Blueberry & Lime Ice Cream

I have a soft spot for ice cream. It’s my happy place. It makes everything better. It’s a problem solver that I have an unlimited amount of faith in. Seriously though, when was the last time you had ice cream & it didn’t make everything better? Had a stressful day at work? Ice cream. Argument with a friend? Ice cream. Feel bad about watching TV for 5 hours straight? Ice cream. It’s magical I tell you. 

I know what you’re thinking.. Isn’t it a bit off season to be posting about ice cream? Maybe you’re right, maybe I should be posting about apples & pies & warm freshly baked breads. Buuttt, we’re putting all that off for a little while longer, preserving summer for a tiny bit more. The autumn-ey baking will start soon, but now we’re talking ice cream. Creamy, deliciously fruity ice cream. 

Ice cream is a pretty regular occurrence around here. There’s a handful of recipes on the blog, chocolate ice cream, summer curd ice cream, & I have a few other little gems (such as cookie dough ice cream) just sitting on my laptop waiting to be blogged about. How & ever, fruit flavoured ice cream is a first, both on the blog & off the blog. A lip-lickingly zesty & tangy first. 

This ice cream combination came about for a few different reasons.
Reason #1 being that we all know I have a weakness for discounted fruit, so it surely comes as no shock to anyone when I tell you that when I came across 12 limes for €1.60 last week I obviously couldn’t resist. Yeah.. I’m weak.
Reason #2 is it was my birthday last week! Yep, kept that one pretty quiet. Turned the big ole 2-1, a real grown up (ew). Aside from drinking too much, baking two different cakes, & having an accidental week long celebration party, I also made ice cream. The ice cream was meant to be had with the two cakes (duh), but I may have forgotten about it’s existence & only remembered after everyone had finished their cakes. & when I say may have I mean definitely did. Oops. 
Reason #3.. um, hello? Blueberry & lime are a match made in heaven. 

& so this ice cream was born. Over here, we’re grateful for it’s once forgotten existence. We weren’t so grateful for my last minute decision to put it in a damn bowl.. but that’s a story for another day. 

I made this using the same ice cream recipe I always use; it takes less than 10 minutes of work, you don’t need an ice cream maker, & you most certainly don’t need to take it out of the freezer every few hours to make sure there’s no ice clumps. The flavours turned out stronger than I thought they would, the blueberry being the more overpowering one, but the lime adding a great zing to it all. It’s zesty, ridiculously creamy, refreshing, surprisingly crisp, & damn good. Do it. 

Makes 2 litres 

For the ice-cream:

• 750ml of cream 
• 1 tablespoon of vodka
• 1 400g tin of condensed milk

For the blueberry & lime filling:

• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 2 limes
• 250g of blueberries

Method

1. In a large bowl, whisk all of the cream together until it becomes lightly whipped. Add the tablespoon of vodka & whisk around. Finally, add in the tin of condensed milk & mix around one last time.  
2. Place the zest, juice, & blueberries into a bowl & combine, making sure to coat the blueberries in the juice & also to break up about half of the blueberries so as to make their beautiful colour run. 
3. Add the blueberry & lime filling into the large bowl with the cream & mix thoroughly. Once mixed, pour the ice-cream into a large loaf tin (or container).
4. Cover up your ice cream with cling film & put in the freezer for at least 8 hours. 
5. Serve chilled.