Peachy Keen Ice Cream

Tweet

I got some peaches this week from "the peach guy". If you lived in my town you'd know exactly who I'm talking about. He's the guy with a roadside stand and all he sells is peaches. Every year from about mid-June till the end of August, he sets up his tent on the side of a busy road, sells only peaches, and is know as "the peach guy". Well I heard from various people that the peach guy had great peaches this year. So of course I had to go check it out. The peaches are really great this year, everything you want in a peach, sweet, peachy, and totally delicious. If you lived where I live or anywhere at all in the South, then you'd also know that it's been about 1000 degrees for several weeks now. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, it's just felt like it 1000 degrees. It's been too hot for cooking much of anything. Uncooked, cold or frozen are the only appetizing foods to me this time of the year. What better to do with fabulous fresh peaches, then to make some ice cream.
I usually turn to David Lebovitz and The Perfect Scoop,  when I'm looking for a great ice cream recipe. He's my "ice cream guy." I especially like his fruit based ice cream recipes because they let the fruit be the star. I wanted an ice cream that would let these peaches shine. His peach ice cream sounded like a winner and didn't involve much actual cooking so no need to stand over a hot stove. That was definitely an added bonus!

Peach Ice Cream
(Printable recipe)

Source: David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop, adapted

4 large ripe peaches
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Beautiful ripe peaches!

Cut into chunks

Peel the peaches, slice them in half, and remove the pits.  Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with the water in a medium, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring once or twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Adding the sugar

Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar, then cool to room temperature.
Puree the cooked peaches and any liquid in a blender or food processor with the yogurt, heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon juice until almost smooth but slightly chunky.

Turing it into ice cream!

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you want firmer ice cream, remove from ice cream maker and freeze for several hours or overnight.
The original recipe called for sour cream, but I had Greek yogurt on hand and substituted that for the sour cream. I think it gave the ice cream a nice tangy flavor. I also topped mine with some chopped pistachio nuts. I love the salty crunch they add to the ice cream.

I don't know how the term "peachy keen" came to be, but it means something is really wonderful and I think it describes this ice cream perfectly!