Fresh Bing Cherry Ice Cream Food

BING CHERRY ICE CREAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Drain cherries, reserving juice. Place juice and cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in extract and cherries. Serve warm over ice cream or Old-Fashioned Frozen Vanilla Custard (recipe also found in Recipe Finder).

HOMEMADE CHERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Combine cherries, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar in a bowl and mix well. Set aside for 2 hours. Drain, reserving juice.
• Mash 1/2 the cherries with a fork or puree in a blender.
• Combine milk and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until sugar has dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Add reserved cherry juice, cream, pureed cherries, vanilla extract; mix to combine.
• Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions, about 20 minutes. Add remaining quartered cherries and freeze for an additional 5 minutes. Ice cream should be nice and creamy. If you prefer it harder, transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.

FRESH BING CHERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Pit 2/3 of the cherries. If you have a cherry pitter or a totally awesome Cherry Chomper, I am jealous of you. Though I just cut the cherries in half with a paring knife, then carefully pried them apart and removed the pit - not too bad. Still no Cherry Chomper, though. (Update: I have since learned this method, which is way easier!)
• Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice over the cherry halves and toss lightly.
• Pit and dice the remaining 1/3 of the cherries. Cut the cherry in half, remove the pit, and then cut each half into fourths. Or, you know, cut 'em how you like.
• And then sprinkle the other teaspoon of lemon juice over the diced cherries and toss a little. We're keeping the cherries a nice burgundy so they can become a nice light burgundy. Not pink!
• Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until the mixture is frothy. This takes a good couple of minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and whipping cream over low heat, until the mixture is very warm - when it forms bubbles around the sides, it's about ready.
• Very slowly pour the hot cream/milk mixture into the beaten eggs, whipping briskly the entire time. You're tempering the eggs - heating them slowly and evenly so that you don't make scrambled eggs instead of beautiful custard.
• Return the milk/cream/eggs/sugar mixture to the saucepan and, stirring constantly over medium-low heat, cook until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon - about 10 minutes (sometimes takes as long as 15, but watch carefully and remove from the heat as soon as it's thick).
• Remove from the heat.
• Stir in the cherry halves (NOT the diced cherries - those go into the ice cream at the last minute).
• Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes or so.
• Stir in the vanilla.
• And then puree! I use my handy dandy immersion blender. You can also use a good old fashioned blender. Be careful, though. The mixture is still hot. Let it sit for a few more minutes if you're not sure.
• Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve.
• Let the custard cool completely. This can happen in the fridge, or you can set the container in a bowl or sink of ice water to speed up the process.
• Once it's cooled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer instructions. I use this handy dandy Cuisinart number. It's way easy.
• When the mixture is just about frozen, add the diced cherries.
• Now you can eat it, or spread it in a container and freeze the rest of the way.
• We enjoyed this plain, and I also whipped up some dark chocolate hot fudge to try over the top. Both are equally, sinfully great.

BING CHERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine water, 3/4 cup sugar and cherries.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves.
• Remove from heat; let the cherries steep 30 minutes.
• Drain the cherries, discarding the syrup.
• Transfer the cherries to a bowl, cover and refrigeratoe for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.
• In a food processor, process cream cheese until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Meanwhile, combine the milk, cream and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a saucepan.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally tohelp dissolve the sugar, until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.
• Add about 1/2 cup of the hot-milk mixture to the cream cheese; process until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Add the remining milk mixture and process for another 30 seconds.
• Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
• Add vanilla; stir to combine.
• Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.
• Pour the cream mixture into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• When nearly frozen and the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the cherries.
• Churn or stir just until mixed.
• Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container.
• Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours our up to 3 days, before serving.