Pinsanity! Uber Lemon Ice Cream

Sarah and I are not only insane for Pinterest, we also are insane for lemons. Since I have a lemon tree that produces the tart treats all year round I thought it appropriate to try a lemon recipe for this installment of our Pinsanity! series. While browsing Pinterest we both fell for this recipe called Uber Lemon Ice Cream and had to try it. Sarah made the original recipe from Evelyne at cheapethniceatz.com and I did the modified version that was posted by Katrina at bakingandboys.com. Here is the modified recipe I followed from Katrina:

• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 3 lemons
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups cold heavy cream
• 2 cups cold 2% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 drops of yellow food coloring (optional)

I sure do like simple recipes (and my electric ice cream maker). Ready? Here we go!

My lemons were a little small so I did four instead of three, plus I like a good lemony kick. I don’t have a nifty citrus reamer so I do it the Jamie Oliver way – with my hands. Messy, yes, but very easy and quick and one less thing to wash up.

The recipe does not give a specific measurement for lemon juice so I hope the 3/4 cup yield I got will be alright.

I then combined and warmed up the lemon juice and sugar and whisked until it was dissolved.

The best part – heavy cream. I wish I could drink this stuff by the gallon. Instead of 2% milk, I used 1 cup of whole and 1 cup nonfat. I figured it would give me a richer ice cream and not affect the original recipe too much. More fat in ice cream is a good thing, right?

I added the the warm mixture very slowly to the cold dairy and let it whirl when both were the same temperature. I was going to add a couple drops of food coloring but I didn’t have any. Added that to my grocery list this week.

When combined I simply put it in my pre-chilled ice cream container and it was time to churn, baby churn! About 20ish minutes later my ice cream was ready to put into the freezer. I licked the beater to get a preview of things to come. Heaven. Pure lemony heaven. What’s the final result?

This ice cream is wonderful. It has a fresh, bright taste of lemon as you would find in a sorbet yet it’s creamy. I love it! The true test came when my husband took a taste. His exact words were, “Mmmmm. Good. Really good!” This is certainly something we’ll be making again and again.

As I mentioned earlier, Sarah made the original version of this recipe. Her opinion?   “The first version of the ice cream (recipe here) uses less cream and milk, upping the lemon quotient.  If you really, really love lemon, pucker up and go for it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  The ice cream had a strong, tart  lemon flavor and was, in our opinion, delicious.”