Blueberry lemon thyme ice cream

Blueberries are in full season now and it would be a shame not to pair them with some fresh lemon thyme, which is also proudly presenting itself in the garden with beautiful pinkish-purple flowers, and make this blueberry lemon thyme ice cream.

The freshness and the zesty lemony taste of the thyme pairs really nicely with the blueberries providing that zingy summer treat in 30°C weather. If you don’t have lemon thyme, you can add some lemon zest, preferably from the Meyer lemon.

The base – the mighty vanilla ice cream

The base for this swirl ice cream is the classic creamy vanilla ice cream. Blueberries and lemon thyme do provide for the main flavor, but I believe that the base is equally important. That creaminess and the fragrance of vanilla is hard to beat.

The process of making vanilla ice cream is quite straightforward, as with ant ice cream, but it can also go in the wrong direction. The heat can be too high and overcook the eggs and they start to resemble scrambled eggs rather than having that creamy texture we want. But, not to worry if this happens! Thankfully, there is a quick fix. Take the pot off the heat and using the hand blender thoroughly mix everything until you don’t see any scrambled eggs texture but rather a creamy flowing custard.

But just to make sure this does not happen watch that pot like a hawk and stir continuously on low to medium heat and you should be fine. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes, so it’s not too bad.

Blueberries and lemon thyme

Blueberries just go with anything lemony, so why not lemon thyme. Lemon thyme is an evergreen mat-forming perennial, so if you plant it in your garden or a patio, it will be there for you whenever you need it. Also, bees love it as well, so you’ll have a whole bunch of new garden friends every summer. Oh, and it goes amazingly with fish as well, but about that in some other post.

If you are like me and like anything lemon thyme, then I would suggest to use a tiny bit of sugar and mash the lemon thyme leaves in the mortar and pestle. This will release all the wonderful lemony aroma and natural oils which will make your ice cream perfume like.

I hope you like this blueberry lemon thyme ice cream, it is a real hit in our family.

Enjoy!!!

5 from 1 vote

Blueberry lemon thyme swirl ice cream

A perfect zingy summer treat with creamy vanilla paired with the freshness and the zesty lemony taste of the thyme in this blueberry lemon thyme ice cream.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Churn Time15 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Servings 12 (6 cups)

Calories:

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Equipment & Tools

• ice-cream maker (optional)

INGREDIENTS

  

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Vanilla ice cream – the base

• 500 g heavy cream (> 30% fat)
• 250 g whole milk
• 135 g unrefined sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• ¼ tsp salt (Himalayan)
• 6 egg yolks (free range)
• 1 tsp cornstarch (optional)

Blueberry swirl

• 150 g blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 50 g acacia honey
• ½ lemon (juice)
• ¼ tsp unrefined sugar (optional, see instructions)
• 1 tsp lemon thyme (leaves only)

INSTRUCTIONS

Vanilla ice cream

• Measure out heavy cream, milk, and sugar in a pot.
• Cut the vanilla bean in half and with a dull part of the knife scrape all the seeds out and add to the above mixture.
• In a separate bowl add egg yolks and cornstarch and whisk the mixture until nice smooth and no clumps are visible.
• Heat up the milk and cream mixture on medium heat with constant whisking until it starts to boil. Don’t let it boil vigorously. Take it off the heat.
• With continuous mixing add a ladle or two of hot milk/cream mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whisk to slowly heat up the eggs so that they do not overcook immediately.
• Slowly and with continuous whisking add the egg mixture to the milk/cream mixture. Put back on the stove on low heat and stir for a minute until the mixture and creamy and sticks to the spatula. If you run the finger over the spatula the custard shouldn’t drip over the scraped line. You don’t want the mixture to boil, but just to have enough heat to cook the eggs.
• Transfer the custard to the clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put the mixture on the ice bath.
• Once it is cooled enough not to burn the finger, place the bowl in the fridge, preferably overnight to cool completely.
• Once the custard is completely cooled, take the plastic wrap off and churn it according to appliance instructions.

Blueberry swirl

• (optional) For a more pronounced lemon thyme flavor, mash the lemon thyme leaves and sugar in the mortar and pestle, until you get a paste-like texture.
• Measure and add all the ingredients in the food processor and mix until it is 90% mixed. It is better to pulse not to over mix everything as very vigorous processing dilutes the color a bit.
• Transfer the mixture to a container/bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

Assembling the ice cream

• Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream along with the tablespoon of the blueberry mixture.
• Once you used up all the vanilla ice cream and the blueberry mixture take a dull knife or a chopstick, stick it in one corner of the container and start zig-zagging to make a swirl effect all throughout your ice cream.
• Place the ice cream back in the freezer to set.

NOTES

1. If you are using frozen blueberries, let them thaw on the counter because the honey will stick to them and solidify which will make it much harder to process all the ingredients uniformly.
2. There is no need to churn the blueberry mixture.
3. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can still make the ice cream (although it will probably have some ice crystals). Put the custard in an ice cream container (a classic plastic Tupperware is ok), place in the freezer and stir it every 15 minutes until it is set. Stirring more often will reduce the number of potential ice crystals.
4. If you want a stronger blueberry color add some wild blueberries.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to see!Tag @itacdonev and hashtag #aifoodieland on instagram!