Watermelon Ice Cream

This Watermelon Ice Cream is light and refreshing. A perfect treat for a hot and humid summer day — and, it’s a great way to use up any overripe melon!

This summer, my son, has become quite addicted to watermelon. He eats it with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The problem is he is quite particular about how the watermelon should look and feel before he’ll eat it; there will be no serving my boy any overly red parts, or anything that is even remotely mushy.  

This leads us to an overabundance of very ripe watermelon sitting in the fridge. I have been at a loss as to what to do with it – and ventured online for some ideas. I came across this recipe for Watermelon Ice Cream from Emeril. Apparently, his father showed him how to make it and it’s one of his favorites childhood desserts.

I didn’t have enough watermelon to make his vat-sized batches, so I modified it a bit. The end result was light and refreshing: perfect for the hot and humid weather we’ve been having. Even my incredibly picky niece proclaimed, “I like it!” but it could of just been because it was her favorite color, pink!

FYI: If you are only into rich, Haagen Daaz ice creams, then this recipe is not a good choice for you.

WATERMELON ICE CREAM

Makes approximately 1 quart.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts (8 cups) watermelon pieces with juice (approximately ¼ of a whole seedless watermelon)
• ½ quart (2 cups) heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ pound (1 cup) Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Step 1: If you do not have a seedless watermelon, remove all seeds from the watermelon and discard.

Step 2: Dice the watermelon into 2 inch pieces and put in a large bowl with the juice.  Add the diced watermelon and juice into a blender.(We love our Ninja!) Blend until watermelon has been liquefied.

Step 3: In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine heavy cream and sugar. Bring the mixture up to a simmer.

Step 4: Whisk the egg yolks until smooth and temper into the hot cream mixture. Cook the egg mixture for four minutes. Remove from the heat.

Step 5: Pour the blended watermelon into a large bowl. Pour the hot cream mixture into it and mix thoroughly. Cool to room temperature.

Step 6: Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into another bowl. Note: The mixture must be cooled completely before being spun in the ice cream machine. You can either, cover it with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight, or you can cool it down using an ice bath. To do this, simply place the bowl of custard into a larger bowl filled with ice and water. Once your mixture is completely chilled, you can add it to the ice cream machine.

Step 7: When ice cream starts to thicken, add chocolate chips to the ice cream machine.

Step 8: When the ice cream is finished, either serve it soft-serve immediately, or transfer the soft ice cream into a large container.

Step 9: Press plastic wrap directly onto ice cream. Freeze until very firm.

Thanks for reading,

Denine

P.S. If this is your first go-round with ice cream, follow the instructions closely. I use my trusty old Cuisinart ice cream machine. It’s incredibly easy to use and a great tool for newbies. I also highly recommend The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein for additional recipes. It taught me everything I needed to know about making homemade ice cream.

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