Valentine’s Day Dessert: Grilled Peaches and Bourbon Ice Cream
February 9, 2012
Curt McAdams of LiveFireOnline.com dishes up a romantic concoction of bourbon, grilled peaches and ice cream for an unbelievable Valentine’s Day dessert!
My wife and I had a gift card (thanks, Maggie and Jud!), and decided to use it to get an ice cream maker that works with our mixer. And, since we now had the ice cream maker, we had to try it out!
I was trying to think of what ice cream to make, and realized that good peaches are available right now. And I love grilled peaches, so I figured I should look for a recipe with grilled peaches. The first one I found was by Russell on Chasing Delicious, and it looked like a good starting point.
Russell’s recipe called for honeyed peaches that were grilled, and he added in cinnamon crumbles, too, which sound great, as I love cinnamon. However, I had something a little different in mind. Instead of taking the honey/cinnamon approach, I decided on pairing the peaches with bourbon! Ok, that’s not a surprise if you read the title of the post, but it still sounded like a great idea.
The recipe is pretty simple, but it does take time to let things refrigerate and freeze, so, if you try this, don’t expect it to be ready right away. Anyway, back to the recipe:
- 4 peaches, ripe and cut in half
- About 4 ounces Bourbon of your choosing (I use Maker’s Mark)
- 2 tbsp Turbinado sugar to dust peach halves
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half and half
- 6 large egg yolks
- 9 ounces Turbinado sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Lay the peach halves on a cookie sheet and drizzle with about half the bourbon and the 2 tbsp Turbinado sugar,and let the peaches sit for half an hour to let the bourbon soak in.
While the peaches are waiting, get a medium hot fire going on a grill. This can be gas or charcoal. When the grill is ready, place the peaches cut side down on the grill for a couple of minutes, just until the peaches get a nice char to them. Turn the peaches over and let the skin side char for 1-2 minutes, then remove and let the peaches cool.
Place the peach halves in a blender to puree, and refrigerate the puree. Heat the half and half and cream just to the point of steaming, but not bubbling at all. Whip the egg yolks until light yellow, and gradually add the 9 ounces of sugar. Once this is done, start slowly adding the dairy to the egg yolks, stirring as you add to temper the egg yolks, otherwise you’ll get cooked egg pieces. If you don’t like egg drop ice cream, you want to do this! Put the mixture of egg yolks, sugar and dairy over a medium fire and heat to just a simmer for about 4 minutes. Remove from the stove and add in the grilled peach puree and the rest of the bourbon, stirring well. Put the mixture in the fridge for at least a couple hours, placing it in the lowest part of the fridge in the back to get it the coldest you can.
Since we were using the ice cream maker, it had already been put in the freezer, set to the coldest setting, for about 2 days. The directions say at least 15 hours, and, supposedly, some people just leave the bowl in the freezer when not in use so it’s always ready. It’s easy to put the attachment for the paddle on the mixer. I let the mixer run on the lowest setting (stir) for about 25 minutes.
This is where things didn’t work quite right… I don’t think the bowl was cold enough. it’s an insulated bowl filled with liquid that freezes the ice cream while the paddle stirs it to keep crystals from forming. With it not quite cold enough, the mixture never got as thick as I wanted it. Next time, I’m going to get the freezer even colder if I can adjust it lower, and I’m going to put the mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes to cool it more, too, hopefully freezing it faster.
We still ladled the ice cream into containers and froze it. The results are a thicker ice cream, and, if we let it melt a little bit, it’s actually quite creamy.
And the grilled peach/bourbon flavor? Well, that part worked very well!
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This s great stuff Great recipe. I'm definitely going to try this. One thought though is that partially to blame here may be the half and half. I once made ice cream using skim milk and the ice cream also didn't properly form. Half and half being half milk and half cream should't have this problem, but I am thinking that when you use half and half instead of whole milk you may need to increase the amount of heavy cream in this recipe.
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O M G ! I have been doing well on a diet until I saw this recipe! My mouth is watering already and I can't wait to try it!!
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