Indianapolis broke 50 degrees last week. It was heaven. Or, as much as 50 degrees can be. But after months of dreary winter weather, it seems as if everyone has cabin fever. How did I deal? By breaking out the ice cream maker.

I made a lot of ice cream last year prior to starting this blog thanks to my friend Tamre, who introduced me to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which I was making before I even had a chance to try them myself. Now that I understand basic ice cream concepts (Philadelphia-style vs Custard), I decided to venture out and start making my own unique ice cream combinations.

While I used the Uganda Vanilla Ice Cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams (recipe found in her book), I made my own blackberry jam to layer with it. Vanilla and blackberry sounded like the perfect combination. Make the ice cream and spin it in your ice cream maker. Spoon some of it out into a container, add a few spoon fulls of jam, and repeat this layering process until you’ve filled the container or are out of ice cream. I used about 1/2 cup of jam per pint of ice cream. Freeze for 2-3 hours before enjoying.

Blackberry Jam

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 12 oz blackberries, washed and cleaned
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Pick out any bad parts of your blackberries (hairs, leaves, etc) and give them a good, thorough wash.

In a medium sauce pot, add the blackberries and sugar. Allow to macerate for 15-20 minutes.

Turn the heat to medium and add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and stir. Bring to a moderate boil for… quite some time, stirring often to mash down the blackberries. Mine took about 15 minutes to get to a jam-like consistency. It will set up more after it sits, so once it starts to thicken up it’s time to take it off the heat.

Allow the jam to cool in the refrigerator for an hour before layering it with your ice cream. Or eating it on toast. Or by the spoonful.