BLACKBERRY ICE CREAM

Picking wild summer blackberries along trails in the woods was hot and sweaty.  The berries were tiny but had an intense flavor—the downside?  It took forever to fill a basket.  Cultivated blackberries, on the other hand, are a big, juicy, different story.  Almost the same intense flavor but half the work to fill a basket.  This blackberry ice cream recipe is a great shortcut to one of the joys of summer—no cranking, no machinery, and almost no work!  Big chunks of berry, a couple of sugar cookies—there’s a pretty summer dessert.

1 lb berries—hulled and halved

½ cup sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

2 pints vanilla ice cream

• Mash berries in non-stick skillet—add sugar and lemon
• Boil gently until slightly thickened—about 10 min
• Cool in fridge for about 30 min
• Soften vanilla ice cream at room temp, spread in baking pan
• Drop spoonsful of berries on softened ice cream, and swirl gently—berries should be colorful ribbons through the ice cream
• Fill small molds with mixture and refreeze–—or refreeze in cardboard ice cream containers
• Unmold by dipping molds briefly in hot water and turning out on to individual plates

The Kitchen Hive