{ Sponsored Video } Peach Ice Cream with Brown Butter Pecans

This post is sponsored by Horizon Organic. Thanks for supporting companies I believe in and allows me to create more unique content for you and enjoy my Peach Ice Cream with Brown Butter Pecans.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been called “thin-skinned.” I can pretty much take the punches and roll with them. Sure, once in a while you’ll see me in a mess of tears but usually it’s after watching an episode of Parenthood rather than rebounding from an insult or feeling bad about being left out.

But thin-skinned can be a good thing too. Like when the nurse is on the hunt to find that elusive vein to poke a needle into or possessing the empathy for others in the same emotional predicament—like when those poor Bachelorettes are dismayed to discover the Bachelor has chosen someone else to be the love of their lives.

I guess I’m just thick-skinned. Maybe it’s because I come from strong stock? Okay, maybe it’s not strong stock (although I do have those characteristic German genes), but I do know it’s taller stock, that’s for sure. My mom and dad are both tall, my sister is tall and our cousins are tall.

I married a hunk-a-tall, dreamboat manly-man—admittedly he’s no Marlboro man out on the range, but he’s got it all going on in my book—and we made what we knew would be a tall daughter. There was no escaping it for her.

So when Smudge was small and we met new parents who smuggly bragged about their child being in the 90th percentile on the growth chart we would just nod and say that’s great. We didn’t expand much from there because Smudge was generally in the 100 percentile on the growth chart. With no hair until she was about 2 years old. Which is why “her” favorite color was pink in order to avoid being called “such a sweet little boy” who looked to be solidly in the 90th percentile.

From the time she was a Little, I knew organic and hormone-free foods were going to play a large part in her diet, at least while I could control it. And while she was young—aka I made the decisions for her—I hatched a plan to take control of what went into her little rosebud mouth, and hormone-injected and overtly pesticide-sprayed thin-skinned foods were not part of the game.

From milk to yogurt to chicken to thin-skinned veggies and fruits, my husband and I ponied up the extra few cents to contribute to our daughter’s growth not booming to the 110 percentile as a young child and young adult. I did not want her going through the trite things other kids might ask her like, “how’s the air up there?” or “are you wearing boats or shoes?” or feeling bad about being taller than all of the 9th grade boys when she is in 6th grade. Which will probably be unavoidable, since I had all of those same things pinned to me as a tween. Hmmm, thick-skinned. Good thing I was, right?

Our Smudge already has the growth genes, why should we throw anything that isn’t natural at her strong, confident and healthy body? Organic is always my choice when I have one and milk is the number one staple on the grocery list that we always buy organic and hormone-free. Am I a purist about buying organic? No. But I do what I can, when I can.

Which leads to my round-about tie-in to thin skin vs. hard skin exemplified in this video. Now that my girl is making her own decisions about what she eats, I think it’s important for her to learn about what happens to her food, where it comes from. This video is an easy way to introduce the idea of the benefits of organic foods to kids, in a really fun, not preachy way.

Smudge thought the video was super cute, and it shares a simple message in a way any kid can understand: thinner skin on the fruits and veggies = better to be organic. Bananas and oranges or anything with a hard skin? I buy regular. Capiche?

I spent last week in Houston with my sister and her family, and the week went exactly as I’d dreamed. With my sister and her husband at work, I plopped myself down in front of the computer and worked along as the girls hopped in and out of the pool all week long.

In between fixing lunch, snacks and slathering on sunscreen, my nieces took a fancy to the behind the scenes of what I do on this bloggity blog and asked if they could cook something we could blog about.

Oh my yes! Bring on the junior tier of FoodieCrushers! Let’s get t-shirts made and Instagram usernames secured. Check and check.

What was my Smudge and her cousin’s choice to add to the menu? With 90+-degree temps and 50% humidity, there were clearly two choices: ice cream or popsicles. Ice cream won out thanks to the abundance of super juicy, fresh organic (remember? Thin skins?) Texas peaches.

Making and photographing ice cream in Texas in the summertime poses its challenges, but we had a blast doing it. The girls elicited the help of their team of sous chefs in the form of their Beanie Ballz FuzzyPants, Pie and Glitter the unicorn, and were more than happy to share the bounty of their scoops, and drips, with them too.

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Peach and Brown Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Fresh Texas peaches and pecans add a lone star touch to this homemade ice cream but really, any sweet peach and crunchy pecan will do the trick.

Servings 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 5-6 medium peaches pitted and halved or quartered
• 4 tablespoons Horizon Organics unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 ½ cups Horizon Organics whipping cream
• 1 ½ cups Horizon Organics whole milk
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• In a deep sided frying pan, mix ½ cup sugar into the water and bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for one minute. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the peach halves or quarters, cut side down, to the sugar mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn and cook the peaches for another 5 minutes or until the fruit softens and the skins loosen. Remove from the heat and let cool then remove the skins from the peaches.
• Blend the peaches and the sugar water in a blender or food processor until smooth and set aside.
• Melt the butter in a small frypan over medium high heat. Add the chopped pecans and stir until they’re toasted and the butter begins to golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer the nuts and brown butter to a bowl and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar and cool to room temperature and set aside.
• Combine the cream and the milk in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture comes to a simmer, about 5 minutes. In a medium size heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla until the mixture doubles in volume, about 2 minutes. Remove the cream mixture from the heat and whisking constantly, slowly pour ½ cup of the warm cream into the egg and whisk until smooth. Pour the cream and egg mixture into the saucepan with the warm cream and milk mixture and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it becomes a custard like texture that sticks to the back of a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Do not let it boil.
• Set up an ice bath in a large bowl and place a smaller bowl inside then pour the custard into the small bowl with the reserved peach mixture. Stir until the mixture cools then remove the bowl from the ice bath, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
• Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and churn according to it’s instructions. Add the brown-butter pecans ¼ cup at a time during the last 5 minutes of churning. Spoon the ice cream into a chilled freezer safe container and place plastic wrap or parchment paper directly on the surface so ice crystals don’t form. Cover and freeze at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

Notes

adapted from Sweet Scoops by Shelly Kaldunski

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