Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Cherry Cordial Ice Cream

A good husband knows what his wife favorite things are.  For me, one of my all time favorite combinations is cherries and chocolate together.  Wouldn't you know it for our anniversary in February I saw hubby come home with both a bag of mini chocolate chips, a jar of maraschino cherries, and some heavy cream.  What are we making I ask with great anticipation?!  He replies, I want to try and make you a cherry cordial ice cream.  (Be still my heart).  I knew there was a reason I married him 12 years ago.  So we cracked out our ice cream machine and decided to give it a whirl (by the way, the best part of this recipe is that you can also make this even if you don't have an ice cream maker check out variation recipe at the end).  So I give you: cherry cordial ice cream!

Cherry cordial ice cream - DIVINE!

We happened across this recipe on the interwebs and only modified it slightly.  You will need:
(recipe for a 2-quart ice cream machine)

3 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% or whole milk
1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 (10oz) jar of maraschino cherries (drained and chopped)
1 cup mini chocolate chips
2 teaspoons almond extract
few drops of red food coloring (optional)

First gather your ingredients:

mini chocolate chips work better in an ice cream machine than the regular full sized ones
The original recipe called for 2 cups of heavy cream, 2 cups of half-and-half.  We did not have half-and-half (which by the way means half milk/half cream), so we just made our own.  Three cups of heavy cream and one cup of regular milk is the same as the original recipe.

and you thought you would never use fractions in real life...
Pour your milk ingredients above into your bowl and then add 1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk.  You will not add any sugar to this recipe.  The sweetened condensed milk is the sweetener for the whole thing.

Mmmm thick and creamy
Blend every thing together.  There is an option to add a bit of extra "pop" factor and add a few drops of red food coloring.  We also added 2 teaspoons of almond extract here (the original recipe said 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 almond) but it's the almond extract that give the cherry flavor a huge boost!

pretty in pink

Drain your (10oz) jar of maraschino cherries carefully


and chopped them up finely.  I used a Pampered Chef hand chopper.  Also I do not know why the original recipe did not make use of some of the left over cherry juice from the jar.  I followed the recipe this time and left it out, next time I might add some in.

No cherries were harmed in the making of this ice cream... oh wait... never mind
Next, pour in the wet ingredients to your frozen inner canister and let the ice cream machine run for about 20 minutes.  Save the adding in of the cherries and the mini chocolate until the 20 minute mark and then let it churn for another 3-5 minutes at the end.

To every thing churn churn churn... there is a season churn churn churn
And what goes perfect with cherries you ask?  How about chocolate.

and a time for every ice cream... under heaven.
After that, pour the finished ice cream (which is currently in a soft serve state) into a container you can store in the freezer to harden up.  We usually let soft ice cream set up anywhere from 6 hours to over night before scooping into bowls or cones.  But look what you get as reward for all of your patience.

Behold: Cherry cordial ice cream.  If you have a spoon near by try not to harm your monitor

Now according to the original recipe, you can make this with OUT an ice cream machine.  That's right, I'm thinking of you fine peeps who have not jumped aboard the very delectable homemade ice cream maker band wagon... (yet)!  Here are the alternate directions:

Refrigerator-Freezer Method: Omit half-and-half. Whip whipping cream. In large bowl, combine EAGLE BRAND®, 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries, 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, 2 teaspoons vanilla (which I would change to almond extract); mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into 9x5-inch loaf pan or other 2 quart container. Cover. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. 

So this ice cream turned out to have a very light cherry taste (the cherry lover in me almost wanted more).  The cherry bits and chocolate chunks really helped add to the flavor.  Having made many other home made ice creams, this was the first time we have used sweetened condensed milk as the sweetener.  It seemed to me to mute the cherry flavor.  If I make this recipe again I will try adding a cup of sugar and some extra milk and see if that helps boost the flavor.  All in all a very good attempt at our very first cherry cordial ice cream.
Enjoy!
 




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