July 29, 2025

July is National Ice Cream Month. I am a little late to this party, unfortunately, but here is my contribution. Know that I enjoyed ice cream all month long. The recipe took a couple tries to get it right, so I enjoyed several servings, as did my Official Tasters.

Homemade ice cream is a simple treat to prepare. Specifically, all you do is make the chilled mix and your machine does the rest. Quicker and less expensive than a trip to the grocery store! There is one more step in the process : make a plan for your flavor and add-ins.

aim for a chunky puree with visible bits of fruit, either with a hand blender or food processor

Summer stone fruit season is in full swing and peaches are looking particularly attractive. This frozen treat may be made with chunky pureed nectarines as a substitute if they spark your interest. Bits of fruit and lightly smashed toasted almond slices add textural pizzazz. I use heavy cream with the milk since frozen fruit can be more icy than creamy. A bit of pure almond extract complements the nuts.

lumpy bumpy local peaches are ideal

The recipe for Ginger Peach Sherbet called for dunking the blanched peaches in an ice bath for maximum bright peach color. I skipped this step for the ice cream and still obtained a pretty golden hue. Like other fruit based frozen desserts, a rock hard consistency makes it necessary to soften the ice cream for a bit on the counter before serving. That becomes the only difficulty with my recipe, anticipating that first scoop.

And with that, I propose the month of August as another national ice cream extravaganza.

Toasted Almond Peach Ice Cream

recipe by Michele Humlan, The Good Eats Company

makes a little over one quart

ingredients 

1 cup whole milk
1 ¼ cup cane sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
1.5 pounds peaches, peeled and diced
¾ cup toasted sliced almonds, lightly crushed by hand

directions 

1. Stir together milk, sugar and salt  in heavy one quart saucepan over low heat, just until sugar melts.
2. Add cream and both extracts.
3. Use hand blender or food processor to make the peaches into a chunky puree; you should have 2 cups.
4. Chill the peach and cream mixture at least several hours or overnight.
5. With electric ice cream machine running, pour peach mix in and process until machine begins to slow and ice cream starts to get very thick, about 20-25 minutes.
6. Add almonds a couple tablespoons at a time and when all are incorporated, turn off machine and freeze the ice cream until solid, overnight.
7. If ice cream is too hard to scoop, let it sit at room temperature until softer.