Black Cherry-Peach Crisp Ice Cream

If you thought fruit crisp topped with ice cream was good, try mixing it all together. Sweet and crunchy black cherry-peach crisp layered throughout vanilla ice cream.

The affliction of living with a food blogger is waiting to devour the food until all the photos have been taken at all possible angles. Waiting to be given the go-ahead to eat that gorgeous plate/bowl of food is just as torturous for you as it is for us, I promise. But how do you know for sure when the photo shoot has been completed, particularly for multi-step recipes such as ice cream? Without asking it’s a risky business.

Yes, this ice cream was dug into before I was finished (photo evidence above). It’s my fault for not stressing this fact to my parents but I was still upset to find a large chunk already scooped out, especially when it was not even completely set yet. Normally I don’t bother with pictures of ice cream in the container but I purposely used a loaf pan this time to get all stupid-food blogger on you by putting ice cream in a baking pan and then taking aerial shots of it being scooped out. Like those first steps in pristine just-fallen white snow. I’ll just have to make more ice cream soon – darn.

Thankfully the flavor of the ice cream did not suffer from it’s premature scooping. My parents’ inability to wait just shows how much they could not wait to try it. It starts out simple enough with a vanilla base which is then layered with bits of black-cherry peach crisp (notice those beautiful chunks of crisp topping in the post-churn/pre-freeze photo above). I baked a crisp just to turn it into ice cream. Which means this ice cream tastes just like a black cherry-peach crisp a la mode. Cannot really blame my parents, can I?

One year ago: Greek Yogurt Everything Bagels

Three years ago: Cosmic Brownies

BLACK CHERRY-PEACH CRISP ICE CREAM

Makes approximately 1 quart

Ingredients:

CRISP

2 cups fresh black cherries, pitted and quartered

1 peach, pitted and diced

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

ICE CREAM BASE

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. To make the crisp: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a 1 quart baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the fruit with the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Pour into prepared baking dish.
3. Reusing the same bowl, combine the oats, flour, and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit.
4. Bake, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until filling is bubbly and top is golden brown. Let cool completely.
5. To make the ice cream base: Whisk the yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Set aside.
6. In a medium saucepan, stir together the cream, milk, salt, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring often, until it just comes to a simmer; reduce heat to medium.
7. Add about 1/2 cup of the mixture (I used a ladle) to the eggs while whisking constantly. Repeat with another 1/2 cup of the cream mixture.
8. Using a heatproof spatula, stir the cream in the saucepan constantly as you pour the egg-and-cream mixture back into the pan. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened and coats the back of the spatula, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
9. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and whisk in the vanilla extract. Set the bowl in an ice bath and stir the base occasionally until it’s cooled to room temperature. Remove the bowl from the ice bath, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
10. Churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Layer the ice cream and crisp in a freezer-safe container, repeating layers until you run out. Freeze for at least 3 to 4 hours.

Source: Adapted from Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream and Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.