Homemade Blackberry Ice Cream!

I love homemade ice cream, especially when there are great fruits in season. About a month ago, I found some great, big beautiful blackberries, and I decided to make blackberry ice cream! Yes, this is a indulgence, not for those on a "diet" :) But hey, everything in moderation, right?

I have a Cuisinart automatic ice cream maker but this recipe should really work with any ice cream maker.

1 and 1/2 cups, blackberries, lightly smashed

1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 and 1/2 cups whole milk

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar (you can add a little more if you like sweeter, I like it a little more tart)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Smash the berries with a mash potato smasher or chop with a large knife. I left it a little chucky because I like small chucks of fruit, but smash as much as you like.

Combine milk and cream in a medium saucepan and heat until it almost boils about 5-8 minutes. Reduce to heat to low.

Meanwhile beat egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in small bowl until light yellow and smooth, about 1-2 minutes.

Important: Add four tablespoons of hot milk/cream mixture to the egg mixture in the bowl, stirring while adding. This helps temper the liquid, so that you don't get scrambled egg ice cream, eww! Then slowly add the tempered egg mixture to the hot cream/milk mixture in the saucepan, stir while adding it to avoid scrambled eggs!

Cook over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 3-4 minutes.

Cool completely (or else it will melt your ice maker ice bowl or ice and never turn into perfectly frozen and fluffy ice cream). When cool add the berries and stir until combined.

Pour into ice cream maker, and let it run for about 45 minutes or longer, until it is thick and fluffly, like what ice cream should look like, it shouldn't be drippy. But keep in mind it will not look as hard as store bought ice cream. It will be better! It is best right when it is done, but you can put it in a air tight container and store it in the freezer.

Little tip I learned, make sure your ice cream maker is not in a hot kitchen, or near a heat source, like a stove that is being used, or your ice cream will never quite set! That may be obvious to some, but not to me. I was hosting a dinner party a while back, and homemade ice cream was the dessert and it never set because I had been using the stove and oven cooking away for the dinner party. The kitchen was just too warm. So no ice cream for us...just berry soup :) The key is just get the ice or ice cream maker as cold and frozen as possible.