Homemade Blueberry Gelato: Make it Healthy or Make it Naughty
The berry season is upon us, and the fields are ready to be harvest of earth’s sweet candy. Time to hit your local farms or take advantage of your grocery’s berry sale of the week. Fruit, of course, is best to be eaten fresh, but at our house we also love to make batches of homemade frozen treats. Last year during strawberry picking season, we made a healthy version of homemade strawberry ice cream almost every day. We couldn’t keep it in the house. I like to make healthy versions of desserts because I subconsciously believe I’m not cheating on my diet. Anyone else like that??
Anyway, we have gone a step further and adventured to making homemade blueberry gelato. And I must say that I like it a little better than homemade ice cream. It’s creamier and holds it’s texture and doesn’t get icy after being in a freezer a day or two. So what’s the difference between gelato and ice cream? Full-fat ice cream (non-healthy) uses more cream instead of milk or almost all cream. Also, ice cream uses more egg yolks. For this reason gelato has less fat than ice cream. Gelato is also churned at a slower rate than ice cream, which makes it dense and sometimes more favorable.
The recipe I made for this post is the full-fat, non-healthy version. But I am going to list healthy substitutes, in the parentheses, for those who want to make changes while still making a sweet, yummy frozen treat.
Ingredients:
2 cups organic milk (coconut milk)
1 cup sugar (raw honey or maple syrup)
8 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream (coconut cream or coconut oil)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups of blueberries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries work too!)
2 tsp. of fresh lemon juice
You will need an ice cream maker.
Instructions:
Heat your milk and sugar in a large pot over medium heat. Stir and bring to a low simmer while sugar dissolves. Then turn the heat down to keep it warm.
While the milk is simmering, put the egg yolks in a medium bow and whisk until they are thickened. Add the heavy cream and vanilla to the mixture and continue to whisk until blended. While constantly whisking, slowly add 1 cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and continue to stir while it is blended well. You can also do this on low-speed in a blender. Pour the mixture back into the pot of hot milk and increase heat to medium. Stir constantly until the mixture is thickened (about 10 minutes).
Next, puree the berries in your food processor or blender. Add the lemon juice to the pureed berries. Then pour the pureed berries into the milk mixture and mix well. Refrigerate mixture for 4-5 hours until completely cool. After, pour into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. My ice cream maker takes about 20 minutes for creamy goodness.
Top with berries and garnish with mint. Enjoy!
This delicious gelato is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to refreshing summer treats! Have you ever tried our Apple Pie Floats?
Or maybe mint is more your thing? Try this amazing, easy peasy mint oreo ice cream treat:
If you find you’ve got a bunch of peaches handy this summer, you might enjoy this delicious Jello Peach Pie:
Hertfordshire Granite says
This looks delightful, I’ve always had a thing for blueberries, there’s something about the flavour that seems to go so well. Think I’ll be making some pancakes to accompany this.
Amber says
We are a lactose free family and I have had great luck with ice cream recipes using full fat lactose free milk and canned full-fat coconut milk as a substitute for cream. There is a very slight coconut flavor if you make vanilla but if you add other flavors like chocolate, fruit, mix ins, etc, the coconut flavor is all but covered up.