Georgia Peach Ice Cream + Homemade Cones

Georgia is known for two things in my eyes, the great and powerful Ludacris AND, of course, dangerously juicy peaches. It’s summertime which means it’s T.F.C...Time For Cream.

Georgia has a long tradition of growing peaches that stems back to the Native Americans. I’m no farmer, but for whatever reason the climate is perfect for the large, round, delicious juice bombs. Growing up, when late summer hit, it was only a matter of time before my Dad and Stepmom brought the 25 pack of white “Dragon Peaches” from the Korean market. It just wasn’t fully summer until that sticky, cooling feeling of peach juice dripping down your chin came about.

Chin dripping aside, peach season is in late summer which means that it’s hot outside. Sweltering these days, matter of fact. It’s so hot that it has a guy like me, with little to no sweet tooth, craving sweet sweeeeet cream (of the iced variety). Before this video I had only made ice cream a few times growing up with a very wonky, low-quality machine and, if we’re being real, very little experience with ice cream bases. That last part has changed.

I reached out to a few of my chef friends for advice and mentoring and took a head first deep dive into all things ice cream. After testing and a few trials, the recipe below is what I came out with. Some ingredients might sound scary, but the technique couldn’t be more straight-forward. Oh, and we’ll also make our own homemade cones - how cute and fun! Actually though it’s not hard and I know you can do it. Let’s make some ice cream. 🤘🏻Adam

Print

Georgia Peach Ice Cream & Homemade Cones

Ingredients

Peach Ice Cream Base

• 500g Whole Milk (2 cups)
• 500g Heavy Cream (2 cups)
• 120g Egg Yolks (about 8)
• 160g Sugar (3/4 cup)
• 80g Glucose (3 Tbsp)
• 3g Kosher Salt (1 tsp)
• 50g Whole Milk Powder (1/3 cup)
• 30g Peach Powder (1/3 cup)
• 2g Vanilla Bean Extract (1/2 tsp)
• 1g Xanthan Gum (small pinch)
• 270g Peach Puree, cooked (1 cup)
• Fresh Mint, for garnish

Peach Powder

• 6 pounds Peaches, peeled and sliced thin

Peach Puree

• 4 cups Peaches, peeled and sliced into chunks
• 1 cup Water
• Juice of half a Lemon
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt

Ice Cream Cones

• 2 Egg Whites
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Heavy Cream
• 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Water, plus more as needed
• 2/3 cup All-purpose Flour, plus more as needed
• Kosher Salt, to taste

Instructions

Peach Ice Cream Base

1. Add the whole milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, glucose, salt, milk powder, peach powder, vanilla bean extract, peach powder and peach puree to a sauce pan and whisk until smooth.
2. Cook the dairy mixture on medium-low heat stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture comes to 180F and coats the back of a spoon. Using an immersion blender, pour in the xanthan gum and blend until smooth.
3. Pass the dairy mixture through a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl sitting over ice. Stir constantly to chill the mixture down then store in the fridge overnight or up to 3 days.
4. The next day, remove the base from the fridge. Pour the base into your ice cream maker and follow the directions advised by the manufacturer. Allow the finished ice cream to chill down further in the freezer until hard, about an hour and a half.
5. Serve with peach powder, fresh peach slices and a sprig of mint.

Peach Powder

1. Use a paring knife to make a small “X” on the bottom of each peach.
2. Bring a large pot of water up to a boil on high heat, reduce to medium and blanch the peaches for 30 seconds to 1 minute, shock in an ice bath, then peel the skin off.
3. Slice peaches into thin 1/6 of an inch slices, arrange on the dehydrator rack in a single layer. Dehydrate until the peach slices snap in half, about 2-3 (48-72 hours) days at 130F (60c).
4. Add dried peaches to blender or spice grinder, blitz into a powder. Store in a resealable container at room temperature until needed.

Peach Puree

1. Add the peaches and water to a medium saucepan and cook down over low-medium heat until reduced by a third. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Ice Cream Cones

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Add the egg whites and sugar to a large bowl and whisk until smooth and shiny.
3. Add the heavy cream, melted butter, water, salt and flour. Whisk until smooth. Adjust the thickness of the batter with more water or flour. Thicker is better than too thin.
4. Line a baking tray with a silpat mat and warm in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, crunch a piece of tinfoil into a cone shape, set aside.
5. Carefully remove the tray and ladle a tablespoon-ish of the batter onto a silpat lined baking tray and spread out with the back of the ladle to form a small tortilla sized pancake.
6. Bake at 400F for 5-6 minutes, or until browned around the outside but still pale in the center. Remove from the oven and quickly shape the pancakes into cones, they won’t be pliable once cooled so work fast! Let the cones cool fully on a separate plate before scooping in ice cream.

Adam's Notes

• Don't cook the peach puree too hard or it will darken.

• This is a seasonal recipe, I've done it with out-of-season peaches and it never tastes NEARLY as good... but it's still ice cream. If making at anytime other than summer, sub the peaches for another fruit that's in season.

• Use a regular blender instead of an immersion blender if you need to whenever called for.

• If your peaches are moist, keep dehydrating until they’re bone dry or they won’t last as long on the shelf and will be tough to blend into a powder.

• Making cones can hurt because they're hot fresh out the oven and that's the only time that you can manipulate and shape them properly. Try wearing rubber gloves and/or squeezing an ice cube in between shaping each cone.

• 6 pounds of peaches = 3-4 cups Dried Peaches = 1 1/2 cups Peach Powder

• Egg yolks change the color and flavor of the ice cream. Egg yolks give the final product a more traditional American flavor as opposed to Italian gelato which rarely uses them.

• Glucose helps to stabilize the ice cream base it's an inverted sugar which means that it does not allow sucrose to crystallize with water the same way as it would and can be a barrier between forming ice. Glucose adds a certain "chew" and texture to the final ice cream.

• Why not just use glucose instead of sugar? Sugar is sweeter than glucose, so you’d need a lot of glucose in its place which would change the texture drastically if you added enough.

• Milk powder is used for flavor, bumping up milk protein flavor. Using milk powder provides more of what the palate perceives as fat and creaminess.

• Xanthan Gum adds airiness and texture to the final ice cream.

Stuff I Use...

Glucose Syrup

Breville Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker

Xanthan Gum

Disclaimer: I earn commission income with qualifying purchases made through Amazon’s Affiliate program and other affiliate links in this description.