If you mix equal parts peaches and cream (technically cream and milk) you get the dreamest peach ice cream you’ve every tasted. We’ve had a bumper peach season this year, so I had enough peaches that it felt reasonable to experiment and develop the perfect yellow peach ice cream. If you’ve got peaches that you don’t know what to do with, peach pie is great, but peach dream ice cream is life changing.
I feel the loss of good dairy in my soul. I hate that most milk tastes like nothing, that almost every heavy cream has gum in it and that most prestige ice cream joints sell ice cream that’s full of “agents” so your ice cream has cheese-pull equivalent drips and won’t melt on a sunny 90 degree day at Jones Beach. While these additives are helpful if you’re building your own ice cream cake, for something that depends on simple flavors simple ingredients are best.
Notes
Note about shopping for cream
If you can, and your budget can support it, try to find dairy from a local dairy that hasn’t got additives. You’ll find that it makes ice cream won’t be quite as smooth as the other stuff, but the flavor and texture will knock your socks off. And, if you buy enough local cream over the course of 6 months, you may start to tell the difference between the seasons of the cream.
Note about Peaches
Peaches can be pricey, so for this ice cream I asked at my farmers’ market for “seconds.” It’s a nice trick. Your farmer probably has some less than perfect peaches to sell you at a discounted price. While they may not be ideal for snacking, they’re perfect for cutting up. And, what you lose in bruises you’ll make up for in over all cost.
Key Ingredients
Yellow Peaches
heavy cream
whole milk
granulated sugar
egg yolks
vanilla bean (optional)
lemon juice
Peach Dream Ice Cream – Recipe
Special equipment: Ice cream maker. Takes about 45 minutes to make the custard. then 4 hours to chill and another 30 minutes to churn. This recipe makes a lot of ice cream (about a quart). If you have a small ice cream maker, you can do two rounds of churning or halve the recipe.
Ingredients
- 2.25-2.5 pounds of peaches (about 1.5 pounds skinned and pitted)
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1.5 cups of whole milk
- 1 cup of sugar (divided)
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2-1 vanilla bean
- pinch of kosher salt
- a small sprig of mint (optional)
Step One
Skin peaches and chop into roughly 1/4 inch pieces (it’s actually ideal if some are a bit bigger and some smaller). Put peaches and any collected juices into a bowl, squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon over top and add 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir to combine and set aside for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, use a fork or potato masher to crush the peach pieces so that you’ll have ribbons of peach in your ice cream and not chunks. Set aside to macerate for another 10 minutes while you start the custard.
Step Two
Separate 3 egg yolks into a heat safe cereal bowl whisk in 1/4 cup sugar and set aside (save whites for another use). Setup an ice bath and a large heat proof bowl and set both aside. Add cream, milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and a scrapped vanilla bean in a 2 quart sauce pan and bring cream mixture to a simmer over medium low heat. Do not let it boil. Turn off heat.
Step Three
Temper the egg yolks by adding about 1/4 cup of the hot cream mixture to the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk together. Then add roughly 1/4 cup cream mixture and whisk again, then add one more 1/4 cup and whisk again. Now add that egg yolk and cream mixture back into the pot holding the rest of the cream and whisk together. Turn heat under the cream mixture back on medium low and, stirring frequently, and using a digital thermometer, bring the mixture to 180 degrees. Once it’s at temperature remove the scraped vanilla bean and add in the peaches and all accumulated juices. Cook the mixture whisking continuously until it just reaches 180 degrees. Then, quickly remove from the heat and pour custard into the large bowl that is set aside. Then sat that bowl into the ice bath to quickly lower the temperature. After that, move the custard to the fridge to chill for about 4 hours.
Step Four
When you’re ready to make ice cream, follow the directions of your ice cream maker and pour in the peach cream. (For many ice cream makers this recipe makes enough for 2 rounds. Do not over fill your ice cream maker). The ice cream will usually take about 20-30 minutes to make. It will still be quite soft and can be frozen for another few hours to achieve a firmer texture.
If you wish, garnish ice cream with a tiny sprig of mint (too much will over power it). Because we heated the ice cream to 180 degrees, it will keep well in the freezer. But my family usually eats it all within a couple of days.