Lemon Curd Ripple Ice Cream by Erica

Have you ever had lemon curd? If you’ve experienced that pleasure, you know that it is addicting. It’s so smooth and rich and zingy all at the same time. Swirl it into ice cream and you’ve got yourself one crazy amazing dessert.

I originally went for an ultra-lemon version of this ice cream, making a lemon-flavored ice cream base to complement the lemon curd ripple. It was lovely, but I wanted to try a straight-up vanilla version to see if the contrasting flavors worked better. We (my husband, sister, and I) all agreed that the vanilla version was better: the lemon curd flavor was more distinct.

 
 

In my initial test run of this ice cream, I made the same custard base that I used for my Mint Chip Ice Cream last year (omitting the mint and adding lemon, of course). After watching me stand over the stove to make the cooked custard base after already standing over the stove to make the lemon curd, my husband told me it was too much work. I reluctantly agreed, even though I love a good custard ice cream. So I decided to devise a no-cook version instead. It’s much easier and faster than making a custard base, and my husband actually prefers it! It makes a soft and fluffy ice cream.

 
 

To make this ice cream, you first beat the cream with the sugar and vanilla. You don’t want to beat it all the way to the whipped cream stage. That’s a little too fluffy for ice cream in my opinion. You want it to be thickened, but still kind of liquid. Basically, stop whipping just before it’s thick enough to dollop on your favorite dessert.

 
 

Then, slooooowly add the milk. It can be difficult to get the milk to mix in with the cream. Adding it gradually helps.

 
 

Churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. But make sure to not over-churn your ice cream. Because you’ve already beaten the cream, it’s easier to churn your ice cream too long and give it a buttery texture. Stop and check the ice cream at least 5–10 minutes before you normally would.

 
 

Scoop the ice cream into a freezer container. Dollop about half of the lemon curd over the ice cream.

 
 

Fold it in with a spatula.

 
 

Repeat with the remaining lemon curd. Freeze until firm, at least several hours.

 
 

Don’t you just want to dive into it?

 
 

This is basically my husband’s dream dessert: creamy, soft vanilla ice cream with delightfully zippy and rich lemon curd rippled throughout. He’s slightly obsessed with it. Like, he gets possessive if I try to feed it to anyone else.

Yep. It’s that good.

 
 

Notes:

• You can also make this a no-churn ice cream! It will be a bit more icy than the churned version, but it will still be very good. I included instructions in the recipe below.
• I like my ice cream not very sweet, as you’ll see reflected in this recipe. If you prefer a sweeter dessert, go ahead and increase the sugar to half a cup or so.
• If you don’t want to bother with homemade lemon curd (trust me: it’s worth it!), you can go for store-bought. Use 1 1/4 cups.
• I listed 5 hours for the prep time. This includes the 2 hours the lemon curd needs to chill and the time the ice cream needs to firm up in the freezer. If you decide to use store-bought lemon curd, the whole process should only take about 2–3 hours (depending on how cold your freezer is).