Black Currant Ice Cream

My friends, I have finally returned! So sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been moving to a new house in a new state for a new job. Not a lot of time available to blog in the last week or two! And I'll let you know ahead of time, what with moving and everything, the purse strings are going to be a bit tight until October. I'll blog as much as I can, but probably not my normal 2-3 times a week of making exciting and gratuitously expensive food! But never fear, I promise we will eventually get through the rest of our journey!

For now, we move on to a lovely food used to describe Uncle Vernon's fearful complexion:

"Now he watched the purple recede blotchily from Uncle Vernon's face, making it look like badly mixed black currant ice cream" (Goblet of Fire 33).

I've mentioned before that black currants are difficult to get ahold of in the U.S., but you can usually find black currant jam or jelly. So I've decided to make vanilla ice cream swirled with black currant.

You Will Need:

1.5 cups whole milk

1 1/8 cup granulated sugar

3 cups heavy cream

1.5 Tbs vanilla (preferably a brand that does not include alcohol in the ingredients!)

Black currant jelly, jam, or preserves

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the milk and sugar, mixing until the sugar is dissolved. 

2. Stir in the heavy cream. Some recipes will tell you to add the vanilla now, and I, not thinking clearly, did this also. But if you add the vanilla now, your ice cream will never fully freeze!

3. Refrigerate this mixture until very very cold.

4. Pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. About 5 minutes from the end of the freezing time, add the vanilla.

5. Just before it's finished, drizzle in your black currant. Let the ice cream maker continue to run until the ice cream is swirled (or combined) to your liking.

6. Remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker and transfer to an air-tight container. If the ice cream seems too soft, pop it in the fridge for ten minutes before serving. 

Since I added the vanilla too early, my ice cream was really soft. Also, I had less currant jelly than I thought. It was still quite tasty, but next time I'll definitely use more currant. I hope you enjoy!