Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream

I have been having so much fun with my ice cream maker. And with the privilege of living on a cherry farm, I knew I would have to take advantage of the fresh fruit for ice cream. Last week, Katie and I made this delicious creation! We each enjoyed a bowl or two and the rest went in the freezer to satisfy my sweet tooth every now and again.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cups sugar
4 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh sweet cherries, pitted and quartered
1 dark chocolate bar

1. Coarsely chop chocolate into chunks and quarter cherries.

2. Mix together remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Place frozen mixing bowl and turn ice cream maker on. Pour all ingredients, except cherries and chocolate in, and let the ice cream maker make for 25-35 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.

4. Add cherries and chocolate and mix for 10 minutes more.

5. Serve immediately as soft serve, or place in the freezer in freezer safe containers for at least 2 hours to allow ice cream to harden.

I tried this ice cream both ways, and personally, I thought that the hardened version was much better.

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt

Attempt #2 with the ice cream maker: success!

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt
3 cups fruit: peaches and strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Puree peaches and strawberries.

2. Mix milk, yogurt and sugar in mixer.

3. Mix on low speed until sugar is dissolved.

4. Add fruit and continue mixing until well combined.


5. Remove freezer bowl from freezer and place on base of ice cream maker. Press start and turn on.

6. Pour half of yogurt into maker and make for 25-30 minutes, until thickened. Put the remaining yogurt in the fridge until the first batch is done and then repeat. (This actually made way too much, so I had to do it in two rounds).

7. Eat right away or freeze in serving size portions for future use. Thaw 30-40 minutes before eating.

Thin Mint Ice Cream

On the weekend, we got to try out our new ice cream maker for the first time! It was so quick, easy and delicious!

I used SnoWhite's vanilla ice cream recipe for the base and added thin mints for a little flair!

Thin Mint Ice Cream - modified from SnoWhite
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup crushed thin mints (about 10 cookies)
Extra thin mints for garnishing if desired

1. Break cookies into chunks.

2. Mix together all remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved.

3. Place frozen mixing bowl on base of ice cream maker. Insert mixing arm and place lid on top. Turn on machine and immediately pour in liquid ingredients (no cookies yet).

4. Let the ice cream maker mix for about 30 minutes, until desired thickness is almost reached.

5. Add cookies and continue mixing for 5-10 minutes.

6. Scoop into serving bowls and serve immediately as soft serve or freeze in freezer safe containers for at least 2 hours to harden it up.

Makes 6 servings.

This was such a tasty treat and definitely a hit for our first try at homemade ice cream. The only thing I will do differently next time is perhaps add a hint of mint flavoring to the ice cream base itself as the thin mints made a yummy cookies and cream ice cream but the mint flavor could have been stronger for my liking.

Be prepared for lots of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet recipes coming over the next few months. I plan on getting plenty of use out of this new toy ... especially if the heat keeps up!