Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream
If I'm honest, this is the real reason for this blog. Or rather, it's the first recipe I ever wrote. Just so you don't get scared off, I'll lead with the information that this was an all day process, but a huge amount of that time was "resting", which I'll explain as we go along.
This recipe was born in the middle of summer when ice cream is the first thought on my mind, and the biggest goal I had was to make sure that the blackberry flavour really "hit you in the face", and that can be hard when you're not using artificial flavourings.
So my husband asked, "what if you brewed some blackberry flavoured tea into the ice cream base. My husband is a certified genius, and this was no different. We grabbed Celestial Seasonings' Berry Zinger tea off the shelf and headed to the cooking stove!
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I knew I was going to follow a traditional ice cream custard recipe and adapt it to fit that ketogenic lifestyle. That meant, I needed to use less actual berries so I could drop the final carb count. In order to draw out as much liquid and flavour from the berries, I "macerated" them in erythritol.
For those who don't know, maceration is like marination, but with sugar. If you sprinkle sugar on fruit and let it sit, you'll see that after at little bit, the juice will start to come out of the berries, and create syrup of its own
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Retrieved from Flickr
A little research led me to discover that granulated erythritol would have a similar response! Just crush the berries a little and you'll see the exact same response!
Armed with this information and an ice cream maker I'd never used (if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pour the final mixture into a casserole dish and freeze it), I added 2 cups of heavy cream (33% is my preference) to a sauce pan with ½ cup of granulated erythritol and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
I heated this to where it was steaming, but not boiling (never boil milk. It will make you sad). Add 5 berry-flavoured tea bags to the milk and simmer them for 10 minutes. Then take the cream off the heat and let it sit with the tea bags in it until it reaches room temperature -- about 30 minutes.
While that sits, crush 1 cup of blackberries lightly and toss them with ¼ cup of erythritol. Let that sit while the tea steeps into the cream.
Once the tea is room temperature, take the tea bags out, but squeeze as much liquid out of each bag as you can. Then, dump the berries and the juice that's been extracted by the erythritol into the tea and bring the milk back up to a simmer.
Simmer the berries for 5-10 minutes, continuing to crush the berries on the side. That way, as much juice and flavour is imparted into the cream. Again, take the milk off the heat and let it sit until it comes back to room temperature.
Once the berry mixture has cooled completely, strain the berries out. Keep both parts, but separately.
Return the liquid to the stove (last time, I promise) and heat it back up to simmering. Add ¼ cup of butter and let it melt while stirring. Meanwhile, separate 2 eggs, and whisk the yolks in a separate bowl until they become light in colour.
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Using a ¼ cup measure, remove some of the hot cream, and add it very slowly to the eggs. This is called tempering, and it makes it so the eggs don't cook when you add them to the stove. Once the full ¼ c is added and the mixture is frothy and white, add the eggs into the cream.
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Continue to cook the custard over medium-low heat until it thickens and easily coats the back of a spoon. That happens at about 175ºF, and takes about 10-15 minutes.
Take the cream off the heat and chill it for at least 30 minutes (but overnight is better).
Add the berries to a food processor and blend them until they're smooth.
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When the custard has chilled, add 2 tablespoon total of MCT oil and/or vodka. This is really important!! Erythritol has stronger bonds than sugar does, so ice creams made with erythritol tend to freeze a lot harder than your typical ice cream. the MCT oil and vodka raise the melting point, and lets you eat your treat sooner. My personal preference on this is 1 tablespoon each, but you can choose 2 tablespoons of either.
Pour the custard into your ice cream maker, and add the blackberry puree before you start the ice cream maker.
Turn on the maker and make according to manufacturer instructions!
Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream
Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes Servings: 8 Calories: 282 kcal
3 net carbs per serving
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup erythritol, separated
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 bags berry-flavoured tea
- 1 cup blackberries
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 Tbsp MCT oil
- 1 Tbsp vodka
Instructions
- Heat cream, ½ c. erythritol, and vanilla extract over medium-low heat until steaming.
- Add tea bags and simmer, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow to steep with the tea bags in it for about 30 minutes
- Meanwhile, crush the blackberries gently and toss with the remainder of the erythritol. Allow to rest while cream cools.
- Once the cream mixture has cooled, remove the tea bags and return to heat until steaming.
- Add berries and juice to the cream and simmer until berries impart flavour and colour into the mixture. About 5 minutes.
- Remove berry and cream mixture and allow to cool another 30 minutes.
- Strain the mixture into a bowl and reserve both parts (cream and berries)
- Return liquid to stove and melt the butter while stirring constantly.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks until they become light in colour.
- Add a small amount of the hot cream mixture to your yolks and whisk to temper. Once the yolks are tempered, add them to the cream mixture on the stove.
- Stir over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon (175º F)
- Pour the cream into a bowl and place in a refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Add the reserved berries to a food processor or blender and process to desired smoothness. Place the berries in the refrigerator to chill with cream mixture.
- Once the cream has chilled, whisk MCT oil and Vodka into the mixture. Add the blackberry puree to the mixture.
- Add to your ice cream maker and allow to freeze according to manufacturer instructions.