June’s Accidental Ice Cream
June’s Accidental Ice Cream
I made this ice cream the other night and needed a name for the recipe. Since June was one of the dinner guests, I decided to name it after her. I love this ice cream. The flavors are really good and work together well. This is especially nice, since the whole thing was sort of an accident.
I needed a dessert for a recent dinner with friends. I had decided on ice cream, since one of the guests was providing chocolate cake. I put together a mix of cream, half and half and sugar. I added vanilla to the mix, but I didn’t want just vanilla. I started thinking of what I had, and what would go well with the chocolate. I decided on cherry. I knew I had some frozen cherries. As I diced them up and added them to the cream mixture, I realized I didn’t have that many cherries. I knew I needed something more. I found a small package of frozen strawberries. I softened them a little, chopped them up, and added them, too. Better, but still lacking something. I love chocolate chip ice cream, but not the kind with giant hard chunks of chocolate. I prefer the little flakes of chocolate. If you have had it, you know what I mean. I took some dark chocolate, melted it, and then used a pastry brush to paint it on sheets of wax paper. The plan was to chill the chocolate until brittle, then crumble it up into tiny flakes. Once spread on the wax paper, I realized just how far a few ounces of chocolate would go. I already had two sheets of wax paper spread with chocolate, and still some melted in the cup. I added sliced almonds to the chocolate that remained, and spread it out on yet a third sheet of wax paper. I left the chocolate in the fridge to get hard and went to bed.
The next day I put the cream/vanilla/ cherry/strawberry mix in the ice cream maker. It was pretty full, and since ice cream expands as it freezes, I kept the chocolate out for now. Once it was nearly frozen- I took the hard chocolate off the sheets and crunched them up. The pieces were a little bigger than I had wanted, but they melted when I tried to handle them, so I figured they would break down more in the ice cream machine. They did, but by this time, then ice cream was expanding and starting to come out of the top of the machine. I somehow managed to get all the chocolate pieces in, just as the ice cream crested and was about to spill over the edge. I turned off the machine, got a container, and managed to save it just in time. It was a hit at the dinner. I guess if there is any lesson to be learned from all this, it is to be willing to take a chance and experiment a little bit. Sometimes, you might just ends up with a tasty bowl of ice cream.
June’s Accidental Ice Cream
2 c. whipping cream
1 c. half and half
sugar to taste- I used about 3/4 of a cup
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped pitted cherries*
1/2 c. chopped strawberries*
4-6 oz. dark chocolate
1/4 c. sliced almonds
Combine cream, half and half and sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Mixture should taste pretty sweet- once frozen, it won’t taste as sweet, so add enough sugar to suit your taste. Add vanilla and fruit and store in fridge until ready to use. Meanwhile, melt chocolate and brush melted chocolate on was paper sheets, spreading as thin as possible. Add the nuts to the chocolate, if you like, or you can just toss them in while the ice cream is in the machine. Chill chocolate in fridge or, better yet, in the freezer. Crumble them into tiny pieces. Place cream mixture in an ice cream machine and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. When it gets to the soft serve stage, add the chocolate and nuts and process a few more minutes. Turn off machine and transfer ice cream to a container with a lid and place in freezer until ready to use. Makes about a quart.
*When using fruit in ice cream, it is best if the fruit has either been previously frozen, then thawed or cooked. Fresh fruit, like cherries and strawberries, turn into chunks of ice in the ice cream if used fresh.
