Italian Water Ice Fresh Peach Recipes

PEACH ICE

Steps:

• In a small bowl, stir water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Place peach, lemon juice and sugar mixture in a blender. Cover and process 1 minute or until blended. Transfer to a freezer container; cover and freeze 3 hours or until almost firm., Transfer to blender. Cover and process 30-40 seconds or until slushy. Return to freezer container; cover and freeze overnight., Remove from freezer just before serving. Using a fork, scrape into two dessert dishes.

ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Blend the fruit, sugar, honey and lemon juice with 2 cups ice in a food processor or blender until chunky. Add another 1 cup ice and blend until completely smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish and freeze 30 minutes. Scrape the ice with a fork until slushy, then freeze until firm, about 2 more hours. Scoop into paper cups.

PEACH GELATO

Steps:

• Place peaches and water in a large skillet; cook, uncovered, over medium heat until tender. Place in a food processor; cover and process until blended. Set aside., In a small saucepan, heat milk to 175°; stir in sugar until dissolved. Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into egg yolks. Return all to the pan, whisking constantly. Cook over low heat until mixture is just thick enough to coat a metal spoon and a thermometer reads at least 160°, stirring constantly. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat immediately., Quickly transfer to a large bowl; place bowl in a pan of ice water. Stir gently and occasionally for 2 minutes. Stir in cream, peaches and liqueur if desired. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard. Refrigerate several hours or overnight., Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full; freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. (Refrigerate any remaining mixture until ready to freeze.) Transfer ice cream to freezer containers, allowing headspace for expansion. Freeze 2-4 hours or until firm. Repeat with any remaining gelato mixture.

PESCHE CON CREMA (PEACHES WITH CREAM)

Steps:

• Make the pastry cream: In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring milk and lemon zest to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow; add flour and whisk until well combined.
• Remove lemon zest from milk and discard; slowly whisk hot milk into egg mixture. Return mixture to saucepan and place over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until cream thickens and begins to boil.
• Transfer pastry cream to a large bowl; cover with plastic wrap, pressing down on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool completely.
• Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Whisk eggs in another large bowl. Add sugar and whisk to combine. Whisk in milk, butter, and lemon zest until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing with a fork, until dough is smooth and stiff. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats; set aside.
• Using a lightly mounded tablespoon of dough, roll the dough firmly between your palms to make a smooth round ball, about the size of a walnut. Repeat process, taking care to make sure all the balls are fairly uniform in size. Place balls on prepared baking sheets spacing about 1 inch apart; you should be able to fit 24 balls on each baking sheet. Flatten tops slightly with your fingertips.
• Transfer to oven and bake until bottoms are lightly browned, about 15 minutes; tops will remain pale. Transfer to a rack and let cool slightly.
• Assemble the peaches: While the cookies are still warm, use a small, sharp knife to cut a circle about the size of a quarter on the bottom (flat) side of each cookie, taking care not to crack the edges. Use the tip of the knife to scrape out enough crumbs to make hollow and hold about 1 teaspoon pastry cream. Set cookies aside.
• Place rum or maraschino liqueur and schnapps in a small bowl. Add enough red and yellow food coloring to create your desired shade of peach; set aside. Fill a shallow bowl with sugar; set aside.
• Fill each hollowed-out cookie with 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich two cookies together so that the filling comes just to the edge, taking care not to crack or break. Using a pastry brush, brush "peach" with colored liquor and roll in sugar to coat. Transfer to a large airtight container and repeat process with remaining cookies, liqueur, and sugar. Cover container and transfer to refrigerator; let chill overnight.
• Just before serving, pierce each "peach" with a toothpick where the two cookies come together and insert the stem of a peach leaf. Alternatively, you can garnish cookies with decorative or chocolate leaves.

ITALIAN WATER ICE - FRESH PEACH

Steps:

• Puree peaches in blender with lemon juice.
• Boil water and sugar together for 5 minutes.
• Cool.
• Stir in juice and peel.
• Pour into shallow bowl and put in freezer.
• As it starts to freeze, keep stirring the outside crystals into the center and mix in peel.
• Do about every half hour -MUST DO!.
• When real slushy, stop and freeze overnight.
• To serve, you must scrape very thin layers of the slush off the top.
• I use a big spoon with sharp edges moving it sideways.