Ingredients:
- 1½ pounds fresh, ripe apricots
- 4½ tbsp water
- 2¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups whipping cream
- 9 egg yolks
- 1 tsp (approx.) vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (approx.) kirsch
- Pit the apricots and slice them up.
- Put the sliced apricots in a saucepan with the 4½ tbsp water and simmer until soft, 30-45 minutes.
- The water is there to prevent the fruit from sticking until it gets hot enough to release its juices.
- Dump the apricots into a food processor, blender, or food mill, and purée thoroughly.
- Press the purée through a sieve and set aside.
- In a non-reactive saucepan or double boiler, add the sugar to the cream.
- Heat on low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved completely.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks to mix and then gradually whisk in the warm cream.
- Put the egg-sugar-cream mixture back in the saucepan or double boiler and cook until the mixture coats a spoon.
- Take the custard off the heat and whisk in the apricot purée.
- Add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract, more or less, to taste, along with about a tablespoon of kirsch.
- Now put the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours and chill thoroughly.
- Time to get out that ice cream freezer again.
- Freeze the mixture according to the directions that came with your freezer...directions that will, like as not, involve the use of ice and salt.
- Now taste...and smile. That’s an ice cream you won’t ever see in any stoopidmarket: perfumed with the delicate flavor of one of the summer’s most subtle fruits. Don’t forget to lick the dasher!
