My Danish Kitchen

Berry Chip Ice Cream

The other day I had the pleasure of meeting Ree Drummond from the Pioneer Woman. I was thrilled when I found out she was doing a book signing at our local book store here in Virginia Beach. Our normally sleepy Books-A-Million was filled with people and the lines were as long, as if you were waiting to get on the roller-coaster on a warm summers day, but it was well worth the wait. Ree was as sweet and personal as she appears on her blog. She did not rush people and made small talk with everyone. It was a real pleasure.

Pioneer Woman and My Danish Kitchen

Now, I have been plowing through Ree’s new book Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier and it is loaded with tons of delicious food made in traditional Pioneer Woman style. What caught my eye in her new book was her Blackberry Chip Ice Cream which seems very fitting since we have already had some warm days here in VB. I decided to add some raspberries to the blackberries and I also gave the ice cream time to rest and cool down before tossing it into the ice cream maker. The ice cream turned out creamy, silky and delicious with a gorgeous purple/pink color and it was consumed very quickly by a person who shall remain nameless 😉

Ingredients:

For the Berries:

12 oz blackberries

4 oz raspberries

1/2 lemon, juice

1/4 cup sugar

For the Custard:

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 cup sugar

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, lightly chopped

Directions:

Place blackberries and raspberries in a saucepan, add lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar. Simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes until berries are soft and syrupy. Place hot berries in a strainer and with the back of a spoon press juices completely out until only the pulp and seeds remain. Set juice aside, discard pulp and seeds.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the half and half and 1 cup sugar. Meanwhile in a small bowl beat the egg yolks until thick and pale yellow in color. Temper the egg yolks, by pouring a very thin steam of the warm half and half into the eggs while continuing to beat. Then pour the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan with the remaining half and half. Cook while stirring constantly until  custard has thickened, remove from heat.

Mix the heavy cream into the berry sauce. Then add the custard to the berries and stir to combine. Place mixture in refrigerator to  cool down completely. After mixture has cooled down, freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. At the end of the freezing process, add the chopped chocolate chips. Store ice cream in a freezer safe container. Enjoy!

Berry Chip Ice Cream

Source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier