Pear Ice Cream with Candied Ginger

Fall is pear and apple time, and pumpkin, and, well, the list goes on and on and on. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year! Not just because of all the wonderful things available in the garden for baking and cooking but because of the weather, the colors, and the smells, pretty much everything.

Our pear trees had an abundance this year. We have so many pears in the storage shed that even bringing 2 huge boxes in to share at the office has not made a dent. I’ve looked up several pear recipes to try but most of them only use 3 or 4 pears.

I did make this recipe last year – HP Sauce – that I found at Canadian Crafter’s blog. (Okay, her recipe calls for apples but I used pears) It’s great and uses a lot of pears....but I still have so much HP sauce from last year that I don’t need to make more.

Hmmm.... while I find a way to use up more pears I will share this tasty recipe for pear ice cream.

Side story – while trying to find pear ice cream recipes I scoured the internet for the most interesting sounding recipe. There are not too many pear ice cream recipes out there and the ones that are out there are mostly custard based (ie: heat your milk/cream, beat it into the eggs & sugar, cool it down...blah, blah, blah) or involved caramelizing or roasting the pears. Don’t get me wrong, they sounded delicious, but I was looking for something simple. My dad loaned me his ancient ice cream book that he uses for his recipes. This is another of the old school, no photos, pages held in with elastic bands cook books.

Guess what?

Perfect pear recipe inside.

Easy peasy, no muss, no fuss, start to finish in like 10 seconds.

(Well, maybe a few more than 10 seconds but, you see where I’m going with this.)

I made a few small changes (I can’t help it, it’s an affliction of mine) and added some finely chopped candied ginger and, voila, delicious Pear and Candied Ginger ice Cream.

Pear Ice Cream with Candied Ginger

Ingredients

4 ripe pears

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 - 2 tbsp finely chopped, candied ginger

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup half & half

Directions

Peel and core pears. Place in food processor with lemon juice, ginger, and sugars. Process until smooth.

Pour mixture into bowl of stand mixer. While mixer is running add cream and half & half. Mix until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth (about 5 - 8 minutes).

Pour into container of ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions. (May have to mix in 2 batches)

I’m not a huge fan of the candied ginger, I did that for a friend who loves ginger, but I do think this would be even better with no ginger and a hint of cinnamon. I will try that next time.

I do love the simplicity of this recipe. Sometimes simple is better. Sometimes all the extra steps don’t really add a lot, sometimes they do, I guess you never know until you try. Do give this recipe a try though, for how easy it is the results are amazing.

I know fall isn’t really “ice cream season” but this ice cream is heavenly with any kind of fruit crisp/crumble you may be baking up.

I KNOW you are making fruit crisps/crumbles because that is the law in fall.

At least one crisp/crumble has to be made or the earth will implode.

At least, that’s what I heard.

Be sure to visit Carol's Chatter for some more fantastic links!