Purple Passion

Dear Foodies,

Purple Passion

After a lot of brainstorming that yielded nothing but weird combos, I thought I would have to pass the Monthly Mingle this month :O And then when we went grocery shopping I picked up a pack of blueberries and blackberries just cause there were on sale and I absolutely love them :) My roomie and I then went through the ice cream aisle hunting for inspiration :) And just as casually as ever she suggested a blueberry ice cream, hmmm.... Now, all of you would have guessed it the moment I told you I bought the berries but for some reason the two did not link themselves for me :))


But one thing on our mind was that we did not find a blueberry ice-cream in the frozen foods aisle, there was strawberry and raspberry but no blueberry ! Was that a dreadful flavor for an ice cream ?? I came home and did some blog search and found this post ! The pic was a winner and the recipe really simple too. I added some chocolate powder for some added flavor.

I used the recipe that you will find here as a guide. I definitely made a few additions and subtractions to it. I used Half n Half instead of the whipping cream just cos I had some with me. My roomie is not a huge fan of berries and I was not sure if she would like an ice cream with that flavor and so I added some chocolate flavor. The fact that I love chocolate has nothing to do with this addition :P

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pint blueberries
• 1/2 pint blackberries
• 1+ cup powdered sugar, adjust to taste
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp Cocoa powder ( I used Hershey's)
• 2 1/2 cups - Half n Half or Heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp - Corn starch
  

Method: Using a hand blender and not an ice cream maker

1. For the blueberry syrup: Bring the water to a rolling boil and add half a cup of sugar and the berries. Simmer this for a few minutes until the berries start to pop and the whole mixture thickens. Turn off the heat and let it cool down. Blend it to a puree and filter to extract the thick syrup.
2. For the cream base:In another pot boil the cream and reduce it a little. Then add some corn starch mixed with a spoon of cold water and add to the cream and allow it to boil one last time till the cream thickens. Add the rest of the sugar, turn off the heat and allow to cool.
3. For the Ice cream: Now all that is left is getting all these together. In a plastic container that you wish to freeze the ice cream pour the cream. Add the vanilla extract and chocolate powder and blend well. Add the blueberry syrup, little at a time and continue to blend. Taste and add more sugar & syrup as needed.
4. Freeze theice cream mixture and blend every 30 mins for the first 2 hrs before allowing to set.
5. Serve with some fresh berries or honey.

I was scared that the blueberry flavor would be strong to everyone's liking and added a little too much chocolate powder (4 Tbsp) and that overpowered the flavor of the berries. I loved the color of the ice cream, its a nice gorgeous purple. This ice cream was similar in texture to the Mango Ice cream I made. I am guessing it is because of the water added in the form of the syrup. But it was a really nice flavor and I am going to skip the cocoa powder when I make this one again, not that I did not like the chocolate flavor (!!) but to see how the blueberry flavor alone turns out.
Go ahead and try this combo or any other that captures your mood, it is sure to be a hit :)

Here goes my ice cream to Meeta for her lovely MM- Scream for Ice cream, See you all there :)