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.
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!
Source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier
this woman Ree looks so evil…she seems like a bad person
Oh no, she seems perfectly sweet, really funny actually. Check out her food blog, Pioneer Woman.
How exciting for you both to meet and inspire one another!!! This recipe for ice cream looks like a Spring/Summer must try! Thank you! Beautiful pictures!
I love Pioneer Woman, too 🙂 You both look so lovely in the pic 🙂 That ice-cream looks so yummy …sounds super perfect for the summer 🙂
Thanks Tesney. The ice cream is great, perfect for the upcoming summer.
PS: I seem to be having some issues commenting on WP blogs recently. Hopefully I’m not flooding you with duplicate comments!
But, just in case, here’s my original comment:
It seems like the season for frozen treats has started! 🙂 (Last night I made frozen chocolate yogurt).
It’s great you got to meet Ree and lovely pic! And the ice cream looks delicious 🙂
Lol, no your comments are going throught just fine. Thanks Claudie 🙂
It seems like the season for frozen treats has started! 🙂 (Last night I made frozen chocolate yogurt).
It’s great you got to meet Ree and lovely pic! And the ice cream looks delicious 🙂
Lucky you to have some face time with Ree! I would love to meet her. Any berry ice cream is a winner in my book. However it is the blackberry which is the most eye catching. Blackberry with chocolate does sound like a heavenly combo. Your use of sprinkles here is very creative too, that last picture is fabulous. Happy Monday!
Thank you Tina. I was surprised at how silky the ice cream turned out. Very smooth!
What a fun experience. I am definitely hoping for that cookbook soon. This ice cream looks fantastic. Great color!
The book is in true pioneer style, you gotta get it!
This ice cream is the epitome of refreshing but decadent dessert 😀
And what an awesome meeting – I worship the pioneer woman 😀
Lucky you!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
She was just as sweet as can be 🙂