Music to soothe the soul from ♫ this loved CD...
Stonecoat - Answer Mother Earth.
Our summer cherries are in, and I mean crazy in-- with new variations arriving at times by the day. After bringing forward my middle sister Jan's planned loved exotic tea ice cream for her August birthday, on Mother's Day, I had to come up with a new surprize flavour last month. At first I thought of this citrus as she loved an earlier dessert treat from one of our spring suppers, but soon saw her diving into bowls of fresh summer cherries and quickly changed gears to now being on the hunt for the mellowest cherries I could find. There is this wise old saying that if you're craving something, it means your body needs something vital that's in it... so I decided to bring-it-on with a lux treat. It took just under three weeks of cherry tasting at the market to secure what I was looking for-- Nature's Candy, from Washington, and to get this summer goodness in active process-- and in time for her birthday week-- deadlines, deadlines must be met...
Here's what you'll need:
The Vanilla Ice Cream Base
3 cups half and half (or) 2 cups half and half + 1 cup 2% milk
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
The Roasted Cherries Blend
3 cups fresh, ripe and mellow-sweet summer cherries
1 teaspoon butter (to grease the oven skillet)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure lemon juice (chilled)
Directions:
For this fresh summer cherries frozen treat, I wanted to maximize on the delicate sweet and mellow taste of these lovely cherries so kept my milk fat choice much lower than usual with half and half.
Roasting the cherries: Rinse the cherries, remove the stems and then the seeds. I used this quick and easy pit-removing method from Chowhound. Of course you can also roast the cherries with the seeds intact and then remove after roasting, to up the cherry flavour if preferred. I wanted that lighter elegance.
Set your oven to 400F.
Place the pitted cherries in a lightly greased oven-compatible skillet and sprinkle the sugar onto the cherries.
Roast the cherries for 15 minutes undisturbed by which time the sugar would have melted and started to caramelize with the cherries releasing their juices. The aroma is truly divine! Turn off the oven, remove the skillet from the heat and allow the cherries to cool to room temperature. Chill the cherries overnight in the refrigerator, in an airtight glass container.
Make the vanilla ice cream base: In a separate glass bowl using a whisk, thoroughly blend in the sugar into 2 cups of the half and half. Add the salt, vanilla extract and extra cup of milk and give a final stir. Chill the creamy mixture overnight as well in the refrigerator.
The next day...
Churn the chilled vanilla cream mixture in your ice cream maker as per the manufacturer's directions for 20 minutes.
Add the chilled lemon juice to the cherries and gently stir. Slowly add the chilled roasted cherries to the churning cream in the maker and allow to blend in for another 10 minutes. (I literally got goosebumps watching the transformation of it all; gets me all the time)
Enjoy soft serve as is, or as I always like to do, place in an airtight container and in the freezer for a good 6 hours or better yet, overnight to allow for a firmer decadent serve.
Let there be ice cream and lots of it! :)
Special thanks to Natrel and Nature's Candy. 'Love these global creations! :)
