Dark Cherry Ice Cream

  I made a different flavor of ice cream today. I saw the original recipe online and adapted it to suit us. It does not make a large amount, about a quart and a half but that is fine when it is a flavored ice cream instead of vanilla. We eat ice cream all year long, so I will try this with frozen cherries also.

  I bought fresh sweet dark cherries at the store. Bettie requested nuts in it and so it has Pecans and milk chocolate pieces and pieces of cherries added at the end. I did change from all heavy cream as even though I would like it, the rest think that is too rich, feel free to use all heavy cream if you would like to.

Dark Cherry Ice Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

½ pound of pitted cherries

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup chopped pecans, ¼ cup chopped milk chocolate, ¼ cup chopped pitted cherries

  In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and milk, sugar and pinch of salt over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.

  In the jar of your blender, add the 1/2 pound of cherries and about ¼ cup of the cream, milk mixture and blend until very smooth. Place a sieve in a large bowl and pour the puree through it, discarding the pulp. Push on the pulp to get out all of the juice. Add the remaining cream, milk mixture along with the vanilla to the bowl and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

  Churn the mixture in the bowl of your ice cream maker, according to the machine’s directions. At about the last 5 minutes add the nuts, chocolate and chopped cherries. 

Serve immediately for soft serve or transfer to a freezer container and freeze for at least 4 hours.