This is one of those delightfully refreshing desserts that is perfect for summertime. It’s also peach season. Doesn’t this look good??? It is. 🙂
I love peaches. You know it’s summertime when you begin to see fresh, local peaches. None of those imported peaches from California but real Texas peaches and specifically peaches from Parker County. They are so fresh, so tasty and so juicy. There simply isn’t anything like a fresh, tree ripened, juicy peach. It’s why in mid-July we always go to the Parker County Peach Festival in Weatherford, Tx. It’s about 20 miles west of Fort Worth and about a 90 minute drive from the house. It’s a typical festival with live music, lots of food, crafts, homemade products and peaches, lots and lots of peaches. This year it was July 12 and it’s an annual event for us to go. So, we did. In addition to the homemade jellies, some neon signs for the media room, and really tasty street food, we came back with 2 bushels of peaches. Yes, I really did say 2 bushels. 😮
With 2 bushels of peaches, I made my annual batch of Jalapeño Cardamom Peach Preserves (actually I made 2 batches because I have some friends I want to send some to), Vanilla Peach Butter, and Spiced Peach Preserves. I made some peach barbecue sauce that is very tasty with chicken and pork.
Sorry no post as I was rather busy and couldn’t get the pics. 😦 We also ate lots of fresh peaches because they are just so tasty by themselves or sweetened lightly and served with some nice whipped cream (the proverbial peaches ‘n cream) but we still had a whole lot of peaches left. So, with still more peaches, we made this wonderful ice cream and this is what we did.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla bean
- pinch of salt
- 2Â cups sugar (split)
- 6 cups chopped peaches (split)
- 4 Tbsp Peach Brandy
Instruction
Disclaimer – this recipe makes 1/2 gallon of peaches and cream ice cream. My ice cream machine only makes 1 to 1-1/2 quart at a time. So, I had to make this in 2 batches to make the full recipe. Obviously, you can cut the recipe in half but, if you do, you will wish you had made the whole 1/2 gallon. 😉
First thing first, peel and dice some peaches. For instructions on peeling peaches, click here. Add 4 cups of diced peaches to a bow and reserve the remaining 2 cups for later.
Add 1Â cup sugar to the peaches, mix and allow to macerate for 4Â hours.
While the diced peaches are macerating, make the creme anglaise. Add milk to saucepan.
Slit the vanilla bean down the middle or reasonably close thereto.
Scrape out the seeds and flesh.
Put scraped vanilla, into saucepan with milk,
along with pods – no reason to waste
Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let it cool and let the vanilla infuse for roughly 30 minutes. No reason for an actionless photo here.
When vanilla has infused into milk, add the cream
the sugar
and a large pinch of salt.
Now, heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and the temperature has reached 170 F.
Remove from heat and remove the pods.
Place egg yolks in a bowl and temper the egg yolks by slowly adding 1 cup of the heated sugar cream mixture to the eggs and whisking until the egg yolks and cream mixture are fully incorporated.
Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the cream and sugar mixture.
Return the saucepan to medium low heat, whisking frequently, heating until the mixture reaches 176 F or until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, pour 2 cups of the creme anglaise into 2 separate quart jars and allow to cool.
Now, take the macerated peaches, pour into a blender and liquify on highest speed for 30 seconds.
Add 2 cups of the puréed peaches to each quart jar of creme anglaise and shake to mix thoroughly. Now pour 1 quart of the creme anglaise/peach purée mix into your ice cream maker – remember we are doing this in 2 batches.
Following the instructions for your ice cream maker to make the ice cream. When the ice cream is thick and almost done, add 1 cup of the diced peaches.
Right before you are done, add the Peach Brandy.
As pointed out in previous ice cream posts, the alcohol in the brandy has a higher freezing point. Hence, the brandy will keep the ice cream from fully freezing in the freezer and being brick hard. It also adds a nice touch of flavor. If you don’t like peach brandy or want to make this for your children, omit the peach brandy. What can I say???? I’m a lush. 😀 Also, remember, you are doing a double batch with this recipe so only use 2 Tbsp per batch of ice cream. If you used the whole 4 Tbsp the ice cream won’t freeze. 😮
When done, remove the ice cream from machine, place in a container and freeze for 1 hour. Repeat the process with the other quart of mix. Once it has frozen and “set up” serve & enjoy.
This really does make one of the very best ice creams, unless, of course, you don’t like peaches at which point I just can’t help you. This is one of my favorite ice creams and I still have a few peaches left over. 🙂
REMCooks 
Oooh, I must say I am a bit jealous as we don’t get peaches in Finland unless they are imported and you can never be sure with their quality. But your ice cream looks like heaven. 🙂
Thanks, Laila. I guess Finland would be a little cold for peach trees. We have them in abundance throughout the summer and I absolutely love them. 🙂 This year I think I have enough canned in a variety of ways to make it through next Spring when they come back in season.
“Or thereabouts”. Obviously, your vanilla pod slicing experience matches mine. Glorious ice cream Richard.
Hi, Conor. Those devious, wrinkly, little vanilla pods just don’t seem to cooperate now do they? If it weren’t for their divine aromatics and lovely flavor, I wouldn’t bother with them. Sadly, they realize my weakness and mock me while I try to split them down the middle. 😉
You and me too. Still, they are worth the effort. Hope everything is well with you all.
C
Beautiful ice cream Richards, i can see how rich and creamy it is from the excellent photos. Come peach season, I’ll be right onto it. Thanks
Thanks, Sandra. Peach ice cream is truly one of my favorite ice creams. Many people simply use pureed peaches in their ice cream. I love the little bite of frozen peach in mine so I add the chopped peaches toward the end. 🙂
Peach is truly one of my favorite ice creams, and I love the way you made it.
Thanks, Mimi. I really never made a lot of ice cream until Baby Lady bought me the Lello Musso Lussino ice cream maker. While it is somewhat of a pain to clean, making ice cream is so simple with it. Now, we make ice cream at least 8 – 10 times per year. Most of the time it’s old standbys, like this recipe, but we also like to try new ideas and flavor combinations. It has been a lot of fun. Of course, with Robert on a diet (he’s lost 75 lbs since February 🙂 ) we don’t make ice cream as much now.
Ooooh I am now dreaming of Bluebell Ice Cream Peaches and Cream, one of my favorite ice creams! But I am sure your Peaches and Cream ice cream would even beat theirs out, especially with the addition of Peach Brandy. Sadly, we don’t get Bluebell Ice Cream up in these neck of the woods. I also don’t have an ice cream maker, and with the pending move, it would be a foolish purchase. Congrats on Robert’s weight loss!
Hi, Kathryn. Thanks for your compliment. This is such a nice ice cream. We really like it.
I’m a big Blue Bell ice cream fan but my favorite is pralines and cream. The original Blue Bell cookies and cream was made with Oreo cookies but when Nabisco introduced it’s own cookies and cream ice cream they would no longer sell Blue Bell the Oreo cookies.
Well dang, that’s not good about the Oreos. But it’s awesome you can make your own peaches and cream. So what about pralines and cream next, huh? 🙂
You just said the magic ingredient …..Peach Brandy. I love the stuff! Must do this and down-size the carbs a bit. Looks scrumptious, Richard. My all-time favorite ice cream. Remember Baskin Robbins “Fresh Peach” with the huge chunks of peaches in it they only did seasonally? Don’t think they make it anymore though. I MUST try this!
Thanks, Peggy, for the nice compliment. I don’t remember Baskin Robbins Fresh Peach Ice Cream but do know peach was one of the original 31 flavors. My memory of peach ice cream stems from my childhood with the family standing around my Dad as he worked an old hand crank ice cream maker in the summertime. I always loved the chunks of frozen peaches. It’s a texture thing. The peach brandy adds just a hint of flavor. I was trying to think of a complimentary flavor for the liquor but the ice cream was soooo tasty I decided to play it safe. This really is killer. 🙂 I hope you give it a try with your spin on it.
Oh, I definitely will try it!
Hi Richard, I don’t think I’ve ever tried peach ice cream, and now I want to! I really like your idea of adding part of the peaches as pure and part as cubes. I may try this next time I make pear ice cream. Unfortunately peaches here are never ‘tree ripened’ and usually tasteless and/or sour. I am more familiar with the canned variety. Like Conor I enjoyed the vanilla bean instruction 🙂
Hi, Stefan. Peach ice cream is simply great! It doesn’t even need chiles. 😉 Too bad you cannot get fresh, local peaches. They really are fabulous and canned peaches taste nothing like the fresh ones. I would gladly ship you some peach ice cream but somehow I don’t think it would make it to NL intact. 😮 Can you buy frozen peaches? That might work as a substitute.
I have never tried pear ice cream but I love pears; so, I probably should give it a try. Have you posted pear ice cream on your blog?
I’ve never seen frozen peaches, but will look for them. Pear ice cream is great and I do have a recipe on my blog: http://stefangourmet.com/2013/11/10/pear-ice-cream/
(As it has a very delicated flavor, it is important to go easy on the limoncello as you’d otherwise end up with ice cream that tastes only of limoncello.)
This is especially great to use up pears that have gotten too ripe to use otherwise 🙂
wow. wow!
Thanks, Stef.
Wow… I need an ice cream maker…