From the Wish List: Dairy-Free Peach Ice Cream

Ah, summer! The days are long, the mood is happy, and the cooking is light. Truth be told, I am not much of a "seasonal eater." I eat more or less the same things year round except when it comes to fruit. I am indulging in seasonal summer fruits to my heart's content this year, knowing that their presence at the market is transient. Yesterday I spotted Michigan blueberries at my local Jewel for less than $2 a pint! Score! And they are DELICIOUS: big, sweet, and juicy. Blueberries were not on my shopping list, but I'm happy to ditch the list for sweet Michigan blueberries.

But this blog entry is not really about blueberries. It's about ice cream! Specifically, it's about the dairy-free peach ice cream recipe in the current (July/August 2007) issue of Vegetarian Times. This recipe is a really easy, fast way to whip up a frozen dessert in less than ten minutes. Basically you buzz frozen peach slices with some soymilk, sugar, and some flavorings to make a peachy slush. You can then eat it right away or tuck it into the freezer to make it more solid. The end result is more of a sobet than an ice cream: it's cold and sweet but it isn't very creamy. This quality isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's still a light and satisfying dessert which would be especially appropriate after a rich, heavy, or spicy meal.

I made this dessert using my teeny-tiny food processor which can hold about 2.5 cups of stuff at one time. With this limited capacity in mind, I halved the original recipe and cut back a bit on the sugar. I found the slush was sweet enough without adding the full amount of sugar in the original recipe. I'll give you my modified recipe here.

Dairy-Free Peach Sorbet
adapted from "Dairy-Free Peach Ice Cream," p. 86, Vegetarian Times July/August 2007

2 cups frozen peach slices
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice (I used 1 Tbsp. but think 2 Tbsp. would be even tastier)
1/4 tsp. real vanilla extract, optional (I didn't use vanilla because I didn't have any on hand)
Pinch of salt

1) Add all ingredients to a food processor, starting with the peaches to make sure they all fit! Buzz until smooth.
2) Either eat sorbet immediately or spoon mixture into a freezer-appropriate container to freeze. If you freeze the sorbet until it's solid, give it about ten minutes to warm up at room temperature before attempting to scoop it out. Otherwise the sorbet will be rock hard and very difficult to serve.

And just for fun, I'm entering this recipe in the "Blog or Bust" event over at clumsycook.com (http://clumsycook.com/2007/07/18/blog-or-bust-2/). The Clumsy Cook is calling for healthy summer desserts. Her blog is quite entertaining, so go check it out!