Easy Blackberry Ice Cream (food processor recipe---no ice cream machine needed!)

I used to have an ice cream maker.  It never got used.  The bowl took up too much space in the freezer, and the tiny batches hardly seemed worth the effort, so I yard saled it long ago.  I assumed I was selling my right to homemade ice cream for 2 bucks in exchange for the pleasure of shuffling one less bulky, rarely used machine around my kitchen cabinets.  I thought it was a fair deal.

Until I started noticing all the colorful creative ice cream ideas floating around the Internet and Pinterest.  Then I started feeling sorry for myself.   Jealousy, regret, envy, gluttony.  It was ugly.

And then I came across this idea.

Lights flashed, synapses sparked,  ideas were hatched.  It was beautiful.

I'm continally amazed at what the food processor can do.

I'm going to try this with almond milk, coconut milk, and every fruit and flavoring under the sun.

And I'm going to make up for all those times when I've bought an expensive pint of ice cream and the flavor just wasn't quite what I'd dreamed of.

So here's how it goes:

Blackberry Food Processor Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 6 oz packages blackberries (that have been frozen solid)

• Mix the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves.  Take off the heat and add the milk and vanilla.  
• Cool the mixture and then pour it into a gallon sized zip lock bag.  You can set the bag in a bowl to make this easier.  Close the bag securely and lay it flat on a baking sheet.  Put it in the freezer and freeze solid.  I left mine overnight.
• Cut open the bag and break up the mixture into pieces.  I used a knife to cut off chunks.  Put them in a food processor and process until smooth.  This will take a couple of minutes.  Scrape down the machine and redistribute the chunks a few times to help your machine out.  
• When the machine runs freely and the ice cream is smooth, add in the frozen berries.  The machine will take a while, but it will eventually get all the berries pureed into the ice cream.  Redistribute the berries a few times during the process.
• Scrape the ice cream into a loaf pan and smooth it out.  Cover with foil and place back in the freezer until firm enough to scoop.

Notes:  Work fairly quickly, without making yourself crazy.  The smaller you can break up the initial frozen ice cream mix, the easier it will be for your processor to work with.  I will try processing the frozen berries first, next time, to see if that makes things a little easier.  I almost added some dark chocolate chunks to this, I think that would be amazing.

My first attempt went so well.  The ice cream was smooth and had great blackberry flavor.  Of course you will bite down on the little blackberry seeds, so if you don't like that you could choose another fruit, or just go with vanilla.  

I don't think, without kids in the house, I want to invest in another ice cream maker when there are so many other more useful gadgets out there to spend my money on.  So, now and then when I get inspired, I'm going to love this.  I need somebody to help me eat up this batch so I can start on another!

One year ago today---

Pistachio Crusted Flounder