Blueberry Crumble Fromage Frais Ice Cream

Summer fruits make wonderful ice creams, and one of my favourites is crumble ice cream. One of the best is made with blueberries – the colour looks very attractive, and the flavour of the blueberries and the added crunch of crumble make this a stunning ice cream.

Method

First of all make the ice cream by whisking the cornflour, egg yolks and sugar together. Then heat the milk to just below boiling point and pour this over the egg mixture, whisking as you pour. Return it to the pan and heat gently, stirring until it has the consistency of thin custard. If it begins to look grainy, it means you're overheating; don't worry – it will become smooth again as it cools. Add the vanilla extract, then pour the whole lot into a bowl and allow it to become completely cold.

After that, fold in the fromage frais. If you have an ice cream maker, freeze churn it until it thickens – 30-40 minutes. If you don't have one, freeze the ice cream mixture in the freezer box for 3-4 hours, then whisk it thoroughly and return it to the freezer. Refreeze for a further 2 hours, then whisk in the crumble and purée as below.

For the crumble, rub the sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon together until you have a coarse, quite lumpy crumble. Spread this on a baking sheet. Then place the blueberries and caster sugar for the purée in a shallow baking dish. Place the crumble in the oven on a high shelf, the blueberries just below and bake the whole lot for 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven.

Now purée the blueberries by passing them through a nylon sieve, extracting the seeds. Allow to cool and chill well in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Then, using your hands, break up the crumble into little pieces the size of small peas. If they're any larger, they're unwieldy to eat, and if they're too small they disappear.

As soon as the ice cream is ready, fold in the crumble, working as quickly as possible. Then stir in the purée, but not too thoroughly – you want ribbon-like streaks running through the ice cream. Now transfer to the freezer box and freeze until needed. Crumble ice creams need to have an hour in the refrigerator to become soft enough to scoop before serving.

For the frosted blueberries, lightly whisk up the egg white. Then dip each blueberry first in the egg white, then in the caster sugar. Leave them spread on greaseproof paper for 2 hours before using them as a decoration for the ice cream.

Note: this recipe contains raw eggs.