diy ice cream maker and bourbon peach egg-less ice cream with rice crispies

There is nothing like a peach when it is in season. Sweet, soft and  juicy, the way it is meant to be. Right now the farmer's markets here are filled with  glorious stone fruits, and not so many berries as the weeks before. Dizzying varieties of peaches and nectarines, pluots and plums. From a deep ruby red, to white and soft rose tinged. We had a fabulous time, eating our way through the samples, sweet juicy fruits making out fingers sticky and stained pink. The little monkey clutched a strawberry, completely besotted by it. He refused to eat it with the expression that clearly stated that he found it too pretty to eat. He was very upset when it slipped out of his fingers after a while. A slice of sweet, golden peach  quickly helped him forget his loss and he had no problems devouring slice after slice, like the rest of us!

A mom of two walked past carrying a basket filled with fruits that her children were gorging on, both hanging on to the handles and fruit juices around their mouth and dribbling down their chins. "This is even better than a leash!"I heard her exclaim. I agree. If you were carrying a basket of these peaches, I might follow you around too!

I had a carton of cream and inspired by my new copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, I decided to make her bourbon ice cream and add some roasted peaches, to use up some of the peaches that were not as sweet as the others, which we had quickly finished.
Since I am hosting Sugar High Friday with the theme of Rice Sweets, I decided to serve the ice cream on a bed of rice crispies for a bit of crunch in lieu of a cone or wafer. Fabulous, if I may say so myself :)

Since I no longer have the ice cream maker that helped me with glorious salty caramel icecream and pistachio ice cream,  I decided to make one myself!

If you look at the popular ice cream makers you will see that all they really are is a bowl with inbuilt jel like liquid which becomes frozen so that the bowl becomes really cold, and a mixer attachment which churns the ice cream base so that it prevents ice crystals from forming and making the ice cream gritty.

The above image is from thekitchn

Instead, inspired by my friend Sarah's irresistible mango fro yo and this post in Thekitchn I used two bowls, one larger than the other ( Metal preferably), a stick blender or  handheld mixer. I filled the larger bowl with about and inch of water and kept it in the freezer for about 2-3 hours until it froze. Then I placed the smaller bowl ( actually a steel saucepan) on top of this and poured water around this bowl ( not inside the smaller bowl, just around it) and put both bowls in the freezer again until the ring of water surrounding the inner bowl froze hard ( overnight). Or you can just use a whole lot of ice cubes sprinkled with rock salt or kosher salt. The addition of salt as one of my readers pointed out, actually draws out heat as the ice melts making your ice cream mix even colder. The picture above is from thekitchn illustrating how simple this is. There you have it- a homemade ice cream maker!

Then after making the ice cream base I just poured in the smaller bowl in the freezer and beat the mixture  well once every hour for about 3 hours so that it wouldn't form ice crystals. I won't say the texture is as great as using an ice cream maker, but it comes really, really close! For another ice cream base that has more fat content like one with lots of eggs or condensed milk the results would be even smoother than this one which is mainly milk and cream.
Yes it is some more work, but not really all that much, it takes the same amount of time because even with a store bought ice cream maker you need to freeze the bowl overnight. so until I cave and buy an ice cream maker some day in the far of future, this is how I will be making ice cream at home, and I am already dizzy with the thought of so many possibilities. Summer, please don't end!

For more on how to make your own ice cream maker, click here 

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bourbon peach ice cream with rice crispies

Recipe adapted from Bourbon Pecan ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home By Jeni Britton

Ingredients

• 5 peaches ( you can also use other fruits instead like strawberries, nectarines, figs, apricots, or plums)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup bourbon or liqueur of your choice ( optional but this helps to keep the ice cream soft so I recommend it)
• 2 cups whole milk ( not low fat or skim milk)
• 2 tbs light corn syrup ( I just use Aunt Jemima's pancake syrup since it listed corn syrup as its main ingredient!)
• 1 1/2 oz or 3 tbs softened cream cheese (you could try using hung curd instead though I haven't tried it)
• 1 tbs plus 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• big bag of crushed ice or ice cubes to cool the ice cream base

Special Equipment: ice-cream maker or home made ice cream maker: the two bowls and a hand held mixer.

Method:
First roast the peaches:

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Slice the peaches in half, remove the seeds and place the fruits in an oven safe baking dish, tossing them with 1/4 cup sugar
• Bake for 30 mins until they are soft and the skin looks collapsed and slightly brown and caramelized in parts.
• Keep aside to cool and then peel away the skin.
• Blend them in your blender/ mixie / food processor/ stick blender without adding water and keep.

Make the ice cream base:

• In a small bowl or cup take 2 tablespoons of the milk  and sir in the cornstarch until smooth.
• In another large bowl, mix together 1/4 tsp of salt and cream cheese with a fork. Set both aside.
• Put the rest of the milk, corn syrup, sugar and cream in a large saucepan.
• Place the pan over medium high heat.  When the mixture reaches a rolling boil (meaning it continues to bubble and boil even if you stir it), let it continue to boil for 4 minutes.
• After 4 mins, remove from heat.
• Take the cornstarch mixture and stir for one last time and then slowly pour it into the saucepan, mixing well.
• Put the saucepan back on medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring. Boil for one minute. It should thicken a little bit in this time. Remove from heat.
• Take a large heat proof cup or deep small bowl and place a gallon size plastic freezer bag inside(I used Ziploc brand).  Leave the top gaping open.  Also, fill your sink with some water and then pour in the bag of ice.  Place the bagged cup or bowl close by the sink.
• Pour 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the bowl of cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  Slowly add the rest of the liquid, and half of the peach puree and whisk, with stick blender or electric whish until well combined.
• Reserve the other half of the peach puree.
• Pour in the bourbon and stir well.
• Pour all of the batter into the zip lock bag and seal top. Then immerse bag in ice bath.
• Set the timer for 30 minutes and leave the bag immersed so the batter can get cold. After that, pour it into ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.

If using the DIY ice cream maker i.e two bowls with ice covering the sides of the inner bowl, pour the cold ice cream base into the inner bowl.
Beat the mix for 10 minutes by which time it would have become frothy and cold (Tho not icy)
Now carefully put the whole assortment ( of two bowls and the ice ) into the freezer.
After an hour, the contents would have the texture somewhat like of a pudding. Mix the contents with the stick blender or electric whisk well to break up ice crystals so that the ice cream will be smooth. The kitchen recommends that you beat the mix for 5 minutes after which the ice cream will be soft serve consistency
( If you want to add in toasted nuts, chocolate chips etc, this is the time to gently mix it in with a spatula or spoon)
Remove the inner bowl and place it back in the freezer for about two hours or overnight to freeze harder like traditional ice cream.
Your homemade ice cream is ready to eat as is or go crazy with toppings!

Storing: Empty ice cream into a container, alternating the ice cream with spoonfuls of  reserved peach puree in layers for the swirly variegated look and a deeper peachy taste. Put the lid and cover ice cream with parchment paper or plastic to prevent ice crystals forming on the surface.It can be stored for upto 2 months.

Serving: You can either mix the reserved peach puree with the ice cream as I mentioned above and freeze it so that you get a swirly effect or you can pour it as a topping. I liked sprinkling on a lot of rice crispies for some crunch!

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This is going off to my Sugar High Friday event hosted by me Rose of Magpie's Recipes. For details on participating click here  Last date to enter is Aug 22nd!

also sending this to Susan who is hosting Veggie/Fruit a month started by Priya 

Verdict: This may just be the best ice cream ever! But then I always say that after trying anything from Jeni! The peach lends a subtle flavour and the bourbon totally compliments it. The texture was a little more crystal y than store bought ice cream because I didn't use an ice cream maker, but definitely, infinitely yummier ( except if that store happened to be a (Jeni's Splendid ice cream parlour in Ohio or one of these locations  including some in California Yay! where it is also available) and T,  the resident ice cream expert who introduced me to Jeni's agreed.  Seriously the joy from creating your own ice cream flavour is unmatched, and you don't even need an ice cream maker! Now you have no reason not to go and create your own, and a bounty of summer fruits to try them with too!  

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