It’s cherry season! What to make with these beauties? I decided on ice cream, most recipes are made with black cherries but I wanted to see how these Rainier cherries might work out. I took so many photos of these cherries, possibly too many since it was difficult to edit down for this post, their color is simply amazing.

Oh and speaking of beauties, we have a new addition to our family! Her name is Willow and she is a 5 month old Maine Coon. She came over while I was photographing the cherries and she doesn’t seem to be camera shy. She’s a very sweet kitten, it feels really wonderful to have her here in our new home. She eats raw meat and doesn’t mind if it’s slightly frozen, I guess that’s her version of meat ice cream.

So for this recipe I prepared a basic vanilla ice cream, then added the cooked cherries and chocolate chunks. I wanted to add the syrup from the cherries but decided against it. I didn’t want to dilute the creaminess of the ice cream. And it just wasn’t tasting cherry enough for me. I’m dying to dig into this ice cream some more but I’m just back from the dentist so I’ll have to wait until later. Torture!

Cherry + Chocolate Ice Cream

12 ounces cherries, pitted and halved
3 ounces chocolate, chopped
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place pitted cherries in a sauce pan, add 1 tablespoon sugar and 3 tablespoons water, heat a few minutes until it simmers and cherries begin to soften. Set aside to cool. Then drain.

In a large sauce pan whisk together milk, eggs and sugar. Cook over a medium heat, bring to a simmer and continue to stir until it thickens, about 10 minutes. Strain into a container and allow to cool, then add cream and vanilla, refrigerate over night.

Place custard in frozen ice cream cylinder, about half way through, around 10 minutes, add the cherries and chocolate chunks, continue to freeze in ice cream maker. Place ice cream in container and freeze.