Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream

Welcome to Day 3 of Ice Cream Week 2014! Hosts Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen have teamed up with 25 amazing bloggers to bring you ice cream treats all week long . I hope you have as much fun as all of us bloggers. Ice Cream Week is shaping up to be the best week ever!

Peach season in Maryland is still going strong but very soon it will wind-down and I will miss them dearly.  No more daily peaches, yogurt & granola.  No more peaches and ice cream.  No more weekly treat of golden fresh peaches in my CSA. Despite my sadness, I am looking forward to the Fall when new produce will fill up the stands at the farmer’s market. Plus I tried canning peaches for the first time this year, so we will see what happens!

Before peach season ended, I knew I needed to make one more peach ice cream recipe. I have made several peach recipes on Scoop Adventures in the past, so I was looking for a different and creative way to use peaches in ice cream this time around. Through the power of the internet, I discovered that peach pits are a great way to flavor milk or cream (thanks @theBraveTart). The flavor is subtle and heightens the flavor of the peach swirl throughout the ice cream.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

You will notice that the recipe calls for several more peach pits than peaches, so start saving!  Store pits in the refrigerator in a closed container until you are ready to use.

1 1/2 cups whole milk, divided
1 3/4 cups heavy cream, divided
10 peach pits
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup peach swirl (see below)

Warm 1 cup milk, 1 cup cream and peach pits in a medium saucepan.  Once warm (do not boil) remove from heat, cover and let steep at room temperature for one hour.  When steeping is almost complete, fill a large bowl with ice water.  In a small bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch and set aside.

After steeping is complete, return milk mixture to medium heat.  Add remaining 6 Tablespoons milk, remaining 3/4 cup cream and sugar; bring to a boil.  Cook until the sugar dissolves, 3 minutes. Remove milk mixture from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Pour into a medium bowl. Whisk in salt. Set bowl in the ice water bath to cool, 20 minutes, whisking occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Once ice cream base is chilled, strain through a sieve to remove peach pits.  Pour ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Spoon a small layer of peach swirl into a freezer-safe container and lightly spoon a layer of ice cream on top.  Continue to alternate layers of fruit swirl and ice cream until the container is full.  Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Peach Swirl

1/2 pound peaches, skinned and cubed
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Combine peaches and sugar in a glass baking dish.  Toss to coat peaches in sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until juice begins to thicken and tops of peaches start to slightly roast. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate and cool completely before adding to ice cream.

Be sure to swing by all of today’s Ice Cream Week Participants:

• Roasted Blueberry Milkshake by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Cherry Almond Chocolate Ripple Semifreddo by The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• Peach Pit Swirl Ice Cream by Scoop Adventures
• Pumpkin Gelato with Salted Caramel Swirl by The Redhead Baker
• Salted Butter Pecan Brittle Ice Cream by Cookistry
• Lemon Curd Ice Cream by Life Tastes Good
• Pistachio-Cherry No Churn Ice Cream by The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Blueberry Frozen Yogurt by Renee’s Kitchen Adventures
• Raspberry Ripple Buttermilk Gelato by Crumb
• Chocolate Cookies ‘n Cream Milkshake by Love and Confections
• Lazy Leftover Fruit Salad Ice Cream by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Apple Cinnamon Ice Cream by Noshing with the Nolands
• Gluten Free Devil’s Food Ice Cream Cake by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Blueberry-Kiwi Lemonade Shake by The Spiffy Cookie
• Caramel Macchiato Soft Serve Ice Cream by Wishes and Dishes
• Carrot Cake Ice Cream by Mind Over Batter
• Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream by The Gunny Sack
• White Peach Ice Cream with Bourbon Caramel by Quarter Life (Crisis) Cuisine
• No Churn Low Carb Peach Ice Cream from Yours and Mine are Ours