Wood Shop

Blueberry Crisp with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Hey there!  This is another one of our favorite uses for blueberries.....Blueberry Crisp.  But, to make it extra special for your dad or hubby, bake them in individual ramekins and put a dollop of homemade vanilla ice cream on the top of it.  When the creamy, decadent ice cream melts into the warm, buttery crust on top of the sweet blueberries, it is pure heaven! 

For this recipe you will need 6 ramekins and an electric ice cream maker.  Click here to see the kind of ice cream maker I use.  For 40 bucks, it will pay for itself in a month or so if you buy a lot of ice cream for your family and I really like to make my own so I have more control over the ingredients.  Its simple to use and is ready in half an hour.

To make the ice cream, combine the following ingredients in a bowl:
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup vanilla sugar (or regular sugar)
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pulp from 1 vanilla bean
Mix with a hand mixer for about 3 minutes on low until sugar is dissolved.
Pour into the bowl of the ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.
You will have homemade delicious ice cream in about half an hour, sometimes sooner!
See!  Look at that thick creamy ice cream and the little flecks of vanilla bean!  So fun!  And so good!  To save time, you could make the ice cream the day before you make the blueberry crisp.  Thats what I usually do so that I dont have to rush around making several things at once.

I store mine in those glass refrigerator containers you can buy anywhere and pop it in the freezer, usually we eat it up right away, though.  :)

For the crisp, grab a bowl and add:
2 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 cup sugar (sometimes less, sometimes more, depends on the sweetness of your blueberries)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Cinnamon and blueberries together.......so good.
Combine everything and set aside while you make the topping.  It will look like this.
For the crisp, get your food processor, or a bowl and a fork, if you dont have a food processor.  And preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 stick cold butter chopped into pieces
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
Put these ingredients into the bowl of your processor and pulse until it resembles this:
See the little pieces of butter in there?  So good!!  Set this aside.  If you dont have a food processor, you can use a fork and just mash the mixture until the butter pieces look like this.  It doesnt take very long at all.  You can even use your clean hands.  Ive done that before when I didnt want to lug out the food processor and have to clean it.  Its fun!

Now take your ramekins and place on a baking sheet.  Spoon the blueberry mixture into the ramekins about 1/3 of the way up making sure the flour, sugar and cinnamon get evenly distributed in each ramekin.
Next, take your topping mixture and spoon plenty on top of the blueberries in each ramekin.  We like lots of topping around here.
Pop that into your 400 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Those pieces of butter melt into the oats and brown sugar creating the best mouth watering crust ever!  That combined with the blueberries and the hint of cinnamon and the creamy vanilla ice cream melting on top of the warm crisp and it is heaven!  Try it!
Check back Monday for pics of my hubbys Fathers Day gift!  Im so excited about it!  Hes gonna love it!  Wishing all you dads out there a super Happy Fathers Day!  And even though my dad is no longer living, there isnt a single day that goes by that I dont smile remembering what a great dad he was to me.  I love you, Dad.