Blackberry, Coconut & Ginger Ice Cream

Make the most of this season's blackberries with this luxurious blackberry, coconut and ginger ice cream! This creamy textured coconut ice cream has the intense flavour of blackberries and ginger plus a hit of coconut!

This ice cream uses the Crème Anglaise French method of ice cream making that involves a custard. Ice Cream can be frozen custard or it can be simpler.

Different Methods for Making Ice Cream Without a Churner

1 - You can make ice cream by whipping cream and sugar together and freezing it.

2 - You can also make a creamy ice cream by whipping cream and adding a tin of sweetened condensed milk to it and freezing it (my favourite if I am in a hurry).

3 - You can make a custard base of eggs, cream and sugar which is the Crème Anglaise method (my favourite for a creamy texture).

All of these methods do not require an ice cream churner. This third method has a dense, very creamy texture to the ice cream. I like using the French method for coconut ice cream to make it smoother and creamier.

Don't have fresh blackberries? You can use frozen or any other berry that you like. Strawberry, vanilla & coconut works well; raspberry & white chocolate works really well and blueberry, lemon & basil works nicely.

This past Christmas we only had one Christmas celebration. The Elliott family celebration was cancelled due to the gathering numbers and the fact that Mr NQN's direct family mostly live on the Northern Beaches.

On Christmas Day we also got the news that Mr NQN's uncle had passed away in Finland. He had suffered a heart attack a few days earlier and then passed away in hospital. It was a sombre Christmas Day for Mr NQN and his family. Esko was a mathematician who worked for the Finnish government who I remember for a few things.

He and I weren't able to communicate until one morning when I decided to speak English to him but in Mr NQN's mother's sing song accent. Suddenly, he understood every word that I said and we were all completely stunned by the turnaround.

He was also delighted by our delight at eating Finnish bear claws. I guess he wasn't used to people being so excited about food (that Finnish reserve I guess!).

So tell me Dear Reader, do you make ice cream often? Do you have an ice cream churner? Also do you have a favourite method?

Blackberry, Coconut & Ginger Ice Cream

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 5 minutes plus freezing time

Cooking time: 25 minutes

• 500g/1.1lbs blackberries (fresh or frozen)
• 6 tablespoons/120g/4ozs. sugar
• 400ml/14flozs coconut cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup/100g/3.5ozs. sugar
• 1/3 cup/50g/1.7ozs crystallised ginger, cubed

Step 1 - First roast the blackberries. This helps the ice cream to get a vivid, strong colour. Toss the blackberries in the first lot of sugar and place on a baking tray and bake at 200C/400F for 15 minutes. Cool completely and then process until smooth. You can also pass this mixture through a sieve if you don't like the pips (sieving it gives it a much smoother texture than pictured).

Step 2 - Heat the coconut cream on the stovetop until just starting to simmer. While it is heating whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined. Then knock the heat back to low and add the egg mixture into the coconut cream and stir to form a custard. It will take a few minutes to thicken and coat the back of a spoon. Place some cling film directly on top of the custard and allow to cool completely. Mix with the blackberries until you get a uniform purple colour. Then mix in the ginger pieces. Freeze completely.

Thermomix directions: process cooled blackberries in the Thermomix Speed #4, 20 seconds.

Thermomix custard: place coconut cream, second lot of sugar and egg yolks and set to cook for 7 minutes, 90 degrees, speed #4.

Step 3 - When ready to eat, place the ice cream in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to ripen it so that it scoops well.