Richer Berry Ice Cream

I still love and use the Fruit Gelato recipe I posted back in 2011, but for today's family dinner I wanted something a little richer. My lovely aunt went blackberry picking and generous gifted us two gallon-sized bags of blackberries. With such a (free) bounty, it didn't feel extravagant at all to use a bunch of it for ice cream. I thought that a more supple texture would be nice, since I feared the berries could make the ice cream quite icy. That means more eggs. Many recipes call for five egg yolks and I just won't do that, but, having a bunch of phenomenal Green Bow Farm eggs in the house, I figured I spare four.
I mashed up (as it were) two recipes, taking the sugar amount, cooking and straining from The Pioneer Woman and the fewer egg yolks from White on Rice Couple. Of my own volition, I used 2 c heavy cream to 1 cup 2% milk because I never have half and half or whole milk around. This worked just fine.
I'm so glad I strained out the seeds from the blackberries! The girls loved eating the leftover mash, and the ice cream is silky smooth yet full of blackberry flavor. It will be paired up with Nectarine Upside Down Cake to finish up an all Instant-Pot meal of carnitas, black beans and corn on the cob (the rest of the family is bringing other sides). Mmmmmm.

Makes 1 quart ice cream

INGREDIENTS
1 lb blackberries
1 1/4 c sugar, divided
Juice of a lemon
2 c heavy cream
1 c milk (any kind)
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the blackberries in a medium to large saucepan with 1/4 c of the sugar and the juice of a lemon. Cook over medium heat until the berries have popped and it looks and smells great (15-20 minutes)
2. Purée the berries in a food processor or blender and then pour through a fine mesh strainer. Set the liquid aside. You can save the mash and use it for another purpose (folded into Greek-style yogurt or as a surprise for the middle of a muffin, perhaps). You're looking for about 2 cups liquid, so if you have extra just use it for something else. I suspect you'd be fine if you had a bit less, as well
3. Rinse out your fine mesh strainer. Put the heavy cream in a bowl (I set that bowl in my ice bath at that time just for convenience) and set the strainer over it (so you can strain your custard into it later)
4. Rinse out your pan and use it for the milk and remaining 1 c sugar. Heat over medium until around 180 degrees
5. While it is heating, whisk the egg yolk in yet another bowl (sorry about that). Once the milk and sugar is the right temperature, temper the egg yolks by putting a spoonful of the hot milk/sugar mixture into the bowl of yolks and stirring well. Do this a few times
6. Now add that yolk mixture to the saucepan of milk and sugar. Heat over medium, stirring constantly, until your custard thickens. Because I only used 1 c of milk as opposed to the 1 1/2 cups liquid in the original recipes, my custard got very thick. Not to worry. It took about 5-8 minutes for my custard to thicken
7. Strain the custard into your bowl of heavy cream over its ice bath, then stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract. The fun part is stirring in the strained blackberry juice until it's all a gorgeous purple
8. Let chill in fridge for several hours or overnight, then churn according to your ice cream maker's instructions