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Wild Blueberry and Lavender Ice Cream

This quick no-churn recipe is great for these long summer days. It takes a simple blueberry lavender compote and mixes it into an ice cream base made from whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk. It’s creamy, fruity, delicately floral, and amazingly simple. Definitely a staple recipe as the temperatures outside continue to rise.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Chill Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 4 Cups
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Wild Blueberry Lavender Compote
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 cups frozen wild blueberries *
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender mashed in a mortar and pestle
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • A pinch of salt
No-Churn Ice Cream Base
  • 2 cups cold heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or the same amount of vanilla extract
  • 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Method
 

Make the compote
  1. In a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch and lemon juice. Set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, sugar, and lavender. Allow this mixture to come to a simmer. Stir with a wooden spoon, and try to break up the blueberries some. After 3-4 minutes, pour in the cornstarch mixture. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. It will thicken up into a sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
  3. Pour mixture into a bowl and cover with cling wrap. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour before making the rest of the ice cream. Mixture will thicken as it cools.
Make the ice cream
  1. In a medium bowl, whip the cream with the lemon juice and vanilla bean paste until stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks mean the cream should hold its shape when a whisk is lifted from the bowl. You can do this by hand or use a hand or stand mixer. The whipped cream will not be sweet yet, all of the sweetness comes from the sweetened condensed milk. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl whisk the sweetened condensed milk with all of the blueberry compote until combined.
  3. Fold half of the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture until just combined. Try not to deflate the whipped cream too much. Add the rest of the cream and fold until just combined. Add the ice cream to a loaf pan and spread into an even layer. Place in the freezer and freeze for at least 5 hours, but overnight is best.
  4. To prevent ice from forming on top, cover the ice cream with cling wrap while you store it in the freezer. Ice cream will stay good like this for up to 2 months.

Notes

Frozen Wild Blueberries: This recipe has been tested only with FROZEN wild blueberries. I do not recommend trying it with fresh berries, as they do not contain as much water and the compote may be different.