Lemon + chocolate don't exactly seem to go together at first, but why not? Orange and chocolate have been living in harmony for years, so why not another citrus? I often have to decide between lemony desserts and chocolate desserts when dining out, so it seemed like it was time (once again — I have made lemon bars with a chocolate crust before!) to put the two together in a refreshing lemon ice cream for the perfect summer treat.
While living this #quaratinelife, I've been pulling ingredients out of my pantry that I forgot about or impulse bought (or honestly, both) and set them on my kitchen table to force myself to find a way to use them. One of those ingredients was these dried sweet lemons from Trader Joe's I bought last year to make sweet tea ice cream. Well, I still had those things and needed to use them again and racked my brain for a good use. But rather unimaginatively, I began craving straight up lemon ice cream, so instead of fighting nature, these lemon slices got chopped up again for use in an ice cream.
This ice cream is pretty amazing on its own accord, and I've eaten a few servings straight up, then Pinterest caught up with me. While scrolling one night, like ya do, I saw a recipe for Magic Shell — you know, the chocolate syrup that hardens on contact with cold stuff like ice cream? — and put two and two together and here we are. Lemon ice cream with a bonus chocolate shell, indeed. It's the best of both worlds, in one bowl. I highly encourage you to try chocolate and lemon together.
Lemon Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
Ingredients
Lemon Ice Cream
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2-3 tbsp sweetened dried lemon slices, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Whisk the milk, cream, and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Cover and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Set up your ice cream machine, leaving the frozen bowl in the freezer until it's time to use.
- After the milk-sugar mixture is chilled, put your ice cream bowl on the ice cream machine.
- Quickly mix your lemon juice and extract into the milk mixture and immediately pour into the ice cream machine.
- Let the machine churn the ice cream until thick, but before it gets too thick (about 10 minutes in) add your diced lemon pieces, if using, bit by bit, to the churning ice cream. This keeps all of the pieces from getting gummed up in the bottom of the ice cream bowl.
- Once churned, scoop into a freezable container and let ripen for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.
- After the ice cream is ripened and ready to serve, make or use pre-made Magic Shell to drizzle over scoops of ice cream. Garnish with sprinkles as desired and eat immediately.
I didn't include a recipe of magic shell above because I used the magic shell recipe from Butter Your Biscuit and it worked like a charm! One of my favorite things about it is that it can be left on the counter at room temperature, something my currently overstuffed fridge appreciates. With just two ingredients that are shelf stable, its nice to be able to create magic shell pretty much anytime my heart desires!
And with this lemon ice cream, I officially have one less random ingredient taking up pantry space that was enjoyed instead of ignored! Next up is figuring out what in the world to do with a big bag of sesame seeds...
The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
My ice cream maker of choice is the 1.5 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker, which I ordered in a time with much more vibrant color options, which proves I've had it a while. It's a sturdy little machine that can handle manic ice cream making sessions where you make ice cream every day if you want. For those instances, I recommend ordering a second freezable bowl so you can keep up production.
The machine itself is fairly compact, though the bowl does take up a considerable chunk of freezer space, unfortunately. But seeing as how the bowl must be frozen for 24 hours ahead of time, I just suck it up and leave it in there all of the time during the warmer months when spontaneous ice cream making is much more likely. The Cuisinart ice cream maker has a much smaller bowl footprint than the KitchenAid attachment, which is part of why I chose to get this type of ice cream maker.
The paddle insert is dishwashable and has survived many rounds of being washed in mine. It's a nice perk, given the many angles on this particular piece. That being said, I wouldn't put the lid in the dishwasher, and the freezable insert absolutely NOT, of course.
Other ice cream maker options I have heard a lot of good about but have not tried include the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment, and the Williams Sonoma ice cream maker. All of them have the same basic design: a freezable bowl, and some sort of place to attach it to a motor so the ice cream can churn. Luckily we no longer have to do this by hand, because it sucks! Anyone else ever have to churn their own ice cream when learning about pioneers in elementary school? It really made me enjoy being alive after the industrial revolution, that's for sure.
Looking for more cool ice cream recipes? Try earl grey lavender ice cream, sweet tea ice cream, and watermelon ice cream!