Last summer when we were visiting my sister in Oregon one of her neighbors had some overflowing cherry trees and we were offered whatever we could pick! We took our 10 kids (yup we each have 5) and spent a few hours picking cherries – we walked away with six 5 gallon buckets filled to the brim and yet the threes were still full! Crazy!
So with THAT many cherries we set about deciding what to make! Seriously we made SO MUCH! Cobblers, a syrup (that I used on this pistachio cheesecake), muffins and more – but my favorite was this Almond Cherry Ice cream! I enjoyed it so much that I actually have made it about 4 times since! Yup, it’s that good!
The only negative to the whole thing is simply pitting and cutting all the cherries – but thankfully I have a lot of kids who like dessert so they like helping out! They pitted the cherries super fast – awww the promise of dessert!!! Brings out the hard work in anyone.
This is basically a homemade cherry syrup and a basic vanilla ice cream together – two simple things and one amazing treat! If you have a vanilla ice cream you like better than this one simply add the syrup and change out the vanilla for almond and your good to go! The best part about making food from scratch is changing things up to fit your own personal style.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs pitted cherries
- 1 C granulated sugar divided
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 C whole milk
- 1 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
Instructions
- Quarter the cherries
- on the stove cook the cherries with 1/3 C sugar - simmer 10-12 mins until the cherries are tender.
- strain out about 1/3rd of the cherries - put these aside to mix in later (refridgerate until the next day) - blend the rest of the cherries and liquid until smooth
- set aside and let cool
- in a saucepan heat the milk - just until the edges start to bubble
- in a bowl beat the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar (2/3 C)
- slowly add the hot milk to the yolk mixture - whisking constantly
- Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and place over low heat (you don't want to "scramble" the eggs by cooking too hot or too fast).
- Stir constantly until the mixture thickens into a custard base texture (it will coat the back of a spoon but will still be pourable)
- Pour into a bowl and add the cream, blended cherries, vanilla and almond extract - refrigerate 4-6 hours.
- Strain the mixture and run through your ice cream machine according to the directions, about 30 mins
- Stir in the rest of the chopped cherries and serve immediately for soft ice cream and freeze a few hours for firmer ice cream.
And there you have it! optional – add some chocolate! Personally I didn’t feel it needed any chocolate – but you can NEVER go wrong with Chocolate! AND even better – today is National Cherry Dessert day – so of COURSE I have a round up for you from some of my favorite food bloggers!
NEW cherry dessert recipes from Celebrating food bloggers
- Cherry Ice Cream – Ashlee Marie
- Black Forest Cupcakes – Life Made Simple
- Cherry Cheesecake Brownies – Creations by Kara
- Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcakes – Baking with Blondie
- Cherry Turnovers – The Baker Upstairs
- Vegan No-Bake Cherry Fruit Crisp – Namely Marly
- Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries and Boozy Cherry Molasses – Foodie with Family
- Frozen Cherry Limemade Pie – Real Mom Kitchen
- Cherry Berry Dutch Oven Cobbler – Hey Grill Hey
- Chocolate Cherry Brownie Pizza – Gather for Bread
- Slow Cooker 3 Ingredient Cherry Dump Cake – 365 Days of Slow Cooking
More Cherry dessert recipes from more food bloggers
- Cherry pie sour cream crumb bars – The Recipe critic
- Cherry Pie – Sally’s Baking Addiction
- Chocolate cherry pull apart bread – Gather for bread
- Cherry amaretto popsicles – Tutti Dolci
- Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake – The First year blog
- Cherry Clafoutis – OMG Chocolate Desserts
- Cherry Chocolate Chip Scones – Food Fanatic
- Cherry Bread – Taste of Lizzy T
- Almond Cherry Cookies – Julies Eats and Treats
- Cherry Brownie Bombs – Wine and Glue
- Cherry Fudge – Shugary Sweets
- Chocolate Cherry French Macaron – Taste and Tell
Ashlee Marie
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Kara
Oh gosh, this ice cream looks AMAZING! I love cherry and almond together, so I cannot wait to try it!
Laura Powell
Perfect for summer!
Jim
Are the cherries to be used sweet or tart cherries?
Ashlee
I used sweet cherries, but if you like tart I beat that would be amazing as well
Yumvilla
Want to try it now! thanks you!
Ashlee
your welcome! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do
Coleen
Absolutely great !
My freezer only had room for one cup of whipping cream so it definitely did not need two!
Remarkably this ice cream never got ice crystals and stayed soft and fluffy!