I love foraging for blackberries, and I’ve got a few things that I like to make with them. It’s nice to make them last in to autumn, so this is a great way of doing just that! This recipe for the ultimate blackberry ice cream is a recent edition to my list of blackberry recipes, and it is adapted from the ultimate vanilla ice cream that I posted a while back. It makes a beautiful, fruity and creamy ice cream. Yum! You need to be a bit prepared in advance with some elements, which is indicated below. It’s worth it though, I promise!

Ingredients

450g fresh blackberries (or frozen ones, defrosted)

2-3 tbsp cold water

284ml carton double cream

300ml full fat milk

115g golden caster sugar

3 large free-range egg yolks

have lots of ice cubes at the ready

Method

1. Put the canister from the machine into the freezer a day before you want to make the ice cream. Make sure that you have some ice in the freezer too.

2. Wash the blackberries and put them into a medium-sized pan, along with 2-3tbsp cold water. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat, allowing to simmer for about 20 minutes or until very soft.

3. Place into a food processor or blender and whizz up very well. Take care here because the fruit is really hot! Once blended, pour through a fine sieve with a bowl underneath, making sure there are no seeds in the bowl. Allow to cool and then transfer to a plastic container, and place in the fridge overnight (or until you’re ready to make the ice cream).

4. When you’re ready to begin, pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan, and add half of the sugar. Heat the mixture over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it almost boils. It’s ready when you can see a few bubbles at the edge. Turn off the heat to allow to cool a little.

5. Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the rest of the sugar and beat with an electric hand beater for about 2 minutes until the mixture has thickened. It should be paler in colour and falls in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters.

6. Using a measuring jug, scoop out about 125ml/4fl oz of the cream mixture and beat into the egg yolks to slacken them. Then pour this into the remaining cream mixture and mix well.

7. Return the pan to a low heat and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. The custard needs to be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Watch that it doesn’t boil – it should be ready as soon as you see any bubbles about to burst to the surface. At this point, take the pan off the heat so the mixture doesn’t curdle.

8. Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl, then sit it in a bigger bowl one third full of iced water to cool (this takes about 20 minutes). You can just put the pan into a bowl of iced water if it fits. Stir occasionally to stop a skin forming. Put the bowl of custard in the fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight, so it gets really cold.

9. Get the ice cream machine running, then slowly pour in the cold custard and the blackberry mixture. Leave it to churn for 10-30 minutes (depending on your machine). When it stops, it is probably too soft to eat, so spoon into a plastic container. Cover with cling film, then a lid (we only used a lid), and freeze for a minimum of 3 hours. (It will keep in the freezer for 3 months but don’t take it out, then refreeze.) Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Don’t forget to add some sprinkles!

To make it by hand

In step 1, heat the milk and half the sugar without the cream (the custard will be slightly thicker). At the start of step 6, whip the cream so it’s light and floppy, not too stiff, and fold it into the cold custard. Freeze for 3-4 hours, stirring once an hour until almost frozen, then freeze as above.

If you’d like to find out more about our ice cream maker (which was a real bargain!), have a look at my ultimate vanilla ice cream post. Just scroll to the bottom of that to find out more!

How to serve the ultimate blackberry ice cream

This ice cream is delicious served on its own, although we added some white chocolate stars which were yummy! They also look pretty good too against that gorgeous purple. It also goes amazingly with apple crumble! We often make apple and blackberry crumble, but switching the blackberries from the crumble to the ice cream worked so well. Yum!

I said at the start of this post that this is a way of making blackberries last int autumn, but to be honest, this is just too good not to eat! 🙂 Enjoy!