Summer Peach Ice Cream

One of our favorite things about our trip to Italy this past month was seeing Peter eat! Three days passed before he tried the pasta, but once he did – he couldn’t get enough! He loved the risottos and minestrone soups, but his favorite Italian food was gelato.

The first gelato flavor he tried was peach from the “Gran Caffè” in Assisi. He loved it! Every time we went back into the gelateria he motioned for “more” in sign language! I knew that when we got home, I wanted to try to recreate this dessert for him!

This past Sunday was the anniversary of Peter’s baptism, and the perfect opportunity to treat him to something special. I pulled out a peach ice cream recipe from my favorite food writer, Melissa Clark, a recipe I have been wanting to try for years! We had so much fun making it together. I hope you enjoy it as much as Peter does!

Summer Peach Ice Cream

an adaptation of Melissa Clark’s recipe
Makes a quart
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Ingredients

10 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and diced
few drops lemon juice
1/3 cup plus 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups whole milk

Preparation

1. Combine diced peaches and 1/3 cup sugar and simmer in a saucepan over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Once cooled, transfer peach mixture to blender and blend until smooth. If you like chunky-fruit ice cream, just pulse mixture a few times so chunks remain. Set aside.
2. Bring cream, 3/4 cup sugar, and salt to a simmer. Remove from heat.
3. Whisk egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl.
4. Drizzle some cream mixture into the yolks while constantly whisking to warm the yolks. Slowly pour the yolk mixture into the cream, continue to whisk.
5. Cook mixture over low heat for seven minutes and then strain the mixture into a large bowl. Whisk in the whole milk. Cool mixture completely.
6. You can refrigerate the mixtures overnight, or once the mixture is cool, freeze the cream mixture in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
7. When ice cream has frozen, fold in the peach mixture. Serve immediately or transfer into a freezer safe container and save it for later!