Lemon Ice Cream
I’ve been making this lemon ice cream recipe for ten years now, but only recently with Meyer lemons. Originally from Desserts to Die For, I’ve altered this recipe to reduce the amount of butter called for. Yes, that’s right—butter. This is a recipe to die for, after all. With the full four tablespoons of butter, our spoons were left a little greasy, but two tablespoons seems to do the trick.
The resulting ice cream, with enough egg yolks to make French vanilla ice cream jealous, is anything but a sorbet. Smooth and creamy with no harsh acidic overtones, this lemon ice cream is very well balanced. The lemon flavor is derived from a combination of boiled zest syrup and chilled lemon juice. These are added to the custard base immediately prior to freezing.
Ingredients for making Lemon Ice Cream (plenty of egg yolks).
After whipping egg yolks and sugar, slowly add the hot cream while mixing at medium speed.
Heat custard to 185° F or until finger drawn across spoon leaves track.
Pour hot custard through chinois to remove any egg lumps and chill in ice bath.
Use a microplane grater to remove the zest from about four Meyer lemons. Juice all lemons and set juice aside.
Boil zest with sugar and water for five minutes until reduced to syrup.
Blend lemon juice and lemon syrup into chilled custard base and then pour into ice cream machine.
Freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions.
Once firm, transfer to dedicated container and let ripen in freezer for several hours.
The recipe, with detailed instructions and complete photo gallery, can be found on the Lemon Ice Cream recipe page.
March 7th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Brian,
This ice-cream would be my downfall – I’d eat the whole bowl!
May I ask you something? Do you freeze the remaining egg whites?
March 7th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Ahh, I didn’t even think about freezing the egg whites. I’m afraid they went down the drain. I should make waffle cones next time I make this recipe as I don’t make souffle or yolk-less omelettes. I’m not sure how appropriate this ice cream is for waffle cones, perhaps a very light, lemon flavored waffle cone? I have a waffle cone iron and will be adding a recipe for that in the next couple months. What’s your recommendation for egg whites?
March 7th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Brian,
I froze some egg whites 10 days ago or something but haven’t used them yet – so for now I don’t know if they would work fine once thawed.
I know that Nigella freezes egg whites and use them for pavlovas, but I don’t know if they would be good for anything else…
March 7th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
This is my first time reading your site and I love it. I love the instructional pictures. Lemon ice cream? Sounds so good and refreshing, especially with the Spring coming.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for the compliments, Cheryl! This ice cream is neither too fruity nor custardy. I’ve made this with Meyer and Eureka lemons, and definitely would recommend Meyers as they help make this one smooth dessert.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Egg whites freeze well and can last at least a month frozen. It’s a good way to gradually save up enough egg whites for a recipe like angel food cake or meringue cookies.
And this post knocked me off the fence and the ice cream maker is going on the wishlist! Your ice cream looks really good.
March 8th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Thanks Paul. I’ve never regretted buying a nice ice cream maker. Our first model is almost dead after 10 years, so we bought a Musso a couple months ago. The dasher spins much faster and not as close to the bowl as the older one we have, but this batch did turn out super smooth in texture.
I also have an antique, small capacity white mountain hand crank model which we use or camping. At home I just plug the musso in and no pre-freezing, salt, or ice thanks to built in refrigeration. Not cheap, but if we get 10 years out of this new one, it too will be a bargain. I’ve heard decent things about the cuisinart refrigerated model, which is entry level price-wise for refrigerated models.
March 9th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I just found your blog through Delightful Blogs and absolutely love it! I love how you use step by step pictures so that novices like me can see exactly how to make delicious desserts. I hope it is alright with you that I am going to add you as a favorite to my blog! Great job!
March 10th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Thanks Leslie. I like recipes with pictures, and I hope it shows. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll!
January 27th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
it’s my moms’ 70th birthday this weekend i’m bringing cake and ice cream so far i’ve made the base for vanilla bean and this lemon ice cream tomorrow i will make the bases for pistachio, dark chocolat with peppermint bark chunks(williams sonoma) and bluberry ice creams. mom loves ice cream i think i’ll make a large brownie cake to go with it all, it’s fun but i am breaking the bank on the ingredient list.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:04 pm
My kids are requesting ice cream for dessert. Then upon browsing I found your article. Very timely.