The love affair with the ice cream maker continues…
I’ve been awash in figs the last few weeks trying to take advantage of the wonderful Black Mission and Honey figs that have been showing up at our local farmers market. Mostly they have been destined to become versions of the same fig jam we made last year to give to friends during Christmas. (I have a new recipe to foist on friends coming soon to this blog so stay tuned!)
Last week’s batch got a much different treatment as I stretched my husband’s notion of ice cream just a bit. The idea of vinegar in ice cream might strike you as odd but the knowledge that a drizzling of balsamic on fresh berries i enhances much of their flavor is now pretty well known. This just takes it a bit further. Its not the kind of ice cream flavor you want too eat several scoops of all by itself (I might!) but a small amount served with berries is extremely elegant and refreshing! And just look how pretty fig ice cream is!
Fig Balsamic Ice Cream
This is what you will need:
- 2 lbs black mission figs
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 6 tablespoons water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns, wrapped in a sachet.
This is how you make it:
- Remove stems from figs and quarter them.
- Put figs in a medium, non reactive saucepan with, water, peppercorns, and sugars.
- Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until figs are tender and mixture gets jam like.
- Stir in vinegar and remove from heat, let cool.
- Remove peppercorns.
- Once cool, add mixture to blender and pulse.
- Add cream and lemon juice to taste then puree mixture until thoroughly blended and smooth.
- Chill mixture thoroughly in refrigerator and them freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Cannot believe you beat me to this! I made mind without an balsamic–just a vanilla base with pureed fig. It tasted great but lacks the vibrant color you have here. Yours is much prettier!
This looks like a stunning creation!
-bg
I am surprised by the color, I thought it would be a deeper purple. But this looks delish! I’m sure the fig and the rich balsamic go wonderfully together!
Oh la- la la- la! This looks so colorful and divine! You could have come over and picked the figs from my tree.
The color benefits from the addition of cream which let the vibrant fig color pop and the fact that I am actually using a flash in both photos, the machine, and the outside photo. I think the photo in the machine is truer to the actual color. It was even more vibrant before adding the balsamic.
Cindy, I hope you will still post. I love all things fig ’cause of you!
This look amazing! I have yet to find fresh figs here and it’s driving me nuts. I love the dried ones but I’d like to have a fresh one or two or four…
I actually have a fig balsalmic vinegar on hand…I”ll have to see if I can find decent fresh figs.
Oh my God. This looks killer. The addition of pepper is brilliant. I can’t wait to try it. And the color is amazing. Loved it….Beth