4th of July + Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

You can't get much more American than celebrating the 4th of July with some good old fashion homemade ice cream...and a hotdog, and some fireworks! Anyhoo, we will be spending the holiday weekend back home in South Pasadena, a small town nestled on the outskirts of Los Angeles that still celebrates each Independence day with a pancake breakfast, 4th of July parade, and high school fireworks show. Ah, sometimes it's just good to be home! And somewhere between the parade, fireworks and family barbeque, I plan to celebrate with a big scoop of the blueberry pie ice cream I made yesterday. Graham cracker ice cream swirled with homemade blueberry pie filling. Can't get much better than that! Have a safe and happy 4th my friends!

{photography by Freutcake}

Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

Blueberry Filling: (found here)
1 ½ cups blueberries, rinsed and picked over (I used frozen!)
¾ cup granulated sugar, divided

In a saucepan, heat blueberries with ¼ cup of sugar, stirring, until the blueberries pop and the mixture cooks down a bit, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely then refrigerate to chill.

Graham Cracker Ice Cream Base: (found here)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 graham cracker, pulverized (totally)
blueberry filling (recipe above)

In a saucepan heat 1 cup of heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrape seeds into mixture along with the vanilla bean pod. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and remove bean pod. Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup milk, vanilla extract, and crushed graham cracker. Refrigerate mixture until thoroughly cooled. Add chilled mixture to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions. Once churned, gently stir in pie filling and serve right away, or layer ice cream and pie filling in container, and freeze until desired hardness. Makes a little over a quart.

Freutcake Tip: I layered ice cream, filling, ice cream, in a metal loaf pan to harden before serving.