Peach Ice Cream
Once you know how easy it is to make your own ice cream, you’ll look for any occasion to whip up a batch. All it takes are a few basic ingredients (namely, sweetened condensed milk and heavy whipping cream) plus the right multi-purpose kitchen equipment. Since it’s summer and peaches are at their best, we’re making homemade peach ice cream. But if you’re just in the mood for vanilla, or don’t have a KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Stand Mixer, leave out the peaches and add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract for flavour. What could be simpler?
When you make ice cream in an ice cream machine, the machine churns the mixture to gently aerate it while freezing it slowly at the same time. This simple no-churn ice cream is aerated to create a similar result by beating heavy whipping cream with a KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Stand Mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or a large bowl with a KitchenAid® 5-Speed Ultra Power™ Hand Mixer. It’s best to beat the cream on medium speed until it holds soft peaks, rather than cranking up the mixer to high speed. Whipping the cream more slowly creates a more stable whipped cream that is less likely to deflate when you mix in the other ingredients. And if you’re ever making whipped cream and you find that you’ve over beaten it, all is not lost! Just add more chilled cream by the tablespoonful and beat slowly until smooth.
The pitted and peeled peaches are processed in a KitchenAid® 7-Cup Food Processor with the sweetened condensed milk until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Pureed peaches, unlike some fruits with higher moisture content, tend to be relatively creamy when they’re frozen. They will freeze more solid than the heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk, both of which have very little moisture content (water freezes solid, while fat and sugar don’t). But the combination of pureed peaches with the sweetened condensed milk and heavy whipping cream makes for a creamy, flavourful cream that melts in your mouth.
The ice cream will be at its full volume when you put it into a 2-quart container and then into the freezer. After about 4 hours (no peeking!), the ice cream should be at or nearly at the proper consistency. If you like your ice cream more firm, just leave it in the freezer overnight. If it feels a bit too firm for easy scooping when you’re ready to serve, just let it sit at room temperature for up to 30 minutes for it to begin to soften.
Be sure to use 1 full pound of pitted and peeled peaches, or you won’t taste the full, bright peach flavour. The recipe calls for white peaches, since they will keep the ice cream bright white in colour. I also find that the flavour of white peaches is generally a little more intense. But yellow peaches will still taste delicious!
Peach Ice Cream
Gluten Free No Churn Peach Ice CreamMakes 2 quarts ice cream
INGREDIENTS:
1 pint (16 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 pound pitted and peeled fresh white peaches, roughly chopped (about 5 medium peaches)
14 ounces (1 small can) sweetened condensed milk
DIRECTIONS:
In the bowl of your KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Stand Mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or a large bowl with your KitchenAid® 5-Speed Ultra Power™ Hand Mixer fitted with the whisk attachments, place the chilled whipping cream. Beat on medium speed until the cream holds soft peaks. Place the whipped cream in the refrigerator to chill.
In the bowl of your KitchenAid® 7-Cup Food Processor, place the peaches and sweetened condensed milk and process on high speed until smooth (about 2 minutes).
Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and pour the peaches and milk mixture along the side of the bowl slowly, folding the ingredients together carefully so as not to deflate the whipped cream.
Transfer the mixture carefully to a 2-quart freezer-safe container with a lid, cover tightly and place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or until firm. Serve chilled. If the ice cream is at all difficult to scoop, allow it to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften.
