My birthday was last month and Bubba gave me an ice cream maker. I usually give him a couple of gift ideas when my birthday rolls around. My first idea was a full day of peace and quiet. My second suggestion was this ice cream maker. I guess he knew a full day of peace and quiet wasn’t realistic with three kids, six and under. When I opened the ice cream maker I felt excited and anxious to try one of the million recipes for frozen sweets I see on Pinterest. Then my excitement turned into fear. Make ice cream? Why not just call it a day and buy some Breyer’s. Ice cream sounds complicated. My grandmother made ice cream. Standing in front of the kitchen window, the light highlighting her eyebrows, her wrinkles, her beautiful face, she poured this and that into an ice-cold container, surrounded the container with salt, lots of salt, and churned it. Several, long hours later we ate her delicious, creamy ice cream for dessert. Witchcraft!

Last week I said what the hell, and made ice cream: blueberry chocolate chip ice cream. We received extra farm fresh blueberries in our fruit share and they were incredibly sweet. I quickly googled blueberry ice cream and found an easy, egg-less recipe. I made the base in about 20 minutes, including cooling time and refrigerated it over-night. I churned it for about 30 minutes and popped it into the freezer. The next day, I taste tested my first batch. Creamy, sweet and a bit tart with chunks of chocolate throughout, this was a strong first attempt at homemade ice cream. Bubba and the kids loved it and I learned ice cream making is not witchcraft! Now, I just need to get my hands on my grandmother’s recipes.

 

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

recipe slightly adapted from Driscoll’s

serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup whole milk

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped (I didn’t chop my chips enough, so give them a good chop!)

Directions:

Using a heavy saucepan , set over medium-high heat, combine blueberries, sugar, and salt. Stir occasionally until sugar completely dissolves. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.

Once cool, puree in a blender. Pour puree into a large bowl. Add heavy cream, milk and lemon juice and stir together. Transfer to air-tight container and refrigerate overnight.

Pour base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.  About 15 minutes before the ice cream is done, add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Continue to process ice cream according to the directions. (I processed mine for about 30 minutes.) Transfer to an air-tight container and freeze for several hours or overnight. (I froze my ice cream overnight and it was perfect the next day.) The ice cream will last frozen in an air-tight container, for up to a week. Enjoy!

5 Must Try Ice Cream Recipes

August is corn season, so why not use some of your sweet summer corn and make sweet corn and black raspberry ice cream! You can the find this creative recipe on Annie’s Eats. Yum!

If you love coconut be sure to check out Edible Perspective’s homemade coconut milk ice cream. It’s vegan, dairy-free and promises to change the way you look at vegan ice cream. I’m fascinated!

Looking for a sweet and savory ice cream? Check out The Tart Tart’s recipe for honey thyme ice cream. I can’t wait to try this!

Bubba loves chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. I might need to make this ice cream for him very soon!

Bon Appetempt is one of my favorite blogs. Amelia is so funny and I love recipes. I also love blackberries, so her blackberry ice cream recipe is on my must make list!