If you guys follow me on instagram, you’ll know that our family recently went blueberry picking at Bybee Farms in North Bend. We must’ve been too invigorated by the fresh mountain air, because we ended up picking 5.5 lbs. Oops. I asked for recommendations on instagram for what to make with all those blueberries, and then I pretty much ignored them all, deciding to make ice cream. But being the millennial I am, plain blueberry ice cream was never going to cut it. After a little pinterest-ing, I present you with BLUEBERRY BASIL HONEY ICE CREAM!
A little warning about this ice cream recipe…
Okay, I need to be VERY honest. This recipe is a mess. I have not perfected it in the least. I started off using this blueberry basil ice cream recipe I found from another blog. But as I was making it, I kept running into problems. My eggs were curdling… the basil flavor was too strong for me… the sweetness was too low… By the time I finished making all my modifications, it was a totally different recipe. *emoji shrug* So the recipe I am giving you below is a total first draft. If you make this, PLEASE let me know what went well and what went wrong. You’ll officially become a recipe tester/developer for me. I’m mostly recording this so that if I go back and make it again, I know where to make tweaks.
All that being said, everyone in my family REALLY enjoyed this ice cream! Maybe it’s hard to go wrong when it comes to frozen sweet treats. But I think you need to try for yourself!
Blueberry, Basil, and Honey Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups blueberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1.5 tsp powdered gelatin
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tbsp chopped basil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
- Place the blueberries, water, and sugar in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until all the blueberries have exploded into a purply sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but not necessarily as thick as jam. Set aside to cool.
- While the blueberries are cooling, bloom the gelatin in 1 tbsp of the milk.
- Place the rest of the milk, heavy cream, basil, and salt into a pot. Heat until steaming.
- Add the bloomed gelatin into the milk mixture and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Then, take the mixture off the heat. Do not let the mixture boil.
- Stir the blueberry sauce back into the mixture and add the vanilla.
- Strain the whole concoction into a bowl or pitcher to get rid of basil leaves and blueberry skins. Let cool. You can keep this mixture in the fridge, covered, until ready to churn.
- When ready, pour your blueberry ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine and churn according to the machine's instructions. I like to add in my 1/4 cup honey as the ice cream is close to being done churning, so I get some honey swirls that don't fully incorporate, but you can add the honey at any time.
- Scoop churned ice cream into a container and freeze for at least two hours to firm up, or serve immediately at soft serve consistency.
In the future I’m considering finding some way to incorporate freeze dried blueberries for extra blueberry flavor. I’m also not quite sure that I even like the blueberry basil pairing here… maybe blueberry lavender would be better? What do you guys think? Are you interested in more ice cream recipes? Let me know in the comments or send me a message on instagram!