Saturday, June 29, 2013

Plum Ice Cream

Plums sometimes make an appearance in desserts, but not as often as their fruit-bowl-mates, the apple and the cherry. Plum galettes are lovely, but who wants to bake in the summer?

Ice cream, on the other hand, is the perfect summer dessert.

This one requires a little cooking, but it only takes a few minutes. I used dark plums with a dark red flesh. Other plums would be just as good, but the color won't be the same.

The flavor of the ice cream will have people guessing. Berry? Cherry? It's definitely fruity, but since plum isn't an obvious choice for ice cream, most folks won't even think of it.

Plum Ice Cream

2 large plums
1/4 cup water
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Wash the plums, cut them in chunks and add them to a medium saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the plums are very soft. Ripe plums will take a lot less time to soften than firmer, less-ripe fruit.

Continue cooking, stirring as needed and mashing the fruit, until the mixture is thick and a little syrupy. This only takes a few minutes.

Let the mixture cool a bit, then pass it though a fine strainer into a medium bowl. Your goal is to have nothing left in the strainer but the skins and pits. Let this cool to room temperature, then add the sweetened condensed milk and stir until combined. Add the milk, salt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice, and stir until well combine. Cover and refrigerate this mixture until well chilled.

When the mixture is chilled, churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. When it is finished churning, transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.
Yum