Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

This Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream is THE ice cream of summer! With fresh bing cherries in a classic vanilla ice cream base, it’s refreshing and gorgeous and just plain delicious.

In between marathon blog redesign sessions, I’ve had a teensy bit of a life. I think it’s still summer – it is, right? I think the weather is pretty nice. I think my dogs and my guy still like me well enough. I think.

As far as my guy is concerned, I’m pretty sure it helped that I took enough of a break over the past couple of weeks to head to the farm stand and load up on beautiful, bright, just-picked Pacific Northwest bing cherries, and then turn a bunch of those bad boys into fresh bing cherry ice cream for him.

I also bought him a case of Hefeweizen and some beef jerky. I aim to please. My dogs, Angel and Lizzie? Psh, they think I hung the moon no matter what, which is pretty handy. Though I did promise to take them to the ocean this weekend. Just in case.

A pound of red, ripe cherries turns this lush ice cream a pretty pale burgundy. Not pink, mind you. Pale burgundy. I feel like there should be a name for pale burgundy, but it’s escaping me. The flavor? Actually a little subtle, until you bite into a chunk of cherry and… {monster truck voice} “IT’S A FLAVOR EXPLOSION! explosion! explosion!”

(By the way, it’s even better with a drizzle of homemade chocolate syrup for a Black Forest type of situation.)

Which is to say, it’s good. Really good. And a great way to showcase those wonderful bing cherries in season. And a great way to feel better about the fact that you’re neglecting your loved ones while you obsess over your blog redesign.

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Homemade Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Prep: 6 hours hrs

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Total: 6 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Author: Kare

Yield: 6 servings

This lush, pretty ice cream is the perfect thing to do with those sweet bing cherries. Recipe prep time includes freezing time.

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Ingredients

• 2 cups whole or 2% milk
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 pound fresh bing cherries (this will amount to 2 cups cherry halves + 1 cup diced cherries)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Pit 2/3 of the cherries. I just cut the cherries in half with a paring knife, then carefully pried them apart and removed the pit. You can also use a rigid straw to push against the end of the cherry and force the cherry pit through the other side.
• Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice over the cherry halves and toss lightly. Pit and dice the remaining 1/3 of the cherries. Cut the cherry in half, remove the pit, and then cut each half into fourths. Or, you know, cut 'em how you like.
• And then sprinkle the other teaspoon of lemon juice over the diced cherries and toss a little.
• Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until the mixture is frothy. This takes a good couple of minutes. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and whipping cream over low heat, until the mixture is very warm – when it forms bubbles around the sides, it's about ready.
• Very slowly pour the hot cream/milk mixture into the beaten eggs, whipping briskly the entire time. You’re tempering the eggs – heating them slowly and evenly so that you don’t make scrambled eggs instead of beautiful custard.
• Return the milk/cream/eggs/sugar mixture to the saucepan and, stirring constantly over medium-low heat, cook until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon – about 10 minutes (sometimes takes as long as 15, but watch carefully and remove from the heat as soon as it's thick). Remove from the heat. Stir in the cherry halves (NOT the diced cherries – those go into the ice cream at the last minute). Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes or so then stir in the vanilla.
• Puree. I use my handy dandy immersion blender. You can also use a good old fashioned blender. Be careful, though. The mixture is still hot. Let it sit for a few more minutes if you're not sure. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve. 
• Let the custard cool completely. This can happen in the fridge, or you can set the container in a bowl or sink of ice water to speed up the process.
• Once it's cooled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer instructions. I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker.
• When the mixture is just about frozen, add the diced cherries. Now you can eat it, or spread it in a container and freeze the rest of the way.
• We enjoy this plain, and I also whipped up some dark chocolate hot fudge to try over the top. Both are equally, sinfully great.

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