Nothing says summer better than a bowl of the best, creamiest homemade ice cream! Usually I make peach ice cream, but I decided to use some of the plum pie filling I had canned this past fall, and the result was fantastic.

We were gifted a Cuisinart ice cream maker for our wedding, one of those random gifts that took us completely by surprise, and we have loved it! It is extremely simple to use, and the recipes are easy to modify. The mixing bowl just lives in our freezer to be used whenever desired, or it takes about 24 hours for the bowl to freeze before use, the recipes mix up in about 5 minutes and chill in the fridge for a few hours, and the ice cream itself is made in about a half an hour of mixing and freezing. Basically, it is just an easy and fun way to serve up desert for a group, without heating the house up on a hot day! This recipe is based off a Cuisinart recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plums or fruit from plum pie filling, pureed or chopped

3/4 cup whole milk (or half-and-half)

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

A generous splash of vanilla

Directions:

Combine milk or half-and-half, sugar, and salt in a bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Puree the fruit in a blender, and add to the bowl, along with the cream and vanilla. Stir well, and refrigerated for at least two hours.

When chilled, pour into ice cream maker mixing bowl and follow manufacturer instructions.

Serve immediately when desired consistency is reached, or freeze for a harder ice cream.

Notes:

I mostly used the fruit from the canned pie filling, leaving the syrup behind, which happens to make excellent ice cream topping…Since there is sugar in the pie filling, and because I like things less sweet anyway, I cut the sugar back to 1/3 of a cup instead the 2/3 of a cup the original recipe calls for. If you use fresh plums, you might want to use the full amount of sugar. My original recipe also calls for whole milk, but I like using half-and-half instead, or at least adding some half-and-half to the whole milk for some extra creaminess (if I’m going to indulge in dessert, it might as well be extra creamy and extra good!).

Enjoy!