Happy 4th of July!

Today our family got together with my sister and her family and went to my mom's house for a barbecue. Before everyone went over, we had them stop by our house to pick cherries from the tree in our back yard. After picking a bucketfull of cherries, we decided homemade ice cream would be the perfect treat for this hot 4th of July. So, this morning, Ben and I both pitted the cherries, he made a cherry sauce and I made some chocolate ice cream base. We got the ice cream and cherries going as soon as we got to my mom's and when it was all done, it was heaven!!


Here are the recipes, they're so good not to share.

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

3 cups heavy cream
3 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
1 10-oz jar marachino cherries w/ juice
8 egg yolks
2 tsp. almond extract
About 6-oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Stir together: cream, milk, sugar and juice from jar of cherries* over med heat. Bring to a simmer then remove from heat. Place egg yolks into a large bowl then whisk in hot cream, about 2 tablespoons at a time, until you have added 2 cups.

Whisk hot yolks into saucepan of cream, along with the chocolate. Cook on low, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 170 degrees farenheit. It will have thickened enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Pour the mixture into a container. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 6 hours.

Chop reserved cherries and stir into cold custard along with almond extract. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

*I didn’t use the jar of cherries and didn’t add any juice at this time. We just made the Danish Cherry Sauce and added after the ice cream was done in the ice cream maker, before we put it in the freezer.

ENJOY!