Blueberry Pie Ice Cream!

This stunning purple hued blueberry ice cream is naturally coloured with blueberries. Simple to make but full in flavour it has a layer of cookie crumbs on top so that it tastes like blueberry pie! And Dear Reader, you can use frozen blueberries too!

I get in certain colour moods. Some days I love bright colours, others dark. And some days I really love a deep purple or blue. It coincided with the day that I bought some hydrangeas.

I had intended to make this ice cream on the weekend but I'm finding that weekends are too busy even to cook. I had three things on a Sunday and I had intended to slide this in between the second and third. I was being way too optimistic though.

We had just come home from brunch at a former colleague's of Mr NQN's and then went grocery shopping. Then we rushed straight of to see my friend from high school Lulu and her family. They've had a very tough few years with family illnesses and we haven't been able to see them because of it but we have always stayed in touch.

That day we met up at Centennial Park and I had a little surprise for the girls. My friend Valentina was given a gingerbread house for Christmas and she didn't know what to do with it. She asked me if I knew any kids. "I don't know any kids. On purpose," I answered her being a smart arse. However that was not true. I was meeting with my goddaughter Evie and her sister Audrey and I realised that they might have loved a gingerbread house. I remember when I was small, all that I wanted was a gingerbread house. So Valentina's lovely daughter Katie dropped off the house to us and I checked with Lou that it was ok.

The girls' faces lit up as they saw me walking towards them carrying it. Then Lou let them help themselves and they plucked lolly after lolly offering up a review of each sweet for its flavour and covetableness. They broke off a little corner of the roof and nibbled and sampled. Even after all the sampling they hardly made a dent into the gingerbread house. It was so much fun to watch that we suggested a youtube channel for them where they could rate the lollies and break open a gingerbread house!

So tell me Dear Reader, what food did you want most as a child? Do you get in the mood for certain colours?

Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus cooling and freezing time

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Makes 1.5 litres of ice cream

• 500g/1.1lbs blueberries (frozen works well)
• 5 tablespoon caster sugar
• 600ml/20.3flozs. cream
• 400ml/14flozs. sweetened condensed milk
• 12 Lotus Biscoff cookies or cookies of your choice

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with parchment. Toss the blueberries with the sugar and roast for 15 minutes until the juices run out. Cool completely and then process until smooth. You can do this 2-3 days beforehand and keep it in the fridge.

Step 2 - Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add the condensed milk and then the blueberries. Scoop into a freezer-proof tin and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

Step 3 - Process the cookies until you get crumbs and sprinkle on top of the ice cream. To serve, take out of the fridge for 30 minutes to ripen in the fridge (or 10 minutes on the bench).