Late summer sees the start of blackberry season! I have trained my boys to be expert pickers – they have far more patience than I do and, even allowing for the purple faces that return to my kitchen, it’s easy to have plenty of berries left after harvest munching to make delicious blackberry puddings. One of my favourites is blackberry ice cream. And this one is sugar free – as well as delicious. Want to know how?
Freshly-picked blackberries are juicy and sweet. They have ripened in the sunshine (rather than in a supermarket’s store room) and you can TASTE summer all through them. And if you have picked them yourself, the ice cream feels like a well-deserved reward.
Sweet berries don’t need sugar. Their flavour is incredible and, if you need a little sweetness, consider some honey instead. It’s much more gentle on your body.
PLUS because the blackberries are used raw (not cooked into a puree), you get all of those incredible enzymes and other nutrient goodies that blackberries have to offer, rather than killing them off with over-cooking. It turns blackberry ice cream into a super food!
And who can resist the incredible pairing of blackberries and apples? Instead of using them to make jam, how about enjoying apple crumble with blackberry ice cream, instead?
How To Make Blackberry Ice Cream
You’ll either need an ice cream maker (mine is about 13 years old – one of the freezer buckets with a motorised paddle) or a big plastic pot and some elbow grease. Either is great.
Start about 2 hours ahead – or it can keep in the freezer (fat chance!) for a month or so in a sealed container.
Top Tip: to get your ice cream feeling like ice cream, rather than an iced lolly, you need to incorporate AIR. That’s why we’ll be whipping the cream – and why you need an ice cream maker or strong biceps. But it’s worth the little bit of effort.
This recipe serves 4-8, depending on politeness and whether it’s the ‘main’ part of the pudding or ‘just’ the accompaniment.
Ingredients For Sugar Free Blackberry Ice Cream
About 250g (approx 10oz) fresh blackberries – washed and any extra insects and twigs / leaves picked out 🙂
About 250ml (about 9fl oz) of double / thick cream
About 250ml (about 9fl oz) of PLAIN (unsweetened) yoghurt
Up to 3 tablespoons liquid honey
How To Make Ice Cream
- Start by whipping / beating the double cream until it is thick. I use my Grannie’s very old electric whisk, but a wooden spoon and a happy bicep will also do the job!
- Then add most of the blackberries (save a few for decoration) and beat them in – this will help the juice to flow into the cream and turn the ice cream purple!
- Add the yoghurt and mix gently – you don’t want things going too runny again.
- Check for sweetness and add honey to taste.
- Now it’s ready for the ice cream maker – follow your machine’s instructions. I like to put my ice cream in the freezer for an hour or two after making it, to let it properly firm up.
- Or, if you don’t have one, put the mixture into a large freezer-safe pot and freeze for 1/2 hour. Take it out and beat it with a wooden spoon, to break up any ice crystals. Re-freeze for 1/2 hour and repeat once or twice, depending on how thick your cream was.
- Take your ice cream out of the freezer for 10-20 minutes before serving it (depends on your local weather – heat-waves vs waist-deep snow!)
That’s it! Easy, wasn’t it?!
Variations:
In summer, how about trying raspberry ice cream? Or blackcurrant ice cream? Or blueberry ice cream? Got a glut – strawberry ice cream works brilliantly too – you might want to mush some of the strawberries with a potato masher first, to make it easier. Any soft fruit will work well for this ice cream recipe.
Let me know how you get on with this recipe – how did the ‘salty topping’ bring out the sweetness of the apples?
What are your favourite tweaks?
I’d love to hear from you via the comments. And if you enjoyed this recipe, make sure you’re getting my newsletter – sign up in the box below. You’ll get regular updates with Soul-Nourishing recipes, as well as inspirational insider secrets about how to change your life.
Thank you!
With love, Namaste,
P.S. Please feel free to share this recipe with your friends via Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest etc! xx C.