Ice cream. Most people consider it a summer treat. I could eat ice cream year round. Negative ten degrees outside, I’ll still eat it. Maybe that’s eccentric…but honestly, I don’t care. Ice cream is good food. Sweet, creamy, cold, it satisfies so many cravings at once. But ice cream can be boring. Chocolate, vanilla, are the classics. But if you’ve never had an ice cream that might sound a little weird, you know, like blood orange and thyme, you are seriously missing out. Flavor bombs disguised as ice cream are where it’s at!
When I was little, both of my parents worked, and I spent a lot of time with my grandma. I have so many memories of my formative years with her, like cuddling in the rocking chair sucking lemons, to my favorite, sharing orange creamscicle bars in lawn chairs in her backyard in Detroit.
Blood orange season is coming to an end, fresh herbs are coming up in the garden, and the weather is warm and will create drips of ice cream down your hands if don’t devour it quick enough. It’s the perfect time to make blood orange and thyme ice cream.
Flavor
Blood oranges are different from your typical navel orange. And in my opinion, in all the best ways. Blood oranges have deep red flesh that exudes a dark pink/red juice. That juice has all all the citrus flavor of your typical orange, but with distinct raspberry notes. I personally feel that blood orange flavor is more mellow, but more complex than a typical orange.
Thyme. When most people think of thyme, they think of roast chicken or other savory dishes. Often with lemon. But thyme actually pairs really well with both lemon, orange, grapefruit, and lime. All the citrus.
Pairing the thyme with the blood orange juice in this recipe are a natural compliment to each other, bringing out the best in all the flavors. If you’re worried about this ice cream will taste too herbal, the thyme is a background flavor. Just a little something to make your taste buds say, “Hummm, what’s that? That’s unique. And damn it’s good!”
A note on churning…
When I first got my ice cream maker, I had absolutely no idea when the ice cream was sufficiently churned. Different recipes had different churn times. I would start by churning ice cream for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes check it. It should be the consistency of soft serve when it’s done churning. If it is too soft at 20 minutes, keep churning checking back every 5 minutes, looking for that soft serve like texture. This texture will allow the ice cream to be easily moved from the frozen barrel to an ice cream storage container. It will continue to firm up in the fridge to the scoop-able ice cream we all know and love.
Blood Orange and Thyme Ice Cream
Equipment
- 2 Qt. Ice Cream Maker
- Double Boiler
- Mesh Strainer
Ingredients
Flavor Base
- 4 Tbps Blood Orange Zest
- 1 Cup Blood Orange Juice
- 3 Sprigs Thyme
- 1 Cup Sugar
Cream Base
- 1 Cup Milk 2% or whole milk preferred
- 3 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
Instructions
Prepare
- Put ice cream barrel in the freezer for at least 8 hours or overnight
Flavor Base
- Using a microplane or fine grater, zest 4 tablespoons of blood orange rind.
- Juice as many blood oranges to yield one cup juice. From one large blood orange I found about one orange yields just under a quarter cup juice.
- To a small saucepan, add the blood orange zest, juice, sugar, and sprigs of thyme.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, making sure the sugar is dissolved, and then remove from heat.
- Steep the thyme in the warm liquid for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove the orange zest and the thyme by pouring through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
- Cream Base
- In a double boiler, combine milk, heavy cream, salt, and sugar over high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is steaming.
- In a bowl over an ice bath, combine the flavor base with the cream base.
- Place the mixture in a resealable container.
- Press plastic wrap into the surface of the ice cream base before sealing it with the lid. This will prevent a skin from forming.
- Continue to chill in the the refrigerator until the ice cream base is completely cool. Approximately four hours.
- Add to ice cream maker, and churn.
- Pack in ice cream storage containers.
- Top with wax paper before sealing to prevent ice crystals.
- Freeze for at least 2 hours before scooping.
Notes
