"Accidental" Lingonberry Ice Cream

Lingonberry ice cream. (Photo by Wendy MacDonald.)

Last week in Marble Mountain I used some of the lingonberries (also known as partridge berries or fox berries ) that we froze last year and made a dessert to take to the potluck at Wendy's. I googled and found a recipe for lingonberry squares that used lingonberry jam.



First I made the jam which is very easy.  I used 2 cups of frozen berries and 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 cup water.  I simmered this for about 20 minutes.  Lingonberry jam has a long shelf life, because in addition to the sugar acting as a preservative lingonberries contain benzoic acid which is a preservative too.  The jam will last for several months in the fridge.

Lingonberries ready to make jam.

Lingonberry jam.

The jam is used as a filling for lingonberry squares.

For the lingonberry squares use 2 cups each of flour, brown sugar, rolled oats and 1 cup of butter.  Mix well and press half of the mixture in a 9 x 13 inches pan.  Spread the jam over this, and top with the remaining half pressed over the jam.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown on top.  Cool and cut into squares.

When I had everything mixed for the crust, it looked as if there was not enough to spread in a 9 x 13 pan, so I thought that was a mistake in the recipe.  I used a 9 x 9 pan instead.  After it was in the oven, I realized that the reason the amount seemed too small for a 9 x 13 pan was that I had FORGOTTEN TO ADD THE FLOUR.

Spread jam over bottom crust.

Add remaining half of mixture on top of jam.

Press crumbles to make a top crust. 

The squares came out looking more like candy or cookies.  Not to waste it, I tried crumbling it over vanilla ice cream.  That was so good, I decided to take a whole carton of vanilla ice cream, add the crumbled mixture and make lingonberry ice cream.  I worked quickly using a hand mixer to blend in the crumbles and a bit of lingonberry syrup so that the ice cream did not melt.  I placed the mixture back into the carton and refroze it, and it turned out beautifully.

Lingonberry ice cream (Photo by Wendy MacDonald.)

I served it at the potluck dinner, and when asked about my recipe, I confessed that it was an "accidental" recipe.  However, I will probably make this again (leaving out the flour) and use it to make lingonberry ice cream.