Roasted Apricot Maple Ice Cream

Fresh apricots are roasted with maple syrup, a touch of cardamom and pumpkin pie spice to reduce the liquids and intensify the flavor. With a bit of vanilla, some cream and a touch of apricot brandy, I whipped up a lovely, perfectly creamy, peachy-colored ice cream with a nice little punch of tartness. I really like the balance of tart, sweet and creamy of this ice cream.

Adding a bunch of fresh fruit to an ice cream can sometimes make it crystallize … I didn’t want that. I wanted a creamy ice cream with intense apricot flavor. That’s why I roasted the apricots first. Not only did the roasting fill my house with a dreamy, intoxifying scent, it really reduced the apricots and crystallized the edges. It also brought out the tartness of the apricots. I don’t know if all apricots do this, but these particular apricots are sweet when eaten fresh, but very tart when cooked.

Roasting the apricots definitely had the desired effect: even when frozen hard, this ice cream still stays creamy (although after freezing, you still might want to let it warm just a bit for maximum pleasure). The apricot brandy also helps it stay soft, as alcohol as a lower freezing point. For more on the science of softening and melting ice cream, check out this article from Ben & Jerry’s.

I visited my mom and dad last weekend and dad’s apricot tree is producing little apricots like mad. My dad seemed intent on capturing every apricot that he could. Twice a day they would go out and pick up all the fallen apricots, but dad wanted to pick them off the tree. So he decided to go out and pick apricots and I volunteered to help. He got the ladder up and I handed him the bucket and he filled it and handed it back down. I dumped them into the bigger box we’d brought along and handed the bucket back up. I climbed up the other side of the ladder and picked a few, but being shorter, I couldn’t reach very many.

After moving the ladder several times, he decided he’d gotten all the apricots he could reach, but he looked up and forlornly said “the nicest ones are at the top of the tree”. I couldn’t help myself, I decided I could climb the tree. And so, at 52 years old, here I am, climbing an apricot tree, wedging my feet as high as possible on two sturdy branches, hanging onto a bucket and stretching and reaching as high as I could to get all the apricots I possibly could. I cleaned off a branch that was just loaded with apricots and got several other stray ones. I was tempted to go higher, but a little afraid I would be tempting my luck if I did, so I stopped there. Still, between the two of us, we completely filled the big box we brought out with perfect, unblemished, beautiful apricots.

Well, mom and dad had several more boxes just like the one we’d just filled, chock full of apricots. Of course I had to take a box home with me. And then I started wondering what to DO with all those apricots? My sister said she was going to make apricot ice cream with hers. At the time I wasn’t terribly interested, but after a bit of thought I decided that yeah, apricot ice cream sounds lovely! And besides, July is National Ice Cream month and my ice cream maker has been hibernating in the pantry for WAY too long.

Do you like ice cream? Here are some more homemade ice cream recipes to try: Dad’s fresh, simple vanilla ice cream and 11 other flavors. If you’re looking for an easy vanilla ice cream recipe, seriously, you gotta try my dad’s!

Pro tip: Like peaches, apricots are ripe when they have a little “give” to them when gently pressed with a finger. Another tell-tale sign of ripeness is a bit of pink or redness on the side. If the apricot is rock-hard, it’s not ripe yet. Let it sit on the counter with some bananas until it’s fully ripe. Bananas release a fruit hormone that’s a signal to other fruit that it’s time to ripen up! (It might take a few days.)

Roasted Apricot Maple Ice Cream

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 3 hours

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Ingredients

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For the roasted apricots:

• About 1 lb. apricots, halved, pits removed
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Cardamom

For the ice cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk or fat free half & half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons peach or apricot brandy (optional)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Cut the apricots in half, remove the pit and set them, cut side up, on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of pumpkin pie spice and a tiny bit of cardamom. Drizzle with the maple syrup. Roast at 400 F for 40 minutes.
2. When the apricots are roasted and the edges are a little browned and caramelized, remove the apricots from the oven and set them in the fridge to cool.
3. Once cool, pour the full mixture from the pan into the blender. Add the remaining ice cream ingredients and blend until smooth.
4. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Enjoy as soft serve or move to a container and freeze.

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Notes

If your apricots don’t turn tart after cooking, add a bit of lemon juice if you want a tart twist to your ice cream. This ice cream isn’t overly sweet. Feel free to add sugar if you want a sweeter ice cream. Make sure you like the flavor of the mix before you freeze it.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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This recipe was included in this collection of 7 Homemade Ice Cream Recipes.