Lychee Frozen Custard

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a food photography meme, Filipino style, is hosted by SpiCes. I'm sprinkling some fun [and color] this week.

I don't normally put sprinkles on my ice cream or cupcakes but I keep a few containers of assorted colors and flavors including chocolate, butterscotch, and cinnamon.

The only ice cream I have in the freezer is lychee frozen custard and chopped candied ginger as topping would be best but they won't pop out visually since they have the same hue as the ice cream. Chocolate sprinkles don't match the flavor so I used the bright colored unflavored sprinkles. I feel like a kid again while eating the ice cream.


Lychee Frozen Custard
1 can lychee in syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons sugar
3 well beaten egg yolks
1 teaspoon almond extract, optional

• Drain and finely chop lychee, reserve the syrup.
• Combine the cream, milk, ½ cup of the reserved syrup, and sugar in a saucepan or double boiler; heat until warm and the sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 cup of the cream mixture to the beaten egg yolks while whisking lightly. Gradually pour the egg mixture back into the cream mixture while continuing to whisk lightly.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until the spatula is thinly coated with the mixture, about 8 minutes. Do not allow to boil or the custard mixture will curdle.
• Stir in the lychee and almond extract if using. Transfer into a container, let cool on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes, cover with plastic film, and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Churn using an ice cream maker.

Or for a lighter version:
Lychee Sherbet
1 can lychee in syrup
1 packet unflavored gelatin
1 cup milk
1 cup very cold half & half
¼ cup sugar

• Drain lychee reserving ½ cup syrup. Finely chop lychee, leave to chill in the refrigerator.
• Sprinkle gelatin over reserved syrup and let stand 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, scald milk. Turn heat off and add soaked gelatin, and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Let mixture cool in refrigerator. When cooled, add half & half and chilled lychee. Freeze in ice cream maker.