HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

Last Christmas I got an ice cream maker as a gift.  I love ice cream and it is my once a week treat.  I use to have difficulty having ice cream in the house and being able to resist not having daily sampling sessions with the spoon and the container.  I have overcome that difficulty for whatever reason and can now leave the ice cream alone and just have a single bowl on the weekend.

I have frozen sour cherries in the freezer, pitted and ready to eat.  We have two sour cherry trees in our garden and last year they bore a lot of fruit.  The cherries are not that sour and I have made jam from them.  I had the revelation this week that I should make ice cream from the frozen sour cherries.  The ice cream turned out great.  I followed the recipe provided below except that since the mixture was already so cold and starting to thicken, I couldn't get the ice cream paddle to work when all of the ingredients were in the freezing bowl.  I came to the conclusion that using this recipe and directions, you don't need an ice cream maker to make ice cream from frozen berries.  I added the grated chocolate to the mixture in the freezer bowl once I realized that the paddle was not going to mix the contents.  I empty the contents into a plastic container that had a lid and put it in the freezer for several hours before enjoying a bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce.   The ice cream was enjoyed while sitting outside on the deck and having the dog watching me intently while I enjoyed each spoonful.  Yes, he did get to lick the bowl!

Here is a photo of the everything being mixed before being added to the freezer bowl.  For the heavy cream,  I used whipping cream.

Ice Cream Made from Frozen Berries

Ingredients:

2 cups (500 ml) frozen strawberries, sour cherries, or blue berries

3 tablespoons lemon juice


1 cup sugar, divided


1 cup whole milk, well chilled


2 cups heavy cream, well chilled


1 teaspoons (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

1/3 dark chocolate bar, grated

Instructions:

In a blender, combine the frozen fruit with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar.  If it is too thick to puree, add 2 or 3 tbsp of milk.  Let the mixture sit for a few minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine the milk and remaining granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the frozen berry mixture.  Mix well and churn with your whisk or wooden spoon for a few minutes.

If using an ice cream machine, pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the grated dark chocolate and let mix in completely.   Empty the ice cream from the freezer bowl into a covered container and store in the freezer.