Peach Melba Ice Cream

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This peach melba ice cream post is sponsored by Diamond Crystal Salt. All opinions are my own.

The summeriest fruit is a perfectly ripe peach. It is exquisite all on its own but made better paired with ice cream and a drizzle of raspberry sauce. What I’ve just described is a Peach Melba, the iconic dessert created by the grandfather of pastry, Escoffier. His muse for this dessert was an opera star, Nellie Melba. His concoction layered the peach on top of the ice cream and then drizzled the whole thing in raspberry coulis. It’s a dessert I’ve made many times in restaurants when a case of summer peaches arrived in my pastry station. The key, in my humble opinion, is to peel the peach, so that the smooth, perfumy flesh is on display without the sometimes-fuzzy skin to interrupt. 

I was recently asked what my favorite sweet and salty treat is. I love them all! I think sweets are not complete without the balancing of some salt, with no exceptions that I can think of. The most surprising of these combinations may be desserts made with ripe fruit. A bit of salt can bring out the natural sweetness and intensify the flavors. I’m not necessarily going for salty, just enhancing the fruits potential. 

You’ll find salt in every single recipe I write. In this ice cream I use it in several places, some of which may surprise you. I put salt in the ice bath when peeling the peaches to keep it extra cold (same principle used in the old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream machines to bring down the temperature when freezing), I use it in the peaches to heighten their flavor and I add Diamond Crystal Baking Salt “to taste” in the ice cream base as it is freezing. This is the beauty of the Baking salt, it dissolves instantly, so you can add it to something at the end and it will blend in effortlessly. This allows you to adjust the salt to your palate. Frozen desserts muffle the flavors a bit, so it is important to season them well to bring out the flavors.

The base for this peach melba ice cream is Philadelphia-style ice cream, meaning it has no eggs, just cream, sugar, a bit of vanilla, and salt. It’s a much style of ice cream than traditional French-style, which contains egg yolks for richness.

This ice cream is super easy to make and extra creamy despite being an eggless recipe. Other than cooking the fruit, you don’t need to cook this ice cream base, so you can freeze it just minutes after mixing. One of the most frequently asked questions I get is about desserts with no eggs and this is a perfect one for summertime!

If you like Philadelphia-style ice cream, be sure to try my Philly-style chocolate ice cream next. Or if you love Peach Melba, try my take on it here.

Peach Melba Ice Cream

This ice cream is made with perfectly ripe peaches, a super-easy vanilla ice cream (no eggs, no cooking), a sprinkle of salt, and a drizzle of raspberry coulis. It is the BEST, creamiest, frozen treat of the summer!

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Author: Zoë François

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Ingredients

Peaches

• 4 ripe peaches* peeled, pitted, ½” dice (see note below for peeling)
• ½ cup (100g) brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 vanilla bean scraped and seeded**
• 1/8 tsp Diamond Crystal Baking Salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch***

Raspberry Coulis

• 2 cups (252g) fresh or frozen raspberries
• ½ cup (100g) sugar
• 1/8 tsp Diamond Crystal Baking Salt

No-cook No-egg Ice cream base

• 2 cups (473ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup (237ml) half & half
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup (100g) sugar
• 1/8 tsp Diamond Crystal Baking Salt****

For Serving

• Fresh berries for serving
• Ice cream cones optional

Instructions

Cook The Peaches

• In a medium sized pot, over medium heat, cook the peaches, brown sugar, vanilla seeds and Baking salt until the peaches are tender but not falling apart.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and starch, then stir the mixture into the peaches and cook for 2 minutes. The juices will look milky when you add the starch and should be clear and thick once the 2 minutes are done. Pour peaches into a bowl and refrigerate to cool. This can be done a day ahead.

Make The Raspberry Coulis

• In a medium saucepot cook the raspberries and sugar until the juices are as thick as maple syrup. Depnding on the fruit this can take 5 to 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Refrigerate the coulis until well chilled. Can be done a day ahead.

Make The Ice Cream Base

• Place a two quart or larger container in the freezer to chill before starting your ice cream. This will prevent the ice cream from melting as you add it to the container after it churns.
• In a blender, add the heavy cream, half & half, vanilla, sugar, Baking salt and ½ of the chilled peach mixture. Blend for about 30 seconds. Most of the peaches will be pureed into the cream but it doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth.
• Freeze the mixture according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
• When the ice cream is starting to set up but not finished churning, add the remaining chilled peaches. Taste the ice cream and add more Baking salt to taste.

How To Layer Ice Cream an Coulis

• Place 1/3 of the ice cream in the prepared frozen container. Smooth out the top and then pour about a ¼ cup of the coulis over the top.
• Repeat with another layer of the ice cream. The coulis will want to slide around, so you will have to very gently coax the next layer of ice cream into place. Add another layer of coulis.
• Spoon on final layer of ice cream and finish with a ¼ cup of coulis. You will have more coulis left over for pouring over the ice cream when you serve it.
• Freeze until ready to serve. If you freeze the ice cream for more than 3 hours before serving, remove the ice cream from the freezer about 20 minutes before scooping to temper it (make sure it’s not set too hard). It’s better to be a little melty then to be hard.
• Use an ice cream scoop dipped in hot water to serve. Add more coulis and some fresh berries if you are serving in a bowl.

To Peel Peaches

• In a large bowl, add 6 cups of ice, plus enough water to cover the ice, and 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal Salt. Set aside.
• Use a sharp paring knife to cut an X in the bottom of the peach skin, try not to cut too deeply into the flesh of the fruit.
• Bring a large pot filled with water to a boil. Add the 4 peaches to the boiling water. Let them cook for about 30 seconds, remove and plunge immediately into the ice water.
• Use your fingers to peel away the skin, it should fall right off. If it resists, put it back into the boiling water for a few more seconds.

Notes

*Look for “cling-free” peaches to make pitting easier. It’s all in the name—the
cling-free varieties mean that the peach won’t cling to the pit and you can easily remove
them.
**Replace the vanilla seeds with 1 Tbsp vanilla extract. If you use the seeds,
you can use the scraped bean for your homemade vanilla extract instead of adding it to
the pot.
***Use any other starch to thicken this if you can’t use corn products. Tapioca
starch or potato starch works.
****Because this salt dissolves instantly, you can adjust the amount as the ice
cream is churning. Midway through the freezing, taste the base and make sure it has
enough salt to taste exciting. Freezing food can reduce the intensity of the flavors, so it
is nice to adjust the salt midway.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!