Vanilla Blueberry Semifreddo

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh organic blueberries, divided
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups organic granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon organic lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh organic lemon juice
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1 pt. Humboldt Creamery Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup crushed organic shortbread cookies

Directions:

Combine 3 cups blueberries, water, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce to medium-low heat, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Pour mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing gently on solids; discard solids. Let sauce cool to room temperature. Reserve 1/2 cup blueberry sauce for serving.

Remove the vanilla ice cream from the freezer, and thaw at room temperature 20 minutes. Stir together the remaining cooled blueberry sauce and partially thawed ice cream in a large bowl. Leave some large pieces of frozen ice cream.

Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold whipped cream into blueberry ice cream mixture, and swirl gently with a spoon or knife. Alternating, pour 1/3 of the ice cream mixture into a 9×5 inch loaf pan, layer on ½ cup of crushed cookies, 1/3 of ice cream mixture, remaining ½ cup of cookies and finally the remaining 1/3 of ice cream mixture. Cover and freeze at least 6 hours or overnight.

To serve, run each side of loaf pan under hot water. Using a knife go around the edge of the loaf pan, and turn out onto a cutting board. Cut into 1 inch thick slices; place on serving plates. Top with remaining 1 cup of blueberries and reserved 1/2 cup sauce; serve immediately.