Nap Time Treat: Sweet Cherry Ice Cream

I look forward to the summertime road-side fruit stands.  Usually, the fruit is outstanding and very fresh.   We visited a fruit stand this last week and picked up a bag of sweet cherries.  Unfortunately, on closer inspection at home, they weren't as pretty as I'd hoped for (major disappointment and annoyance). I was able to salvage enough for the kids to enjoy. After that, I still had maybe two cups left that were usable. What to do?
I have an on going love affair with my new ice cream maker.  So, I went searching for an sweet cherry ice-cream recipe. I found a few that I thought would work, so I made a mismash of them and put together a batch of delicious cherry ice-cream.

I decided to make myself and ice cream cone after the kids had gone down for their naps. Then I proceeded to devour it. It was lovely sitting on my back deck enjoying an ice cream cone in the shade. I'm so lucky that both of my children still nap at the same time.

Sweet Cherry Ice Cream:

-1 1/2 cups pitted ripe sweet cherries (from about 3/4 lb cherries)
-3/4 cup milk
-1 3/4 cups cream
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 pinch salt
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-1 Tbsp vanilla extract
-8 pieces Dove dark chocolate, chopped fine

METHOD

1 Put cherries, milk, one cup of the cream, sugar, and salt into a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat until the mixture is steamy, then lower the heat to warm and just let sit for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour mixture into a blender, or use an immersion blender, and carefully purée. (Careful because you are dealing with a hot liquid. Make sure you hold the cap down on the top of the blender while puréeing.)

2 Put mixture into a large bowl. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of cream. Chill for several hours in the refrigerator until completely cold. (Can also place bowl over an ice bath, to speed up the cooling process.)

3 Before putting the mixture into your ice cream maker, stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

4 Once the ice cream has completed churning, the ice cream should be pretty soft. Gently fold in the finely chopped chocolate. Put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several hours.

Makes about one quart.

Just awesome.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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Homemade Frozen Yogurt

One of the nice things about having more cupboard space is that I can finally purchase some kitchen gadgets that I've been wanting and actually have somewhere to put them. So, last week I finally purchased myself an ice cream maker. I was in a hurry to make some ice cream, but didn't have the correct ingredients. I did however, have 3 very important ingredients for making some frozen yogurt.  

Only 3 ingredients and oh my goodness was it delicious. Sweet, tangy and especially yummy with graham crackers crumbled on top.  In fact, I'm thinking this would make a fantastic frozen pie. just pour it in graham cracker crust then top with a few more crumbs and fresh strawberries. 


Strawberry Frozen Yogurt w/Graham Cracker Topping
3 6oz containers of plain greek yogurt (I used the Chobani brand, it's my favorite)
1 small carton Fresh Strawberries ( I didn't actually use the entire carton, as my strawberries had almost reached the end of their freshness.)
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk


Prep strawberries by cutting them each in half and placing them in your food processor. Process for a few seconds until nicely pulverized. Mix strawberries, condensed milk and yogurt together in a small bowl. Now just follow the manufacturer's instructions on your ice cream maker.  
Crush some graham crackers for topping and enjoy! We definitely did.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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