Just peachy

It's been almost eleven years since we moved to Texas.  Our only visit before moving was close to this time of year--Memorial Day weekend.  I stepped off the plane at the Austin airport, and couldn't believe how hot and humid it was here.  It didn't help that we were coming from Boulder, Colorado, which was much cooler and drier.  Despite the weather, we decided that we liked Austin enough to give it a chance.  So after the long weekend, we headed home to start planning our move.

Fast forward about three months.  We moved to Austin in August.  Yes, we were insane.  I really didn't think I was going to survive the first month here.  It was 95 or higher every day.  It never went below 70, even at night.  And did I mention the humidity?  The people were really nice, but between the bureaucracy of the huge state of Texas (don't get me started on getting a driver's license here) and the weather, I was about ready to pack up and move anywhere else.  

Well, I did make it through the rest of that first summer, and we're still here.  I can actually stay outside for more than 30 seconds in the summer without feeling like I'm going to die.  I still don't like it that much, but I've learned to tolerate it.  (Though I have to say I think it's a bit much to be hitting 101 on the 15th of June...)  It's funny to watch Brianna and Gillian, our little native Texans.  The heat hardly even slows them down, but let it get below about 50 degrees and they're convinced they're going to freeze to death. =) Our water bottles are our constant companions, along with sunblock and hats.  One thing that definitely helps us survive the heat is lots of popsicles and ice cream!

And of course that brings us to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Tommi of Brown Interior picked Honey-Peach Ice Cream for us to make.  While the Texas peach crop has been limited this year, I've been able to find good ones at Central Market for the past few weeks.  So I was set as far as the fruit.  I'm not that big a fan of honey, so I changed things up there and used golden syrup instead.  The other thing I'm not a fan of is peeling peaches.  I don't know where Dorie finds her half-pound peaches, but 2 pounds for me was eleven peaches.  So I cheated a bit.  I cut up my peaches, skins and all and heated them with the syrup as directed.  Once the peaches had softened, I used my immersion blender to puree everything.  Then I put the mixture through a strainer to get rid of the bits of peel.  I'm happy to report that it worked great!  Oh, and I should probably mention that I don't really like bits of fruit in my ice cream.  So I cut up and pureed the full amount of peaches, not just half.

Next up was making the custard.  I know some of my TWD friends don't have good luck with custard, but fortunately, I don't seem to run into problems with it.  One thing that may help is that I always use a double boiler.  Yes, it takes longer, but it keeps me from stressing about scrambled eggs.  I also use a thermometer to check the temperature.  Once the custard was thickened slightly and the right temperature, I stirred in the peach puree, vanilla and about a tablespoon of rum.  

At that point it was getting kind of late, so I put the ice cream mixture in the fridge to chill overnight.  The next morning, I got the canister for my ice cream machine out of the freezer and started churning.  (I'm fortunately enough to have two canisters, so whenever I take the one out of the freezer, I put the other one in to chill.)  The recipe says that it makes a quart of ice cream, but I ended up with more than that.  By the time the ice cream was finished churning, it completely filled the canister.  I scraped the ice cream into containers and put it in the freezer to harden.

The verdict?  This is some seriously peachy ice cream.  I suppose that shouldn't be surprising, based on the amount of peaches that go into it.  It was a big hit with the girls.  (And with us adults.)  Since I found a way around peeling the peaches, I will definitely make this again when I can get my hands on ripe peaches.  And since I still have caramel sauce in the fridge from last week's recipe, I couldn't resist drizzling some over my ice cream--it was a surprisingly good combination.

If you'd like to give this one a try, head over to Brown Interior for the recipe.  And don't forget to check out the TWD blogroll for more yummy ice cream!