While summer doesn’t officially start for another few weeks, in Illinois it feels like summer decided to come early.
Usually it’s a bit iffy if the pools should open on Memorial day. Sometimes the temperature can be in the 80′s and other times in can be in the 60′s. However this year, we’ve had 80′s and 90′s for the past couple weeks. Pair this with a bit (or a whole lot) of humidity and it feels more like July than the end of May.
Black raspberries also mean summer. They have a taste and sweetness that are somewhat of a cross between red raspberries and blackberries and make for a great early summer fruit. I’m lucky that these grow wild behind my parents house (and it’s always a race with the neighbors on who can get out and pick first.)
However, if you spy these little gems at the farmers’ market, I highly suggest you pick some up!
As for the ice cream, it’s got a little bit of everything: berries, vanilla beans, and cream cheese. I’m usually notorious for eating ice cream by giant bowlfuls (usually 2-3 times a day) but this ice cream tasted so rich and decadent that I could only eat a couple scoops a day.
Plus, it’s fairly easy to throw together and the originally recipe doesn’t even call for an ice cream machine (although I cheat because how else are you going to get to eat it faster!)
- 1⅓ cup heavy cream
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 cups black raspberries
- ¼ cup cream cheese
- Heat berries in a small sauce pan until juices begin to escape. Smash and set aside.*
- Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape in to a medium pot. Add in heavy cream, milk, and turn on heat to medium. Bring milk to just before it starts to boil and forms bubbles around the edge*. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until mixture is lighten in color.
- While whisking constantly, stream about a ¼ cup a cup of the heated milk mixture in to the egg mixture. Continue to pour milk while whisking.
- Add contents back to the pot and cook until mixture becomes thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in black raspberries and cream cheese. Turn off heat and stir until cream cheese is fully melted.
- From here, let cool completely and freeze as the original instructions call for or you can freeze according to your ice cream maker (which I did.)





















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