Cinnamon Peach Ice Cream

I've been doing it wrong since day 1. 

It was always a mystery to me how even a pack of 2-year-old children could make decent ice cream with baggies and ice - when I had all the darned equipment in the world and couldn't get mine to come out without shards of ice attached to each spoonful. This always disturbed me to the core, and I was a little embarrassed to admit it; heaven forbid asking anyone what I was doing wrong. 

Then I noticed something very specific written in the directions of a bunch of ice-cream recipes I was using, and had completely skipped over each and every time: 

air-tight container. 

I had been covering the container with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or even tried to tape on an ill-fitting lid once. All times the ice cream flavors were there, but the texture was something like chewing on a chunk of raw chicken, freezer burned over more years than you'd dare admit. It was a complete and total tragedy every time, and made me want to throw our ice cream maker right onto the freeway during rush hour. 

This time was going to be different. 

When I saw our pile of beautiful fresh peaches on the counter, I knew right away we needed to use them for ice cream. And this time, I wasn't going to botch the batch with my blonde ways. I purchased a gourmet air-tight tupperware container (okay... it was like $3, and gladware might have been somewhere on the packaging). 

It worked like a charm. The ice cream came out absolutely perfect. Cinnamon and peaches... good heavens. It tasted just like a cozy peach cobbler, and for the first time this year, I couldn't wait for Fall to come our way. 

Too bad I finally figure out how to make a genius batch of ice cream at the END of summer? What is the deal, folks? I guess ice cream can bleed into Fall and Winter - we do have a dollop of peppermint ice cream in our hot chocolate from time to time. 

xo, 

blondie

Cinnamon Peach Ice Cream

ingredients:
2 lbs peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/4 C + 2 T sugar
1/2 t lemon juice
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 C milk
1/2 t ground cinnamon

method:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the peaches, 7 tablespoons of sugar, lemon juice and salt. Cook over medium heat, mashing, until like jam in texture, about 15 minutes and whisk. Cool the sucker until you can stick your finger in it without scalding it.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the peach mixture and refrigerate for 4 hours in an airtight container.
3. Using an ice cream machine, process the peach mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

recipe adapted from: Rachael Ray Magazine, June 2009 Issue