Summer Berry Neapolitan Ice Cream

This is a refreshing summer snack made with three vibrant and fresh ice cream flavors stacked into a beautifully colored Neapolitan. I used strawberry, blackberry/blueberry, and vanilla ice cream which also color magnificently for a Fourth of July dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 quart strawberries
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 cup blackberries
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• water

Tools:

• Ice cream maker (I use a 2 quart Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, though the brave and bold can churn by hand)
• Stove
• Large saucepan
• Several medium and large bowls
• Mesh strainer
• Spoons
• Hand whisk
• Blender
• Refrigerator
• Freezer
• 9x9 baking pan

Step 1: Make the Berry Purees

Cut the strawberries and put them in the blender with a little bit of water. Pulse on high until they are a fine puree. Run them through a mesh strainer into a bowl and use a spoon or rubber spatula to press the liquid through the mesh. Discard the seeds. Repeat the process, blending the blueberries and blackberries together and straining them into a seperate bowl. Put these to the side for later.

Step 2: Make the Custard

You can follow any basic ice cream recipe you want, but here's mine, roughly taken from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

1. Mix milk, sugar, a pinch of salt and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat to 165 degrees fahrenheit, mixing vigorously with a whisk the whole time.
2. Seperate the egg yolks in a large bowl, slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the eggs, whisking the whole time.
3. Pour the egg-milk-sugar mixture through the strainer into the saucepan. This will make sure if any of your eggs got scrambled in the process you won't end up with scrambled egg ice cream.
4. Continue to whisk vigorously, when the custard is thick enough to back a spoon and doesn't run back in if you make a line through it with your finger, put it in the fridge to chill.

Step 3: Seperate Custard and Add Fruit

Seperate your custard into three bowls. Add the blueberry-blackberry mixture to one custard, the strawberry mixture to the other custard, and the 1/4 tsp vanilla to the third custard. Return two of the bowls to the fridge and leave one out.

Step 4: Freeze Your Ice Cream

Freeze the three ice creams one at a time in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. I'm never too worried about cleaning out all of one flavor before freezing the next because it all gets mixed together anyway. I don't freeze these all the way because they will continue to freeze in the next step.

Step 5: Layer the Neapolitan

When each ice cream flavor comes out of the machine, lay it in a smooth layer of the 9x9 pan, stacking each time and returning to to freezer in between flavors. I put blueberry-blackberry on bottom, vanilla in the middle, and strawberry on top.

When you're ready to enjoy your ice cream, take it out of the freezer 10 minutes in advance so it can soften up a little bit.

Step 6: Scoop and Enjoy

Take a nice, round scoop all the way to the bottom of the pan to get all three flavors in.

Bon Apetit!