Cherry Ice Cream

When I was little we used to spend part of the summer at our grandparents' home in Downers Grove, outside of Chicago. I haven't been back since, but at the time Downers Grove was a small suburban location, almost rural.

Two of my strongest memories from those visits pertained to food. Pepperidge Farm was located in Downers Grove and I used to love walking by their baking facility; the aroma of baking bread was almost tangible. The other memory was cherries. My grandmother used to can cherries from her trees and her pantry was laden with quart-sized jars of cherries.

I can't recall what my grandmother looked like, or anything about her, but I do remember the shelves of canned cherries. They were delicious eaten right out of the jar and to this day I don't think there's anything tastier than a cherry pie made with fresh cherries.

Cherry season in Rome doesn't last long, just a month or so from mid-May to the end of June. It's unbearable that cherries are available for such a short time period, but it makes them all the more desirable when they are in season. I plan to bake a cherry pie this week, but today I opted for cherry ice cream. We're doing an 80th birthday dinner for one of our clients and her family, and I've baked her a luscious chocolate birthday cake for the event. Cherries and chocolate are a natural together, so cherry ice cream seemed a grand idea on this hot June day.

Cherry Ice Cream

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Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Freezing Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 4 hours hours

Cherry season in Rome doesn't last long, just a month or so from mid-May to the end of June. It's unbearable that cherries are available for such a short time period, but it makes them all the more desirable when they are in season. I like to bake cherry pies, but often I opt for cherry ice cream. Cherries and chocolate are a natural together, and this cherry ice cream is the perfect pairing with my Dark Chocolate Cake recipe.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: international

Servings: 5

1x2x3x

Ingredients 

• 3 cups Cherries, fresh pitted pitted - 525 grams
• ¼ cup Sugar - 65 grams
• 1 ¾ cups Cream - 410 ml
• ¾ cup Milk - 180 ml
• 2 yolks Egg yolks - 2
• ¼ cup Sugar - 65 grams
• 1 pinch Salt - a pinch
• 2 tbsp Cherry syrup - 30 ml

Instructions

• Pit the cherries using a cherry (olive) pitter, like the one below.
• Toss the cherries in the sugar and set aside.
• Cream the egg yolks and sugar together until the yolks are a pale yellow.
• Put the cream, milk and cherries in a blender and process until the cherries are roughly chopped.
• Cook the cream, milk and cherry mixture several minutes on medium until warm.
• Add the salt, egg yolks and sugar and cook several minutes over low heat until the mixture coats a wooden spoon.
• Stir in the cherry syrup.
• Place the pan in a sink full of ice water and stir occasionally until cool.
• Put the pan in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes until frozen solid.

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You might want to try the Punchfork's version of cherry ice cream with chocolate chips; or check out Canadian Living's recipe.