Peaches and Cream Pops

Peach season is just beginning, and what better way to eat peaches than in ice cream? For Peaches and Cream Pops, I pour the ice cream base into molds to make pops, but it can be churned in an ice cream maker for a superb ice cream. New to homemade pops or ice cream? Here are my favorite popsicle and ice cream making products, the very ones we use:

Fruit ice creams are the most challenging to make, if you’re after a smooth texture. They add a lot of water, creating ice crystals in the ice cream, which gives it a gritty texture. I tried several methods before deciding on this recipe, and here’s what I learned:

What I tried and didn’t like

• A custard base usually works wonders in smoothing out ice cream made with watery fruits, but custard overpowers the delicate peach flavor.
• It’s tempting to cook the peaches to evaporate off the water (to reduce grittiness), but that gives it more of a jammy flavor, rather than a fresh peach flavor.
• Leaving the peaches in chunks results in icy chunks mixed with a bland ice cream. Not appealing to me.

What does work well

• A simple, uncooked, egg-free recipe allows the peach flavor to shine.
• Pureeing the peaches distributes the peach flavor throughout.
• Whipping the cream before freezing, smooths out the texture of the ice cream.
• The tang of sour cream complements the peaches nicely.
• A bit of lemon juice keeps the peaches from turning brown without affecting the flavor.

Use fully ripe, great tasting peaches

Your popsicles or ice cream won’t be any better than your ingredients. Hard, fibrous peaches don’t puree well, so you’ll have tiny hard, fibrous pieces in the finished product. Rotting peaches make the ice cream or pops taste rotten. Bland peaches make bland ice cream or pops.

Credit

I must give credit to David Lebovitz once again, for this recipe was inspired by one if his. The ingredients are the same, but the technique is quite different. In my humble opinion, this version is both smoother and tastier. And it’s easier because you don’t have to cook the peaches.

Peaches and cream pops

Makes 13 3-ounce pops or a little more than 1 quart of ice cream

• 1 and 1/2 lbs ripe (soft but not rotten) peaches, peeled and pitted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Few drops lemon juice

1. Puree the peaches, lemon juice, and sugar together until very smooth, and set aside.
2. In a small-medium bowl, whip the cream until it holds its shape.
3. Blend the sour cream in with the whipped cream.
4. Transfer cream mixture to a large bowl, and gradually fold in peach puree until well blended.
5. Pour in to popsicle molds and freeze for at least several hours before eating. Or, for ice cream, churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Peaches and Cream Pops

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