Ina Garten’s Peach Ice Cream Recipe Took Her Years to Perfect

TL; DR: 

• Ina Garten’s peach ice cream recipe is the result of years of struggle.
• The Barefoot Contessa finally achieved her goal of making ice cream that tastes like “ripe peaches and cream” with a combination of peaches and liqueur. 
• The cookbook author’s spent years perfecting other Barefoot Contessa recipes such as Boston cream pie and beef stew.

Good things take time. Just ask the Barefoot Contessa. The recipe for Ina Garten’s peach ice cream didn’t happen in a day, week, or even a month. It took her years to develop and test the recipe. 

Ina Garten ‘struggled for years’ trying to make a recipe for peach ice cream

Garten’s peach ice cream recipe is in her 2010 Barefoot Contessa cookbook, How Easy Is That? Sure, it might be a breeze to make — Food Network says it takes 20 minutes to prep — but it took Garten years to get right.

“I’ve struggled for years to make peach ice cream — one that tastes like ripe peaches and cream,” she wrote. “Almost every recipe is flavored with almond extract, which competes with the delicate peach flavor.” 

Garten turned to her “secret weapon,” alcohol. “I tried peaches, Sauternes, and Grand Marnier and came up with the perfect balance,” she said. “I chill the mixture and pour it into the ice cream maker when we sit down to dinner so the ice cream is the right consistency when we’re ready for dessert.”

How to make Ina Garten’s peach ice cream

Garten’s peach ice cream is, after all, a How Easy Is That? recipe. Therefore the instructions are simple and straightforward. 

The Food Network star combines chopped peaches in a bowl with sugar, lemon juice, and peach brandy. Then she covers the bowl and puts it in the fridge overnight, stirring it occasionally. Along the way, she drains the juice from the bowl into a cup to save for later. 

Next, she brings sugar, heavy cream, milk, and “good” vanilla extract to a boil. Meanwhile, she whisks egg yolks in a separate bowl as she gently pours in some of the boiled cream mixture. Garten returns to the egg and cream mixture, putting it back on the stove and stirring it as it comes to a boil. 

Garten takes it off the heat and strains it into a bowl over ice before adding the remaining juice. Finally, she puts the mixture into an ice cream maker and follows the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is close to being done, she adds the peaches and lets it continue to freeze until it’s ready.  

Boston cream pie is another Barefoot Contessa recipe that took Garten years to get ‘just right’

Garten’s peach ice cream isn’t the only Barefoot Contessa dish that took the Food Network star years to perfect. She once said she couldn’t get Boston cream pie “just right.” 

“There are so many different things that have to go right for it to be good, and I’m close but I’m not there yet,” she told HuffPost in 2018.After more than six years of testing the recipe, it finally appeared in her 2020 cookbook, Modern Comfort Food.