This no churn ice cream with candied fruit-known as Glace Plombières-comes with a scoop of history. In 1858, while Napoleon III and Count Cavour secretly negotiated the Treaty of Plombières, a local chef whipped up this custardy creation. It's been a French classic ever since.
French Ice Cream in Paris - Plombières Flavour
I'd first promised the children a taste of the best French ice creams in Paris during summer. But, if you're in Paris in August, be prepared.
Many businesses take off as soon as they can. Even the Parisian institutions, like Berthillon's flagship boutique on Île Saint-Louis. It's an ice cream shop so famous that, come August - finally in the sweltering heat of the City of Light - their doors usually close. Shut. Fermé - on holidays, en vacances, like most of Paris! Luckily, their ice creams and sorbets are usually served by their more commercial neighbours.
One of Berthillon's ice creams is Plombières ice cream, packed with candied fruits. If you haven't tried it yet, I urge you to taste it. It's not overly sweet as this recipe is careful on the sugar quantity and it's easy to make your own without a machine.
Where to Find the Best Candied Fruits in France
As my lucky French parents-in-law live in the Luberon near Apt, the world capital of candied - or glacé - fruits, I often visit the famous local candied fruit factory. Candied (crystallised) orange peel strips, lemon peel cubes, glacé cherries all come in large kilo tubs!
They're all good in this ice cream, including my favourite, candied ginger.
You'll also find candied fruits in a traditional Brioche des Rois, a variation of the Galette des Rois, served in France around Epiphany.
So this is also a great excuse to use these tubs of candied fruits, making a no-churn ice cream. Bonjour glace Plombières!
For more on candied fruits, see my guides to both
clementine oranges and cherries.
Homemade Ice Cream Without a Machine
This recipe is adapted from my favourite French coffee-table cookbook, France: the Beautiful Cookbook by Gilles Pudlowski with recipes from the Scotto sisters.
- Great egg yolk recipe! As we love to make egg white recipes, the 10 egg yolks means plenty leftover whites to make macarons. Just keep them in a jam jar in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze them for later.
- This recipe doesn't need an ice cream maker - it's no churn made with heavy or whipped cream.
- Although made with sweet, candied fruits, it's not too sweet, made without condensed milk.
So I 'ad-Apt-ed' it (pun groan), making individual portions for dessert rather than one giant ice cream. This will make a light, fruity, stress-free dessert - and even a handy dessert recipe to have on your holiday menu.
Plombières Ice Cream History
In 1858 Napoleon III met Count Cavour (Prime Minister of Sardinia) at Plombières-les-Bains in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France. As they were secretly negotiating the Treaty of Plombières, the local chef came up this dessert and it has been a local speciality ever since.
As we're using ten egg yolks, use the leftover whites to make these egg white recipes, such as French chocolate mousse.
How to Serve Glace Plombières
The original recipe suggests serving Plombières ice cream with warmed apricot jam. Although delicious with this apricot jam with lavender, it's rather a lot of sugar overload, even if the jam is reduced in sugar!
So, for something less sweet, I recommend serving with fresh mango sauce or this tart raspberry coulis. Also perfectly paired with baked apricots. To use some of the whites, make Tuiles, French almond cookies - they're perfect together!
No-Churn Ice Cream with Candied Fruit (Glace Plombières)
Equipment
- muffin tins or dariole moulds (even easier if silicone)
Ingredients
- 200 g (7oz/ 1½ cups) mix of candied fruits, roughly chopped
- 55 ml (2oz/¼ cup) Kirsch liqueur
- 1.5 l (48 fl oz/ 6 cups) whipping or heavy cream
- 250 ml (8 fl oz/ 1 cup) whole milk
- 10 egg yolks fresh, organic
- 200 g (7oz/1 cup) sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Soak the candied fruits in the Kirsch for about 2 hours. Place a bowl in the fridge in preparation for whipping the cream.
- In a large saucepan off the heat, weigh the sugar and whisk together with the egg yolks until pale and creamy. Over a moderate heat, gradually whisk in 1 litre of the cream and the milk. Whisk constantly until the custard coats the spoon.
- Remove from the heat, add the almond extract and candied fruits with the Kirsch. Leave to cool, stirring from time to time.
- When the custard is completely cooled, whip the remaining 500ml of cream in the chilled bowl until it forms soft peaks.
- Fold into the custard then pour into silicone, dariole or muffin moulds. (Here, I used 12 briochette muffin moulds.) Freeze until firm.
- When ready to serve, turn out the ice creams directly on to dessert plates.
Notes
Want more custard desserts like this one, naturally gluten free? You'll find more in my guide, Master Crème Caramel: Secrets to 5 Classic French Desserts from Paris
This post was first published 2nd October 2012 but is now completely updated.
5 Star Foodie
How delicious! I love the individual portions - very pretty!
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious
Fantastic! I love the shape and the flavors you chose..
Lisa @ tartedujour.com
Jill - what a perfect way to put your candied fruit to good use! I adore the molded ice cream, it makes it look more special than a plain scoop. I'm sure your kids were delighted!!
Vicki Bensinger
This looks beautiful and a lovely dessert for the holidays. What a great idea using the silicone molds for the ice cream. I need to remember that. Great idea. Have a great weekend!
Jill
Vicki, it's also a good way to deal with left-overs and handy to have some spare in the freezer!