Fresh Peach Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Brittle (No ice cream freezer necessary)

Today would have been my father’s 92^nd birthday. I have so many great memories of him-the things he said, the things he liked to do and, of course, his favorite foods. Dad loved peaches—just adored them. He liked his ice cream on occasion too and this one is great. It isn’t overly sweet and the flavor of the peaches really comes through. It’s also very, very creamy. And then you hit one of those crunchy little brittle—so good. This one goes out to you, Pop. Happy birthday!

PS-you can totally skip the brittle if you want or even substitute a broken waffle cone or two.

Ingredients:

Brittle:

2/3 cup granulated sugar

4 Tablespoons water

½ teaspoon flaky sea salt

Ice Cream:

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups heavy cream, chilled until it is very cold

4 medium sized, fresh peaches- peeled, seeded and diced small*

Directions:

For the brittle: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet (like Silpat®) if you have one. Put the sugar and 4 Tablespoons of water in a medium sized sauce pan and stir until combined. Then turn the heat to medium high and let cook, without stirring but gently swirling the pan once or twice, until golden brown, about 8-12 minutes. Go by color here, not time because your ‘medium high’ will be different than mine. Once it starts to color, keep a close eye on it, because it goes from golden to burnt very quickly.

Pour the caramel in a thin layer over the parchment/silicone (please be careful here and use an ovenproof glove or mitt—boiling hot sugar burns like crazy-don’t ask me how I know). Sprinkle with ½ tsp flaky sea salt and set aside. Note: to clean that pan that you just cooked sticky caramel in, just place it in the sink and fill it with hot water. Let sit for 15 minutes and the sticky stuff will wash right out.

For the ice cream: Put the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Pour the heavy cream into a separate mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attached to whip the cream until it holds stiff, peaks, about 3 minutes.

Gently mix a scoop of the whipped cream into the condensed milk. This helps to lighten the mixture. Then, just fold the rest of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture. Add the peaches and fold again. Break the brittle into small pieces and fold them into the mixture (you might want to save some big pieces for garnish).

Place the ice cream in a loaf pan or other container. Place a piece of plastic wrap down, touching the top of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming.

Freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

*The easiest way to peel peaches that I have found is to cut a cross just through the skin on the bottoms of the peaches and then drop them into boiling water for just 2-4 minutes, or until you can see the skin where you made the cross start to peel away. Then, just drop them in a bowl of ice and water for 5 minutes. Remove; dry on paper towels and peel. Also, make sure you use a small dice—large chunks of peach will turn into peach ice cubes!