Our Apricot Ice Cream is really ours, because we harvested the apricots from our own apricot trees. My friend Jane gifted us with a few apricot tree saplings a few years ago. The variety that she grows fares better in northeastern Connecticut than other varieties, which flower earlier in the spring when there’s still a danger of frost. I was so excited – our own apricots! I had been making Apricot Amaretto Jam from the recipe in Eugenia Bone’s cookbook, Well-Preserved, for years, so that’s what I had in mind for our very first harvest.
It took a couple of years for the trees to grow and begin producing fruit. I was surprised, and not a little distressed, by the first harvest. Our apricots are the clingstone variety, not the freestone variety that I had been buying at the grocery store. I had expected to be able to just slice across the fruit and pop out the pit. However, with clingstone apricots, you must painstakingly pare the flesh away from the pit, which is an extremely time-consuming process. I tried using a paring knife; I gave up. Ron stepped in, and went at it with a cleaver – no lie!
Since then, only one of the trees have survived. But still, with just that one big, beautiful tree, we harvested so much fruit this year – we filled only of those large tub trugs! Ron sat outside oh the patio, hacking away with the cleaver for over two hours. So what to do with so many apricots? Apricot Ice Cream, of course!
As with any crop, every harvest is different. Our apricots aren’t terribly sweet this year. They’re sweet and juicy enough for snacking, but the flavor is a bit muted. Probably because of all the rain in early August that was followed by dry, hot days. Typically, adding vanilla extract is enough to enhance the apricot essence. But this year I needed something more. My friend Richard suggested adding Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur, which would have been fantastic, but all I had on hand was amaretto, so I used that.
I’ve watched a few instructional videos on YouTube about how to properly scoop ice cream so that you end up with beautifully consistent scoops. It’s not difficult, but the process wasn’t intuitive to me. You don’t need to drag the scoop across the ice cream in one long, continuous pull. You do one long scrape, then roll the ball and make little scoops at the same time, forming a perfect little orb. This Apricot Ice Cream is so luscious (I couldn’t resist using that word again), that it deserves a beautiful presentation. Enjoy!
Apricot Ice Cream
Equipment
- 11-cup (or larger) food processor
- ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 1 pound ripe apricots (roughly chopped with pits removed)
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ t salt
- 1 t lemon juice
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup half and half
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1 t amaretto
Instructions
- Freeze the ice cream maker bowl – Be sure to stash the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer for at least 24 hours in advance of churning the ice cream.
- Prep and cook the apricots – Puree the apricots in the food process. You're looking for a super-smooth puree so that you can extract as much of that lovely apricot flavor as possible. Add the apricots, sugar, salt, and lemon juice to a saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves. Cook for 20 more minutes, until thick and glossy. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl and stash in the fridge until cooled completely.
- Stir in the dairy and vanilla – Stir in the heavy cream, half and half, milk, amaretto (or apricot liqueur), and vanilla.
- Churn and Freeze – Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker while it is running, and churn for 15-20 minutes. The mixture will expand as it freezes, so let it churn until the ice cream completely fills the bowl. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours.
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It was a real treat. So creamy and delicious. Thank you for sharing it with book club.
It was my pleasure!