste, as what I enjoy most is the full experience. As a kid, ice cream was associated with something fun, whether it was a team outing after a T-ball game, or a trip to our favorite local scoop shop as a family, the entire experience was fun. I even spent my teenage years working in a Ben and Jerry's scoop shop. Now as an adult, I still get the same excited feeling when I walk up to an ice cream window. I have often thought about making ice cream, but have been worried I could not live up to my high expectations! I finally took the plunge and learned two things: 1) making good homemade ice cream is actually really easy and 2) the ‘experience’ of making it is just as fun as going out. Since it was my first crack at it, I kept it simple and followed a recipe from Zoku (which is a great a company that makes lots of fun ice cream and ice pop makers, we used their ice cream maker). I love fruit based ice cream so I went for what’s in season, and got peaches from the farm stand down the road. We made this in our individual Zoku bowls, but you can use whatever ice cream making device you have. Enjoy! 

Here's what you need:

• 3 cups sliced fresh peaches (about 4 medium peaches)'
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk

Here's how you do it:

1. In a blender or food processor puree sliced peaches, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, salt and ½ cup of heavy cream. Add in rest of heavy cream and milk and pulse until combined. Cool to 40F (or cooler) by storing in fridge for at least 2 hours.
2. Follow instructions for your ice cream device in terms of freezing the container ahead of time (usually at least 12-24 hours) and mixing the  ice cream. Essentially the mixture above will be stirring in a frozen container until it firms to your liking

 This recipe makes six 5oz servings.