It is summer… Which means all things wonderful, cold and pineapple in my book! On our honeymoon Matt and I spent a long week in Maui eating fresh pineapple every morning. The taste will always remind me of summer, vacations, and everything that is sweet about life. This pineapple style ice cream is a fun version to make on a sweltering afternoon and a spectacular way to serve dessert at a brunch, dinner, or summer shower.

To make the pineapple ice cream you’ll need; 1/2 a pineapple, juice from 1/2 a lemon, vanilla simple syrup (recipe below) and a blender.

vanilla simple syrup

Combine 2 vanilla beans (or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract), 1/2 cup honey, and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Simmer while whisking consistently until honey and water have completely combined. Pour syrup into a mason jar and let cool in the fridge for 1 hour. The syrup can be made in advance and will kept covered in the fridge for a couple weeks. I tend to make larges batches of flavored simple syrups like this to use incocktails and soda recipes all summer long.

Pineapple ice cream

Once the simple syrup is cooled. Cut 1/2 of the pineapple into small chunks and place into a blender, pour in 4 tablespoons of the vanilla simple syrup, 1/2 cup water, and the juice from 1/2 a lemon.

Blend until smooth – using an ice cream maker with chilled bowl if it’s available. If you don’t have an ice cream maker the mixture will have more of a sorbet texture. Not to worry, it will taste just as good! Freeze the pineapple ice cream covered for 4-5 hours in its serving container (a leftover pineapple works great for serving!).

This dessert is a favorite of ours to make at dinner parties, it is easy to make in advance and the presentation is absolutely gorgeous for summer. Bring out a handful of spoons (to make everyone feel like family), or small serving bowls for scooping the ice cream individually.