Blood Orange No Churn Ice Cream

My Blood Orange No Churn Ice Cream is a delicious seasonal treat but it can be enjoyed all year round if you use ordinary oranges.  I was introduced to these easy to make no churn ice cream desserts by the wonderful Nigella Lawson in her book Nigella Bites. Over the years, Nigella has developed loads of recipes for this easy to make treat and this recipe is an adapted version of hers for No Churn Bitter Orange Ice Cream. Perfect for entertaining, no churn ice creams take no time at all to whip up in the morning and they can then simply be stashed in the freezer to serve in the evening.

I played with the liquid quantities – thankfully Nigella’s no churn ice cream recipes are very forgiving – and spiked the recipe with liqueur. Between the liqueur and the blood oranges the flavour was wonderfully intense. I also added a tiny bit of orange flower water as well, but this is purely optional.

Blood oranges are so named because their flesh is blood red and there’s nothing like the gorgeous pink colour they give this seasonal recipe. However,  you can definitely use ordinary oranges when blood oranges are not available. I have seen blood orange juice on sale out of season in US supermarkets and while fresh, in season is always better I honestly cannot see why this would not work – although this does leave you without orange rind for the recipe. In this case I’d simply use the grated rind (zest) of an ordinary orange. Did you know you can store grated orange zest in the freezer? If I’m squeezing fresh oranges I almost always grate the rind and freeze it to use in recipes at a later date.

To make this blood orange no churn ice cream into a proper dinner party dessert, it really needs something to enhance it – something like my delicious Orange Pecan Slice and Bake Cookies. These can be made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer so that you are never more than ten minutes away from a warm, freshly baked cookie. The orange flavour and bit of crunch from the pecans are the perfect foil to this soft, creamy ice cream.

Blood Orange No Churn Ice Cream

 

Print

Serves: Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients

• ½ cup blood orange juice (that's roughly 2 oranges)
• the zest of two blood oranges
• 1¾ cups icing (confectioner's) sugar
• 2⅓ cups double (heavy) cream
• 2 tablespoons Cointreau or Grand Mariner
• ½ teaspoon orange flower water (optional)

Instructions

1. Put the blood orange juice and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer along with the icing sugar.
2. Beat on low just to dissolve the sugar.
3. Add the double cream and whip on high speed until the mixture nearly reaches the soft peak stage.
4. Whip in the Cointreau and orange flower water (if using).
5. Whip the mixture until it forms soft peaks when you lift the beaters.
6. Transfer to a shallow freezer safe air tight container with a lid.
7. Freeze for at least 5 hours until firm.
8. Place in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes before scooping into pretty bowls to serve.
9. Serve with Orange Pecan Cookies.

Notes

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's No Churn Bitter Orange Ice Cream

3.4.3177

Learn more about easy, no churn ice creams here.