Mixed Berries Ice Cream

My father and mother in law have just left Melbourne today. Feeling a bit sad as the house becomes quiet. We always love it when they visit, it's so much fun. From shopping, to baking, cooking, and playing mahjong together. I love the atmosphere of family being together. But it's okay, they will be here again for Chinese New Year so something to look forward to. =)


That aside, Our family has a deep love and affection for ice cream. We would normally stock 2 1liter tubs of ice cream in our freezer. Given the opportunity I think we would love to have ice cream everyday but of course it's not good for health to have it everyday. I don't believe in deprivation, I think everything in moderation is okay. So we try to limit our consumption to few times a week.

My dear hubby bought me a kitchenaid mixer with the ice cream bowl attachment last year. Since then I have been experimenting with ice cream making. I made this mixed berries ice cream yesterday. The taste is really good, but it's a little icy when it's just taken out of the freezer. The texture is perfect around 5-10mins after it's been taken out of the freezer. Creamy, sweet and tangy all at the same time.

I think I know the reason why it's a bit icy. I suspect it's because I did not reduce the berries puree. As fruits have high water content in it, so naturally if you add lots of water to your ice cream mixture you will end up with icy ice cream instead of a creamy one. So I will probably try to cook down my puree a little next time on low-medium fire.

I will also add another egg yolk the next time I make this. Probably will add the extra creaminess to the ice cream.

I got this recipe again from userealbutter, of which she adapted from david lebovitz "The Perfect Scoop". He indeed is the master of ice cream. I used 5 instead of 4 egg yolks and used mixed berries instead of blackberries. And I also used 1 cup whole milk + 2 cups cream instead of using half and half.

Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Mixed Berries Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

• 450 grams frozen mixed berries- pureed and then strain through mesh shieve to obtain 1.5cups puree
• 1 cup full cream milk
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon vodka

Methods:

1. Pour cream into large bowl and set mesh strainer over top. Also prepare a bowl of cold water with ice. This will be used as ice bath later on. The ice bath bowl has to be able to fit the bowl with cream
   
2. In separate medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks.
   
3. Warm milk and sugar in a medium sized sauce pan
4. Slowly pour warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into saucepan. If you don't have kitchen assistant like me, =), it can be quite difficult to pour and whisk the yolk at the same time. I learnt one trick from Masterchef which is to fold a kitchen towel like this, and then put the bowl on top. This will prevent the bowl from moving around while you whisk.

5. Stir mixture constantly over med heat with heatproof spatula, scraping bottom as you stir
until mixture thickens and coats spatula
6. Pour custard through the strainer into the cream and mix well


7. Mix in the puree, lemon juice and vodka


8. Stir until cool over ice bath
9. Chill thoroughly in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Churn in ice cream maker
as per manufacturer's instructions.


Hope you enjoy this ice cream. Great for summer!