Cherry Ice Cream

With an abundance of cherries (one of my favorite fruits) this summer, I’ve been looking for as many ways as possible to use them. I participated in July’s Daring Baker’s Challenge which was a Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake … Yum! This ice cream was one of the layers.Ingredients:

• 1 cup cherries, pitted
• 1 cup milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)

Directions:
Heat the cherries, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium low heat. Just before it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to its lowest setting and let everything steep for about 15 minutes.

Stir together the egg yolks in a separate bowl and gradually (very gradually) whisk in a bit of the warmed milk. Continue whisking the milk in at a time until about half of it is incorporated. The idea here is to heat the egg yolks very gently without turning them into scrambled eggs (yuck!). Once half of the milk is mixed with the egg yolks, pour the egg yolk mixture into the pan with the rest of the milk and return it to the stove over low heat.

Cook the custard mixture over low heat, stirring constantly (yes, really … gently stir it constantly … remember no scrambled egg yolks) and scraping the bottom until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Spoon out the cherries with a slotted spoon. Using a food processor, blender or immersion blender, process the cherries until they are mostly pureed.

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and strain the hot milk/egg mixture into the bowl. Add the cherry puree and the kirsch. Stir to combine. Chill thoroughly.

Freeze the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.