Mixed Berry Ice Cream

Ever since we were little kids we have made homemade ice cream. We have had one of the old fashioned ice cream makers that consists of a bucket and a core and churner for as long as I can remember and I do love it, however sometimes it is quite a production to get all the ice, rock salt and parts together. Because we wanted to get into ice cream making again, but without all the hassle, we purchased an ice cream bowl attachment for the KitchenAid, essentially it is a bowl that freezes in the freezer and a churner component that allows you to turn your KitchenAid into an ice cream maker! Once I actually figured out how it worked (thanks Corey for helping point out some important directions!) it has been really fun and easy to use.

For ice cream recipes I turned to our trusty Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Book, again which we have had for as long as I can remember. In addition to having great recipes, it gives cool stories about how Ben & Jerry got their start. Did you know that they originally thought about opening a bagel shop but then found out the bagel machinery cost too much so turned to ice cream?! My undying love of Berry Berry Extraordinary thanks the fates of the universe for the cheap[er] start up costs of an ice cream business. 

My family has voted the Mixed Berry Ice Cream as the favorite of the ice creams that I have made so far (others being peach ice cream and blackberry sorbet). 

Most ice creams start out with a base and then you can pretty much add whatever you want to them. For this ice cream I started out with the traditional cream base and then added strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries -- hence the mixed berry!

Sweet Cream Base 

2 large eggs 

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup milk

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.

For the fruit: Put 2 cups of mixed berries (I used blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries), 1/3 cup sugar, and juice of 1/2 lemon in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. Lightly pulse in a food processor until desired consistency, I chose to leave some chunks of fruit and not completely purée it. Add this to the Sweet Cream Base right before putting it into the ice cream maker. 

Freeze according to the specific ice cream maker's directions.