It’s SUMMER!  It might be a bit unpredictable and prone to extreme swings of temperature, but when in Ireland the only thing to do is to roll with it and pretend you’re on the Costa del Blah doing well on gas mark 7.

Summer equals ice cream.  End of.  I’ve never bothered to purchase an ice cream maker because in all my years of watching reality cookery programmes, when you positively absolutely must have them work they break down resulting in serving up a bowl of sweet, creamy soup.  But, in recent years I have become determined to master the art of making no-churn ice cream that doesn’t taste like you’re eating a scoop of ice crystals.  My successes have made it onto the blog (coconut ice cream, salted caramel ice cream), but failures caste into my cookery Room 101 never to be mentioned again.

So here I am one day with three quarters of a litre of buttermilk left over wondering what I could do with it that wasn’t soda bread or marinating chicken breasts in it (makes the chicken go super tender, great when deep frying!).  As you’ll come to notice the more you read my blog, most things I create are influenced by the weather and the seasons. And as things were hotting up, I decided I would turn my hand at making this delicious no-churn buttermilk ice cream.

My best top tip to give you for the perfect scoop is this: 5-10 minutes before serving, take the container out of the freezer and let it sit.  The ice cream will have softened slightly, but will still be firm enough for a well rolled scoop, but any lingering ice crystals will also be long gone, so it can be enjoyed to it’s full creamy tanginess.

For extra punch, I drizzled some Mr Jeffares Blackcurrant Cordial (neat) over the top and for crunch scattered some salted peanut praline over the top (recipe here).  Three neat little scoops is just the right portion to feel indulged without feelings of gluttonous remorse!

Ingredients:

• 600g buttermilk (shaken)
• 200g double cream
• 180g sugar
• 6 egg yolks (keep the whites to use for pavlova – they freeze well too!)
• 1 pinch of sea salt flakes

Method:

• Whisk the egg yolks together, then add the sugar and whisk again.
• To the eggs, add the cream then the buttermilk and whisk to combine.
• Add to a pan and place over a low – medium heat.  If you have a thermometer, cook the mixture until it reaches 90 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.  Do not boil the mixture!
• Prepare two sturdy Tupperware containers to line them with clingfilm.  Pour the mixture in so that they are no more than 4cm full.
• Allow the mixture to cool completely and then place in the freezer for apx 10 hours.
• Turn out one of the containers and cut into pieces roughly the size of a custard cream. Place into a food processor and blitz on a high setting.
• Do the same with the second container, but wiz for longer this time to ensure that everything is well blended.
• Place back into the now unlined containers and refreeze for another few hours.
• Take out of the freezer a few minutes before serving to soften.  Place three scoops into a bowl, drizzle with Mr Jeffares Blackcurrant Cordial and sprinkle with some salted peanut praline.

And….Enjoy!