I'm Becca - mom to three cute kiddos, professional photographer, chocolate addict, in love with all thing wildflowers, and (most importantly) a sinner saved by grace through faith!
I still vividly remember the long summer days spent at my grandparents’ house in the Texas hill country. My grandpa would always take us to a nearby town to shop for our very own toy to play with for the weekend. He also brought us down to the creek where we’d swim and splash around for hours. My grandma always had grapes waiting for us on her kitchen counter, and I still think of her when I eat them. Breakfast was either one of those little boxes of sugary cereal that we never got to eat except at their house, or my favorite – apple turnovers. We spent hours playing in a little blow up pool in their back yard, then cooled off in the house watching TV and playing with our toys. And my favorite part about summer at Nanny and PawPaw’s? Going to Stonewall to get some homemade peach ice cream.
Nothing screams summer to me like the smell of fresh peaches. Every summer I gobble them up, and love adding them to my ice cream, which always brings me back to those carefree days spent at my grandparents’ house. So when my sweet friend, Emily (from MartinezMade.Co) said we should do a peach collaboration, my mind immediately went to ice cream.
All I could think about was the creamy deliciousness I grew up loving, and I was set on recreating it as best as I could. And that, my friends, is how this peach swirl homemade ice cream recipe was born.
While I could have just added fresh peaches to the homemade ice cream when serving and called it a day, I decided to do something a little different. I made a peach compote (aka cooked the diced peaches down with sugar and water until a syrup has formed), then swirled it into the ice cream once it was churned. So yummy and SO perfect for summer. Just like the ice cream I remember!
As for the ice cream base, I decided to try a new recipe for funzies. I stumbled on this Food Above Gold recipe for (what she claims) is the best custard ice cream. And y’all. I’m a die hard Andy’s Frozen Custard fan and I have to attest. This. Recipe. Was. Amazing.
Yes, it was quite involved and took me two days to make (prepare the custard, refrigerate, then churn), but in my book it was worth it. Seriously… best homemade ice cream I’ve ever had. So creamy, rich and flavorful. Yum!
Some things I’ve learned from past homemade-ice-cream-failures:
1. Getcha a good ice cream maker. I bought a cheap-o one at Walmart one time and it NEVER made the ice cream right. I bought this one on Amazon (<- affiliate link) last year and every time I’ve used it, it’s worked perfectly.
2. Be very generous with the salt on the ice. Salt allows the temperature of the ice around the ice cream to get colder, which is necessary to freeze the cream. I used to carefully sprinkle salt between layers of ice. Now I pull out my huge box of ice cream salt and go crazy.
3. By making a fruit compote, the peaches didn’t freeze as hard as if you just threw fresh ones into the ice cream, making it easier to eat. No one wants to crunch through rock hard cubes of peach.
4. If you aren’t eating the ice cream immediately, freeze the mixture RIGHT AWAY. We did this for the first time last summer and holy wow. Instead of having to chisel out some ice cream to eat later, it scoops like a champ. *praise* I have a little ice cream container I use and it works perfectly (<- affiliate link).
So now that it’s summer, go make you some homemade ice cream! And add some peach compote to it. You’ll thank me later. ;)
Looking for more peach inspiration? Check out Emily’s Peach Lemonade over at MartinezMade.Co tomorrow!!
In a medium sauce pan, heat the peaches, sugar and water to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 mintutes, or until the juices are thickened and the mixture is more sauce-like.
*Optional: blend the compote for a smooth sauce. I opted to leave the fruit diced.
Chill the compote overnight.
Prepare the ice cream according to the recipe. I used the recipe from Food Above Gold and it was DELISH.
Once the ice cream is made and churned to perfection, pull out the ice cream container and scoop half the ice cream into it. Add half the peach compote to the ice cream and swirl it in using a knife.
Repeat with the rest of the ice cream and peaches.
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