Orange Ice Cream

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It is hot out there today!  I dusted off my ice cream maker and began to search of ice cream recipes.  There are so many tasty homemade ice cream recipes out there and I could not make up my mind.  I asked my daughter to give a suggestion and she asked for orange.  There are surprisingly very few orange ice cream recipes out there on the internet.  The Joy of Baking had an interesting one that sounded great and required no cooking, so I tried it out.  There was a beautiful pale orange color to it.  Because I was serving this to the neighbor kids, I wanted the color to be more vibrant, so I added orange gel coloring to it.  It is so refreshing and delicious!  Honestly, I skipped the chilling of the ingredients in the fridge before putting them in the ice cream maker and I noticed no difference. 



Ingredients:
Makes approximately 3 cups
Printable Recipe

• 1 1/2 c heavy cream 
• 1/2 c half-and-half 
• 2 c freshly squeezed orange juice, strain to remove pulp
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 
• 1 tbsp orange zest (optional)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Orange gel coloring (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients.  Cover and place in the refrigerator until it is completely cold (several hours or overnight).

Transfer the mixture to the container of your ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Add the optional gel coloring during the last 5 minutes of processing in the ice cream machine.

Once made, transfer the ice cream to an air-tight container.  Store in an the freezer until the ice cream is set to your preference.  If the ice cream becomes too hard, place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving so it can soften.

Enjoy!