I am cherry obsessed and I don’t care who knows it. I can’t stop, won’t stop. And, that’s a good thing probably because I also love sweets and I’ve been trying to cut excessive sugar and this, it turns out, is a way to do that. I mean, let’s be real, I’m going to eat ice cream, so if I am why don’t I cut the added sugar and go straight to the source?
Ice cream is only a few ingredients, and it’s relatively easy to make – if you have an ice cream maker, or if you don’t. It’s especially fun if you want to try a flavor that you can’t quite find in the grocery store (I plan on making some Rocky Road soon). I also use making ice cream as a way to “earn” my treat. Call me crazy, but putting work into making ice cream makes me appreciate the product, and it tastes that much better – plus, I end up trying to make it last a little longer because damn, I made that!
I’d like to think this is like how early man felt upon felling an animal and cooking it – it was a lot of work to get to that point. If we remind ourselves that food is work, maybe we’d appreciate it more and pay more attention to it. Or, at the very least, maybe we’d eat less treats if we made ourselves cook them ourselves every time (and that can’t necessarily be a bad thing, right?)
ANYWAYS this is crazy talk that’s me just trying to justify eating ice cream. But the point is, this ice cream is delicious. You can make it with whatever fruit you want, but I think cherries are just beyond amazing this time of year. I might try blueberry next, though, because those seem to be EVERYWHERE.
The recipe is below – there is also peach ice cream on the blog if you’re into that.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cup pitted fresh cherries
Directions
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IMPORTANT FIRST STEP: IF YOU HAVE AN ICE CREAM MAKER: Put your freezer bowl in the freezer AT LEAST 12 hours before you start (or according to the package directions.) If you don't, realize you'll have to let this bad boy freeze overnight y'all.
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Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
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Simmer cream and sugar over medium heat, dissolving the sugar.
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Stir a spoonful or two of the cream into the egg yolks, to warm them up, then add yolk mixture to pan with cream. Turn heat to low and cook for about five minutes, stirring constantly. Strain into a bowl and allow to cool.
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While cooling, pit your cherries, since ya got the time.
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Once cool, add your cherries and immersion blend (or throw into the blender) until smooth. We left in some chunks of cherries, but they were too hard on the teeth - I recommend blending all your cherries.
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Place in ice cream freezer bowl and churn until the ice cream is quite thick. This took us about 10 minutes, but it might be different depending on your ice cream maker.
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Once it's quite thick, serve cold or stick in the freezer (in an air tight container) to serve later.
[addtoany] Yum