Make Ahead

Lime Curd and Poppy Seed No Churn Ice Cream

August  9, 2016
4.5
4 Ratings
Photo by Laura Biscaro
  • Makes about a liter of ice cream
Author Notes

I have been a fan of the no churn versions of the ice creams for a while now, but one thing that always bugged me, though, was the fact that, often times, the condensed milk would make the final product a bit too sweet for my taste. And I wanted to feel the creaminess of a custard based homemade ice cream, as well as the power to control the sweetness level. And this glorious recipe came to mind. I just thought to myself: Why not make a lemon curd, add some heavy cream, and freeze it? I mean, the base was pretty much the same as any other ice cream, right? Apart from one thing: the butter on the lemon curd. I decided to keep it in the recipe, and I’m glad I did, since the extra fat helped A LOT with the texture. The result is a creamy, tangy, sweet and addictive ice cream that you’d never know it wasn’t churned. The poppy seeds give this little crunch in each bite, which, for my first experience, I really loved. I used lime for this because it’s waaay easier to find here, but feel free to replace it for lemons or any other citrus fruit you’d like. —Laura Biscaro

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Ingredients
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 350 grams (2 cups) granulated sugar
  • 5 big limes, zested and juiced
  • 70 grams (a little over 1/3 cup) butter, unsalted, room temp. and diced
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (you can add more, if you’d like)
  • 500 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
  1. Make a bain marie by placing a heatproof bowl over a pan of water, and bringing it to a simmer, on a medium low heat. Add the egg yolks, sugar, poppy seeds, salt, lime zest and juice to the bowl and whisk. Keep whisking until it thickens a bit, then gradually add the butter, whisking continually until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Leave it to cool completely.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk the cold heavy cream to stiff peaks, add it to the curd, in thirds, folding gently until combined. Pour the mixture into a container with a tight lid and freeze it for 30 minutes. Then take it off and give it a whisk. Repeat this process 5 more times (6 times in total) and leave it to freeze completely overnight. This will break the ice crystals, which will give the right texture to the ice cream. After that, you are ready to serve!

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2 Reviews

danijela February 14, 2021
Omg, this is absolutely gorgeous. A balancing amount of sweetness and acidity, freshness and lightness... an amazing recipe. Thank you.
Laura B. February 16, 2021
Glad you enjoyed it, it's still one of my favorites <3