It’s berry season! Besides strawberries, I love blackberries the most. Some months ago, a good friend sent us Graeter’s ice cream and one of the flavors we received was Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip so this is a recreation of that with one potential variation. When Ryann tasted this, he was instantly transported to summer memories of picking wild berries with his grandparents and making milkshake with them. So we named this ice cream after his Bamma, which is how he called his grandma.
Ingredients:
- 24 oz. fresh blackberries
- 1.25 cups sugar, divided
- Juice of 0.5 lemon
- 2 cups half and half
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons of vodka (optional)
Mix-ins (these are optional because the ice cream is even delicious without any mix-ins):
- 4 oz. semisweet chocolate, or all the below:
- 0.25 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 0.4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 0.5 cup all-purpose flour
- 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 0.25 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- If you haven’t yet, put the container of your ice cream maker in the freezer the day before you make the ice cream. You want them to be as cold as possible. I tend to keep mine in the freezer regardless of my plans because you never know when the mood strikes.
- Combine the blackberries, 0.25 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until the blackberries are broken down and syrupy. This should take about 20-30 minutes. Make sure not to overcook it, you do not need a very thick syrup. Let it cool and then using a strainer, strain the solids out, squeezing out as much juice as possible. You should end up with 1.25-1.5 cup of syrup. You can discard the solids but I do like incorporating some of them into the ice cream later on, so keep or toss is dealer’s choice.
- Heat the half and half and remaining sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. In a mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until the yolks are pale yellow. Temper the eggs by putting in some of the warm half and half into the yolks, one ladleful at a time, while whisking constantly. Once the egg yolks are tempered, combine it with the remaining half and half and cook for about 5 more minutes until it thickens. Make sure to stir constantly.
- In a separate mixing bowl (or use the same on you used before, everything is going to be combined anyway), combine the blackberry syrup and cream. Pour in the warm half and half and egg yolks mixture through a strainer (to catch any potential bits of egg yolk) and stir to combine well. If you have time, refrigerate this mixture overnight. If you don’t have time, cool it down as much as possible by submerging the bowl into a larger bowl with ice water.
- While you wait for the custard mixture to cool, prepare your mix-ins if you would like to use them. The first variation is easy enough: chop the chocolate into small-ish chunks (about the size of chocolate chips) and set aside in the fridge to keep it cool.
- For the other mix-in variation: Preheat the oven to 275°F. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and prepare a sheet pan lined with silpat or parchment paper. Using your hand, make clumps of the streusel and scatter them in one layer on the sheet pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until it they dry out. Let cool and then store in an airtight container, preferably in the fridge as well.
- Churn the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s instructions, mixing in the vodka (flavored vodka totally optional as well). Note here that vodka is totally optional but I recommend it for homemade ice cream as it will keep it soft in the freezer. If you choose to mix in chocolate, you can put the chocolate chips during the churning process as well.
- If you choose to mix in streusel, layer it in after you are done churning. While the ice cream is still in soft-serve consistency, put it in the container of your choice, alternately layering with streusel. By the way, another easy mix-in is rough chopped graham crackers (about one cup or so). There is usually a hint of cinnamon in graham crackers which is in the streusel and pairs very well with blackberries.
- Make sure to freeze your ice cream is completely frozen, at least overnight, before you serve it to your loved ones or your not-so loved ones. Depending on how long you churn and how much mix-ins, you should end up with about 6 cups of ice cream total.
A Dash of Yoyo 