Ice Cream Fridays: Blueberries and Cream Ice Cream

Welcome to another edition of Ice Cream Fridays. Every Friday during the next few months (or until I get tired of it) you can look forward to a new ice cream recipe which will hopefully inspire you to break out your old dust covered ice cream maker that is hiding somewhere in a closet (yes, I'm talking about you). Since I'm always looking for inspiration and ideas, feel free to leave me a comment here on my blog or on my facebook page, and let me know what ice cream flavor you would like to see. Who knows, you might just get lucky and it will be featured the following week.

This weeks flavor was solely inspired by blueberries on sale everywhere. There was no way to pass up the gorgeous bounty at every store in the area.

This ice cream won me over solely on ease of preparation yet again. I don't mind making a custard and love the smoothness it lends to many ice creams, but when faced with standing over a stove for a while, or just mixing it up, ease will always win out, so I have more time to spend with my kids while they are on summer break.

I can't promise you that you will get by without turning on your stove for this one, but it is quick, painless, and doesn't require a lot of attention on your part. Fresh blueberries are added to a pot along with sugar and water, brought to a boil, removed from the heat source, and then steeped for about 30 minutes (see, painless). After that you add the whole mixture to a blender and let it rip until smooth. Strain it through a fine mesh strainer, and set it in your fridge for several hours. This was the "hard" part. After the blueberry mixture is thoroughly chilled, all you do is add heavy cream and fresh lemon juice and freeze in your ice cream maker. That's it!

This ice cream was fantastic for something that you wouldn't ordinarily find at any old grocery store. I loved that it only called for 1 cup of heavy cream for the whole batch rather than up to 2 cups that most other ice cream recipes call for. The most appealing aspect of this ice cream had to be the color though. It looked stunning in the book where I found it, and even better in real life. This is most definitely staying on my radar for blueberry season. If you are a big fan of blueberries, then this one is a must to try out!

Blueberries and Cream Ice Cream

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups (8 oz/ 250g) fresh blueberries

3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) water 

1 cup (8 oz/ 250 g) sugar

1 cup (8 fl oz/ 250 ml) heavy cream

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan, combine the fresh blueberries, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally too help dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let stand for 30 minutes to steep.

Transfer the blueberry mixture to a blender. Process until smooth, about 1 minute. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

Add the cream and lemon juice to the blueberry puree and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture in to an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Adapted from: Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream