C – This isn’t my brother’s favorite cherry ice cream … yet!
I have been on a quest to make the cherry ice cream my brother loves. It’s not quite there … yet. Although it is the best homemade cherry ice cream I have made, it’s still not up to where my brother wants it.
I don’t dare share it with him until I get it right.
He a really tough critic. I definitely don’t want to deal with criticism until I get it right. Sadly, I think I need to add some cherry extract to enhance the flavor, and make it a cherry ice cream he would like.
Jim, on the other hand, thinks this was the best cherry ice cream he has had. There is nothing fake about this ice cream, he says. No fake cherry flavor or processed cherries in this ice cream.
There’re only cherries, milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, some salt and vanilla for flavor. I can see why he likes it so much.
I’ve made a cherry ice cream before. This time I used a new technique to preserve the whole cherries a bit better. So, I froze the cherries.
The first time I made cherry ice cream, I didn’t freeze the cherries and the ice cream ended up having some mashed up cherries, It wasn’t pleasant. I was expecting whole cherries.
I loves getting whole cherries in with the ice cream. It’s a nice, pleasant surprise. Since we only used fresh cherries in this recipe, there wasn’t an extreme cherry taste to it. I was expecting more, but it was still creamy and fruity. The whole cherries really added to the wonderful fresh cherry flavor.
| Ice Cream Week: Cherry Ice Cream |
- 1½ cup milk
- 1½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- Pinch of salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 pound of cherries
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- Stem and pit all of the cherries.
- Place ½ of the cherries in the freezer.
- Place the remaining cherries in a sauce pan along with ½ cup sugar. Cook on medium until it comes to a boil and the sugar is dissolved.
- Lower the temperature and cook until reduced to ½ and thickened into a compote.
- Once the cherries have reduced, place milk, cream, remaining sugar, salt and the cherry compote into a medium sauce pot. Mix well and let small bubbles form around the edge of the pot. DO NOT LET BOIL.
- Place egg yolks into a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixture until light yellow.
- Slowly ladle the cream mixture into the eggs while beating. Repeat until all of the cream mixture is combined.
- Place back into sauce pot. Bring mixture up to 180 degrees or until custard mixture is able to coat the back of the spoon. DO NOT BOIL.
- Strain mixture with the fine mesh strainer and place in a storage container.
- Add vanilla and mix well.
- Place in refrigerator overnight.
- Churn according to ice cream manufacturers instructions.
- In the last 3 minutes, add frozen cherries and continue churning.
- Place in a storage container and freeze according to manufacturers instructions.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
Well big brother, I am getting closer to serving you a great ice cream. I think one more try and I will be there.
This recipe will be mainly for Jim, since he loves the fresh, subtle flavor of the cherries. Jim, I hope you enjoy it.