White Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream

1. In a small saucepan, combine blackberries and 1/3 cup of the sugar over medium heat. Cook, stirring every few minutes, until you have a nice thick syrup, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Strain blackberry syrup into a small bowl through a mesh colander and set aside. Discard any leftover blackberry bits or pulp.

3. In a large saucepan, combine half-and-half and milk over medium heat. Whisk occasionally and bring to a simmer.

4. While milk mixture is heating up, combine remaining sugar (1 cup), vanilla extract, and egg yolks in a heat safe bowl. Whisk by hand (or, if you’re lazy like me, use an electric hand mixer) until eggs have lightened in color.

5. When milk mixture has reached a simmer, it’s time to temper the eggs! Add a few tablespoons of hot liquid at a time into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until you’ve incorporated about half of the hot milk mixture into the eggs. At this point, you can pour the the egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking to incorporate. Return saucepan to the stove over low heat.

6. Add blackberry mixture into the milk/egg mixture in the saucepan and whisk to combine. Stir frequently until the custard has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes (see the related blog post for some step-by-step pictures).

7. Place white chocolate in a large bowl. When ice cream has thickened, remove it from the heat and pour it over the white chocolate. Stir the mixture until chocolate has melted into the ice cream base.

8. Let the custard cool on the counter for 15-20 minutes, then place it in the fridge uncovered for 30 minutes to an hour.

9. After an hour, cover the mixture with an airtight lid or some plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least eight hours or overnight.

10. Then you’re ready to churn the ice cream (yay)! Pour the ice cream base into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Eat it right away soft-serve style or if you like firmer ice cream pop it in an airtight container and freeze it for an hour or two before digging in.

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts.