Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

I’m not a huge fan of key lime pie.  I had a bad slice for my first slice and that ruined it for me.  I hate when that happens.  If I eat a food and then get sick after, it will take me years to eat it again.  So years have passed, and I suddenly had this craving for Key Lime pie.  A good friend of ours said he found this recipe on epicurious, so I modified it a bit and voila!

The best part about this ice cream is that it tastes creamy and delicious like an ice cream, but it sits like a sorbet.  Catch my drift?  It’s not too heavy, but it’s not too light.  It’s perfect.  On an unrelated note, we’ve been watching Master Chef and I love Whitney.  Remember when she quoted Mohammed Ali and said she “floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee?”  Well welcome to this in ice cream form.  Full of flavor yet so light, it’s easy to enjoy more than one scoop.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did over here at the Lewis household.  And here is a freezing and storing tip:  after you make it in the maker, freeze it in a bread pan for about 4-8 hours.  Remove from freezer for about 10 minutes to let soften.  If you are ready to eat, dig in.  But, also, now it’s ready to be stored more permanently.  I use these ice cream containers from Sur la Table.  So scoop the ice cream in there and it will stay this consistency.  These containers really are air tight so if you place the ice cream in right after it’s churned, it wont freeze properly.  Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (adapted from epicurious.com)

2 cups whole milk

1cup heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

2/3 cup of sugar

2 small limes, juiced

3/4 cup rolled out cinnamon cookies or graham crackers

Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl and set aside to get to room temperature. Place the whole milk and heavy cream into large sauce pan and turn on heat to medium low.  Add in sugar.  Mix until sugar is dissolved. The temperature should be about 170 degrees.  Remove pan from heat and use a ladle to add a small amount of the warm milk mixture to the eggs.  Whisk together.  Place pan back on heat and in a slow and steady stream, whisk in egg yolk mixture.  Be sure to do this fast otherwise scrambled eggs will form. Turn heat up to medium and constantly stir until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the spoon, do not let it boil. The temperature should be about 185 degrees, enough to cook the eggs. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.

While it’s cooling, juice two limes into a small bowl and set aside.  Use a rolling pin to roll cookies or graham crackers into small pieces, but not powdered form. Set aside. Once mixture is cooled, whisk lime juice into ice cream base.  Pour into ice cream maker that has been frozen according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Let churn for about 35 minutes, or until desired consistency is reached.  When churning process is over, remove ice cream bowl and stir in cookie crumbs.  Either serve immediately or follow freezing suggestion above.