Ice Cream: Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Candied Cherries

I know, I mentioned Mango Sorbet and Mint Chocolate Chip as my next ice creams in the previous post but I am a bit fickle and there are so many yummy recipes in The Perfect Scoop that I was wavering all weekend on what to do. My mangoes weren't ripe and I didn't find the Dutch Processed Cocoa powder at the nearest grocer so I went ahead and created ice creams and condiments with items around the house. The previous owner of our house seemed to have a knack for gardening and has planted rosemary, lavender, mint in the garden and I have been making use of her efforts in my kitchen. This weekend I scooped up some fresh mint to make Mint Ice Cream. I posted a recipe on Mint-Cherry Lassi a while ago and based on that successful experiment I knew that Mint and Cherries could be complimentary. On our return from Mt. Rainier National Park this Saturday I bought about 4 pounds of cherries (both Rainier and Bing) home. Between my friends and I we ate about 3 pounds and rather than letting rest of it get too ripe, I created a condiment/topping from The Perfect Scoop to pair with the Fresh Mint Ice Cream.

Here is some fresh Mint from my garden:
Fresh Mint Ice Cream (source, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

Recipe:

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 2 Cups Heavy Cream (I used Heavy Whipping Cream in my recipe)
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 Cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves
• 5 large Egg Yolks

Method:
Warm milk, sugar, 1 cup cream and salt in a small saucepan. Add mint leaves and stir till they are immersed in the mixture. Cover and remove from the heat and let it steep for 1 hour at room temperature.

Strain the mint infused mixture through a mesh strainer into another saucepan. (David notes that the milk will be a lovely shade of emerald but my variety of mint leaves did not shed color and the milk was a funny tinge of yellowish pale green, anyone know why this might be?). Press the mint leaves to extract as much flavor as possible and then discard the mint leaves. Pour remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula (I used a wooden spoon), scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath (I just used 2 trays of ice cubes in a wok with water and put my cream bowl in it and stirred!).

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge and freeze it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturing instructions. ( I chilled for about 1 hour).

Candied Cherries (source, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)
David has this recipe in his mix-in section of the book and I did not follow exact measurements like he had because I was serving my dinner guests and making this! So the list below has the exact ingredients from his book but my own measurements.

About 2.5 cups Cherries (I used pitted rainier and bing cherries combined)
3/4 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Drop Almond Extract

Method: Remove Stems, Pit the cherries. Heat Cherries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a large, non reactive saucepan or skillet till the liquid boils. Lower the heat to low boil and cook the cherries for 25 minutes. I was supposed to be stirring them for the last 10 minutes but since we were eating dinner they were tragically ignored but seemed to be cooked through evenly.

Once the syrup is reduced to consistency of maple syrup, remove pan from heat and add almond extract. Let cherries cool in their syrup.

Serve Mint Ice Cream garnished with fresh mint leaves and topped with warm candied cherries. If cherries are stored in fridge, just microwave for a few seconds to heat up and it compliments the cold mint ice cream superbly.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Candied Cherries, our dessert last night.

Results: Other than my husband (who doesn't like cherries!) everyone loved the pairing of candied cherries with Mint Ice Cream. We think the Mint Ice Cream is fabulous by itself but i am sure chocolate bits, brownies would be a stunning combo as well.

Notes: I probably over cooked the cherries beyond maple syrup stage but they were so sticky, chewy and tasty none the less with the ice cream. If you like it syrup like, follow David's instructions.

If you would like scoops of the ice cream, I would thaw the ice cream from freezer prior to eating. For the above pictures, I cut out rectangular pieces from frozen container. The texture and creaminess of the ice cream was great, the shape is not very ice cream like, thats all.

My Cuisinart makes fresh ice cream in about 25 to 30 minutes. I prefer to freeze the mixture prior to eating as its too soft-serve for our taste. You may prefer to serve right out of your machine.