Time for cherry recipe round 3 of the 10 Pound Cherry Challenge... and I am exciiiiited about this one! Ice cream never fails to excite me. :)
You know how, when you go to an ice cream shop, there's usually the fruity flavors on one side and the other (anti-fruit?) flavors on the other side, like some invisible wall is separating them from cross-contamination? Well, I always walk straight to the no-fruit flavors and take my pick, barely offering a glance to the fruity concoctions on the other side. I love fruit, but when it comes to dessert, fruit better get out of my way, because I'm headed for the chocolate. Or coffee. Or caramel. (You get the picture.) But this ice cream... this ice cream is breaking down that invisible wall. It's combining deep red cherries with dark-as-night chocolate and it's absolutely glorious.
And it's gone. I made it two days ago and it's already gone. #sad
The base of this ice cream starts out really differently, with a sweet cream cheese mixture (similar to the one in this cheesecake ice cream) that I would gladly just eat by the spoonful. It's crazy good on its own, but instead of overwhelming the cherries and chocolate, the flavors all blend together and you just wind up with an ultra-creamy ice cream - creamy in flavor AND texture. The cherries are roasted to bring out all their sweet juiciness (don't even get me started on the joys of roasting fruit), and big chunks of chocolate just make me extra-happy. The best part? Pull it out of the freezer and it's so scoopably soft and creamy you can steal bites with a spoon all day long. (What? Who said that?!)
I really love everything I've made with my ten pounds of cherries so far, but I really, really, really love this ice cream.
Really.
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Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Juicy Roasted Cherries and Dark Chocolate Chunks make this extra-creamy ice cream the ultimate sweet indulgence! Plus, it only takes a few minutes to throw all the ingredients together. Easy AND delicious!
- Yield: about 1 quart 1x
Ingredients
Roasted Cherries
- 9 ⅝ ounces (1 ¾ cups) pitted bing cherries, cut into ⅕ths
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon vodka*
Ice Cream Base
- 6 ounces cream cheese, in 1-ounce portions
- 12 ⅜ ounces (1 ½ cups) heavy cream
- 4 ¼ ounces (½ cup) sour cream
- 4 ⅝ ounces (⅔ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- pinch of salt
- 5 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used 70%)
- roasted and cooled cherries (see above)
Instructions
Roasted Cherries:
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- Toss cherries with 2 tablespoons sugar in an 8" square baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes. Cherries should have released a lot of their juices.
- Cool for about 10 minutes, and then transfer to an airtight container. Mix in vodka, cover, and chill in fridge thoroughly before using, preferably overnight. Meanwhile, prepare ice cream base, which will also be refrigerated overnight.
Ice Cream
- Combine cream cheese, heavy cream, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a blender and blend together until completely smooth. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate until well-chilled, again preferably overnight.
- Before churning, whisk mixture lightly to loosen and smooth out. Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Gradually pour in the chopped chocolate after the ice cream has thickened, during the last few minutes of churning. The ice cream may get too thick for the machine before all of the chocolate has been added; if this happens, transfer the ice cream to storage container and fold in remaining chocolate.
- Once the ice cream has been removed from the machine and transferred to container of choice, add the cherry mixture and gently mix in with a spoon just enough to swirl throughout the ice cream without mixing in completely.
- Place a layer of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the ice cream before covering container with a tight layer of plastic wrap or an airtight lid. I also like to keep my container in a plastic bag (preferably airtight) to further assure that the ice cream remains as creamy as possible in the freezer. Freeze until firm before serving.
Ice Cream Base adapted from The Perfect Scoop, and Food and Wine via kokocooks
Cristina
Wow. I know it's not that complicated, but for some reason I never want to use my ice cream maker. I love ice cream so much, though, and I reeeally like Cherry Garcia from Ben & Jerry's. This sounds way better!
alexandra
Oh my gosh, it's so, SO easy. Especially this one - just roast the cherries and throw all the other ingredients in a blender. You should make it!!
sandra rose
Absolutely delightful pictures! It's REALLY too bad it's all gone already! I want some!
alexandra
Thanks Mom! REALLY too bad! :(
Dina
great flavor. I love all the creams in there!
alexandra
I know... sour cream, cream cheese, heavy cream. You pretty much know it's gonna be creamy. ;)
Erika
OMG I CANNOT GET OVER YOUR PHOTOS. That first one was beautiful, the second was ingenious (putting a cone in a mason jar to photograph?!) and the third was just PERFECT. I love the backdrops on all of these!! And I so know what you mean about the line in ice cream stores. I love that this crosses over--can you get more stores to start carrying this? Kthx :)
alexandra
Thank you so, so, SO much! And yeah - the mason jar idea - can't exactly take original credit for that one but it IS ingenious, right?!
I'll be contacting the ice cream stores shortly. ;)
Erica {Coffee & Quinoa}
Yummm I love the cherry-chocolate combination. I've never tried a cream cheese ice cream base, but I'm sure it's perfect with the cherries! I looove my ice cream maker, so I can't wait to try this :)
alexandra
I was so intrigued by the cream cheese ice cream; alone it kind of tastes like eating cream cheese frosting turned into ice cream (and I mean that in a good way) but with the other flavors it just makes the ice cream incredibly creamy!
Ashley
I usually don't mess with fruit flavored ice creams .... but you may have convinced me to try this! haha With those roasted cherries and chocolate chunks... yum.
alexandra
Trust me, neither do I! But with the creamy base and all the chunks of chocolate, AND the roasted cherries, it's SO good!
Consuelo @ Honey & Figs
This looks fantastic, I'm a big fan of the chocolate + cherry combo! And I love fruity ice cream... actually more than the non-fruity variety! But I'm a sucker for chocolate ice-cream too, and this recipe has the best of both worlds. I love it ;--)
alexandra
Thanks! Chocolate goes perfectly with so many fruits, I just had to add it to one of my cherry recipes! And I love the fruity/chocolate ice cream combo. :)