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+ servings
peach ice cream in bowl.

Sweet Peach Ice Cream

Author: Sarah Jenkins
This recipe for sweet peach ice cream is the best and uses fresh, ripe in-season peaches and a creamy custard base for the perfect summertime treat! Plus, it’s a snap to make in your ice cream maker!
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time/Freeze Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 10
Calories

Ingredients
  

  • 4 large sweet ripe peaches, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 5 egg yolks
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Peel and dice peaches and combine them with ½ cup of sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Mix well and let the peaches rest in this combo for about 60 minutes, at room temperature, until the mixture is syrupy and the peaches have softened.
  • In a small blender or food processor, puree the peach mixture until smooth.
  • To make the custard base, heat the cream, milk, ¼ cup of sugar, and salt in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Do not let the mixture boil – you don’t want to burn the cream! 
  • In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with ¼ cup of sugar until well combined.
  • Temper the eggs by very slowly adding ½ cup of the hot cream mixture to the egg mix. Stir continuously for a minute or so, then slowly add another ½ cup of cream.  Continue stirring, then repeat the process once more.
  • Once the eggs have been tempered, pour them into the saucepan with the remaining custard base and stir over low- medium heat for several minutes (again, don’t bring it to a boil!). You’ll know that the custard is ready when it starts to become thicker and lightly coats the back of a spoon. If you’re using a thermometer, you’re looking for a temperature of about 175°.
  • Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the custard into a clean bowl to remove any lumpy bits of egg that may have formed.
  • Combine the custard base with the pureed peach mixture and stir well to combine.
  • Cover and refrigerate the mixture for 2 hours, or until fully chilled. (This is important since the ice cream will have a hard time setting if it’s not cold when it goes into your ice cream maker.)
  • Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for churning until it starts to thicken and freeze.
  • Transfer to a container and place in the freezer until frozen. If using a pan, cover well with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic wrap to the top of the ice cream. This will prevent ice crystals from forming on the top of your ice cream.
  • If serving after frozen, allow the ice cream to sit at room temperature for about 5 - 10 minutes after taking it out of the freezer to soften.

Notes

  • Give your peaches enough time to macerate. Make sure you're allowing the peaches enough time to sit with the sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Not only will this make it easier for you to get the peaches to blend to a nice and smooth consistency, but it also allows the flavors of the sweet peaches to really open up and gives this ice cream that delicious peaches and cream taste.
  • Strain your custard! Let's face it, tempering eggs can be somewhat difficult, even for the most experienced cook. It's entirely possible that you will have some bits of scrambled egg in your custard mixture. Do yourself a favor and make your custard extra smooth by straining it before placing it in the refrigerator to cool. It just makes the texture of your ice cream so nice and creamy.
  • Keep the peach bits small. Unless you want to bite into a giant peach ice cube, keep any bits of peaches as small as you can.
  • Allow the custard to cool completely before adding it to your ice cream maker. This is just common sense. You want the ice cream to turn cold so give your custard time to cool off in the fridge before you start the churning process.
  • Don't fill your ice cream maker too full. The whole point of churning the ice cream is to whip air into it, making it light and fluffy (can ice cream be fluffy?) This means that the volume of ice cream you put in will increase in size as the machine churns, leaving you with a giant overflowing mess if you add too much of your custard mixture at once. (I may have experienced this once or twice).
  • Keep your sweet peach ice cream from getting too hard. While I didn't do it in this recipe, a tip to keeping your homemade ice cream from getting too hard after you place it in the freezer is to add a few tablespoons of vodka (or other alcohol that you think might compliment the peaches.) Alcohol doesn't freeze so it helps prevent ice cream from emerging as an ice block from the freezer. (Read more about this method and a few other tips on preventing rock-hard ice cream from David Lebovitz here.)
  • Easily peel your peaches! Want an easy way to peel your peaches? Click here for an easy method to peel a peach!
Keyword frozen dessert, ice cream, peach
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!