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Marionberry Pie Ice Cream

Marionberry {blackberry and raspberry, too!} pie à la mode is one of my favorite desserts at all times of the year.  The last two summers I have enjoyed combining them into one: marionberry pie ice cream.  One sweet bite of this beautifully-colored ice cream will transport you to berry patches and long, relaxing summer days.  It is a refreshing treat in the heat of summer and the perfect pick-me-up on a gray winter day.

You can use your berry pie of choice.  I used my French Vanilla Ice Cream as the base and then gently stirred in mashed up pieces of pie at the end to get the swirled effect.  A little pie goes a long way in a batch of ice cream so you only need to spare a couple of slices of your pie to make this dessert.  I made my Wild Blackberry Pie with marionberries for this ice cream.  If you don’t have time to make a pie, you can also simply stir in the berries for a Marionberry Swirl Ice Cream.

Blackberries and raspberries have always been my favorite berries for pies, jams and muffins but not until I moved to Oregon as an adult did I come to appreciate the marionberry.  As a child I never paid attention to the “Entering Marion County” sign on I-5 that we passed by countless times; I never put it together that the marionberry was invented here in Oregon {in fact, in conjunction with OSU}.  It has quickly become one of my favorites and we are sure to find berry farms with an assortment of varieties to last us until the following summer.

Marionberry Pie Ice Cream
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Stir a couple pieces of your favorite berry pie into your homemade vanilla ice cream for a tasty treat.
Ingredients
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups milk (or half and half)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Marionberry (or blackberry) pie, to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large saucepan, beat the eggs, milk and sugar until well blended.
  2. Cook the egg mixture over low heat for roughly 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. It should smoothly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
  3. Let the mixture cool.
  4. Add the heavy cream and the vanilla.
  5. Stir until blended and refrigerate the mixture until it is completely chilled, for several hours or up to overnight.
  6. Following the instructions of your ice cream maker, pour the chilled mixture into your machine and stir it until the ice cream forms.
  7. As the ice cream forms, stir in some marionberry (or blackberry) pie to taste by hand.
  8. It will typically be more like soft-serve when you first make it. If you want firmer ice cream, transfer it to a sealed container once it reaches the soft-serve consistency and let it freeze for several hours until it hardens.
  9. Recipe makes 1 quart of ice cream.