Fig Ice Cream

I love fresh figs and it seems there appearance is always so fleeting. I found some Texas figs at our local market and decided this ice cream would be a fun recipe to try with them. My figs were not the beautiful purple of the mission figs so my ice cream was a tan color rather than purple as shown in the picture of the Perfect Scoop. I also thought my ice cream yield on this recipe was much less than other recipes I have made. I thought the fig flavor in this recipe was really nice. I probably wouldn't want to sit for a bowl of this alone, it needs a compliment. It paired really well with the gooey chocolate cakes.

Fresh Fig Ice Cream

2 lbs fresh figs (about 20)
1/2 cup of water 1 lemon, preferably unsprayed
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon of freshly squeezed, lemon juice, or more to taste

Remove the hard stem ends from the figs, then cut each fig into 8 pieces. Put the figs in a medium, non reactive sauce pan with the water, and zest the lemon directly into the saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10

minutes until the figs are tender.

Remove the lid, add the sugar and continue to cook until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Blend together with cream and lemon juice, chill in the fridge and then put in your ice cream maker per the manufacturer's instructions.

Source: Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas and Sweet Accompaniments, Ten Speed Press, May 1, 2007.