Cranberry Vanilla Swirl Ice Cream

This recipe for Cranberry Vanilla Swirl Ice Cream uses a basic vanilla ice cream recipe dotted with chopped cranberries for its base. The ‘swirl’ is made using a sweet and thick cranberry coulis folded into the ice cream just before it fully sets.

You may think it’s a bit early in the year for ice cream recipes, but the temperatures are already rising in Tenerife. During the weekend, the island experienced a calima and the average temperature during the day was 32C/90F! Ice cream seemed the perfect way to cool down.

There was another reason for whipping up an ice cream recipe this weekend. My Official Treat Taster had throat and nose surgery on Thursday and was really struggling to breathe let alone eat. He was more than happy for me to busy myself in the kitchen making him frozen treats to try and I was pleased that he was getting at least some nutrition. (Cranberries are a fruit and are packed with anti-oxidants, therefore cancel out the negative effects of all that cream and sugar...right?)

Cranberry Vanilla Swirl Ice Cream

Ingredients

250ml cream

125ml milk

¼ cup and 2tbsp sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cranberries

3tbsp water

Recipe

1. Over a medium heat, warm half of the cream (125ml) and ¼ cup of sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved.

2. Remove from the heat and add the remaining 125ml of cream, the milk and the vanilla extract and stir well. Pour into a container suitable for the freezer.

3. Roughly chop half of the cranberries and place them on top of the ice cream mixture – do not stir! If you stir at this point, the custard mix will turn pink and that’s not what we’re looking for – we want beautiful swirls! Seal the container with the ice cream and place in the freezer for 2 hours.

4. After 2 hours, remove from the freezer and stir – the cranberries will have frozen by now and will not leak any colourful juices. Place back in the freezer and leave for another hour.

5. In a saucepan, combine the rest of the cranberries, 3tbsp of water and 2tbsp of sugar. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring and crushing the cranberries until you have a thick coulis. Cool this mixture down by removing the saucepan from the heat and placing it in cold water.

6. When fully cooled, pour the cranberry coulis mix into the ice cream and stir it in with a spoon. Try to be gentle and almost fold the coulis in – remember, we’re looking for a swirling effect.

7. Place the ice cream back in the freezer for at least another hour to fully set and we’re done!

Don’t forget to remove the ice cream from the freezer at least 15 minutes before you want to serve it so it has time to soften.



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