Bourbon Cherry Ice Cream

It's hot. Make ice cream.

Sprout Sara and I stopped at a farmstand on Long Island, as we made our way home from vacation. The cherries were magnificent. They were even more magnificent once they were pitted and macerated with a bit of sugar and a couple tablespoons of good bourbon whiskey.

Out came the old ice cream maker, in went the classic vanilla ice cream ingredients - heavy and light creams, sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, AND half the macerated juices and booze from the cherries.  After churning to a stiff ice cream, the drained cherries and a couple scoops of bittersweet chocolate chips were turned into the ice cream and it got put in a tub and frozen solid for two days.

In those two days, the weather changed here at the grey cottage from cool and breezy to hot and muggy with thundershowers. Bowls of ice cream at the end of the day were welcome, believe me.

Too bad I couldn't double the recipe. Perhaps I need a bigger cream churn ...

Bourbon Cherry Ice Cream

Bourboned Cherries Ingredients:

1 quart of dark cherries, pitted and halved

2 tbsp. good quality bourbon whiskey (Maker's Mark or Bulleit are two I like)

2 tbsp. sugar

Stir everything together in a bowl. Cover closely and refrigerate for a day, stirring every now and then to dissolve the sugar and move the cherries around (so they don't brown).

Ice Cream Ingredients:

1 pint light cream

1 pint heavy cream

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. good quality vanilla extract

one pinch Kosher salt

1/3 c. cherry juices

Add Ins:

2 cups. bourboned cherries, well drained

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Combine the creams and sugar in a deep bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved and you don't hear any gritty grating when your spoon sweeps the sides of the bowl.

Pour into the inner chamber of an ice-cream churn and add the cherry juice, vanilla extract and salt. Stir to combine. 

Process the cream mixture until it forms a thick smooth ice cream.

Turn half the ice cream into a freezer tub. Add 1/2 the cherries and chocolate chips. Turn the other half of the ice cream over top and top with the rest of the cherries and chocolate chips. gently swirl everything together to distribute the fruit and chocolate throughout the ice cream.

Cover and place in a deep freeze for at least 6 hours to set up firmly.