Peaches are my very favorite fruit, without a doubt. My birthday is in mid-August, exactly the time when peaches hit their peak in my area. It’s serendipitous so to celebrate, I usually buy a big bag at the farmers market and gleefully eat my way through. Nothing makes me happier. This year there was a bit of a kink in this plan. I was in France for my birthday and by the time I got home, peak season had passed. I’d also missed the sour cherries, the apricots and the best of the blueberries but this is the price I pay to travel during the best fruit months of the year. I know this. I accept this.
Truth is, back in France I wasn’t exactly fruitless. I ate easily 25 melons and the nectarines were phenomenal so the two flats I bought at the market were a happy consolation prize. But sometimes funny things happen and it turns out back in the States this season was a bit off, peach-wise. I caught the tail end upon my return and they great. I lucked out.
I devoured a few right away, obviously, and then my thoughts turned to ice cream. I was roasting a boatload of tomatoes so on a whim, a drizzled a few peaches with honey and roasted those too. The heat intensified the flavor nicely, as it’s apt to do. A good peach ice cream isn’t the easiest thing and I’ve made many that were just ok so rather than fold my peaches into a regular vanilla ice cream, I opted to make an old favorite from my restaurant days, one with a sour cream base. Smooth, creamy and with a bit of a tang, it’s a great recipe. A simple whisk of sour cream, vanilla, sugar and lemon brings it together easily with no additional cooking. It is the absolutely perfect base for roasted peaches.
This is some seriously good stuff and you have just enough time to pull it together for your Labor Day celebrations. Throw that ice cream canister in the freezer right now, right this second. Do it. Then get a few peaches, ones that smell like damn peaches. Seriously, take a deep whiff. If they smell like nothing, I guarantee you they will taste like nothing. This holds true for all fruit. When it’s early in the day and not yet hot, roast them off. Or if you have the grill already fired up, that works too. Ideally, the base should be refrigerated overnight but if you don’t have time, just roll with it. If all the ingredients are cold to start, it will be fine.
Then next thing you know, you’ll have a fantastic ice cream. Scoop it into cones or what may be even better, add it to the top of a peach cobbler for some double-peachiness. Then raise a glass high and be thankful another great summer is coming to a close.
STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: RAISE A SPOON. This is outstanding. I have a great recipe elsewhere on this blog for a peach frozen custard that is quite good, but involves making a cooked custard base. This is much, much easier. You do have to roast and puree the peaches but the rest is as simple as whisking some basic grocery store ingredients together. But let me make this clear – the peaches need to be pretty good, full of bright peachy flavor.
Other frozen things: Chocolate Dulce de Leche Swirl Ice Cream, St. John Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Mint Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches, Brown Bread Ice Cream, Horchata Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream, Coconut Tres Leches Ice Cream, Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream, Roasted Cherry Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, Peach Frozen Custard, Sour Cherry Sorbet, Peach Sorbetto, Roasted Banana Sorbet, Roasted Strawberry Sorbet, Blueberries & Cream Popsicles, Avocado Lime Tequila Popsicles, Mexican Chocolate Pudding Pops, Date Shake Popsicles, Strawberry Hibiscus Popsicles, Spicy Pineapple Paletas, Creamsicles
Eight years ago: Panzanella
Seven years ago: Bacon Waffles
Six years ago: Fresh Tomato Tart
Five years ago: Bastille Day Lunch – Figgy BBQ Sauce
Four years ago: Apricot Jam
Three years ago: Fresh Mint Limeade
Two years ago: Mexican Corn Salad
Last year: Caraway Spiced Cottage Cheese
ROASTED PEACH SOUR CREAM ICE CREAM
Makes 1 quart
The recipe is completely dependent on full flavored peaches. If yours are just ok, roast off another one for more peach flavor. While I haven’t tried it, any stone fruit would be lovely in this recipe. Think apricots, nectarines or even plums.
3 large peaches
3 Tablespoons mild honey, such as clover or wildflower
16 ounces sour cream (full fat is best)
1 cup half-and-half
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- For the peaches: Preheat the oven to 375°
- Halve the peaches and place in a roasting pan, cut side up.
- Drizzle with honey and place in the middle rack of the oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes, flip then bake for another 20 minutes until tender and slightly browned.
- When cool enough to handle, slip the skins off and discard.
- Puree the peaches and any accumulated caramelized juices until smooth with an immersion/stick blender or standard blender.
- For the ice cream base: In a medium bowl, whisk the sour cream and half-and-half to combine.
- Whisk in the sugar, vanilla and the peach puree.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight.
- Just before processing, stir in the lemon juice.
- Process in an ice cream machine – about 20-30 minutes until the texture of soft serve.
- While you can certainly eat the ice cream now, it’s better if transferred to a freezer container and freeze to temper for at least 4 hours.
- The ice cream will keep in the freezer for at least 2 months.
STRESSCAKE 
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