Ice cream has got to be one of my favorite summer treats. When I was a kid, on the weekend we used to drive into town to my favorite ice cream spot, a repurposed old street car turned ice cream shop. I would look forward to it all week. Every time I would order strawberry ice cream in a sugar cone. I was committed to that flavor and rarely tried anything new. As an adult, I’ve become a bit more adventurous with my choices. As long as it doesn’t taste of black licorice, I am all for trying it, which is where this chocolate cherry ice cream recipe comes in.
When I lived in Victoria BC, I used to regularly hike up a small mountain called Finlayson in Goldstream Provincial Park. It was a pretty strenuous hike. I remember the first time I hiked up, I swore to myself that I was going to get into better shape so that I wasn’t so out of breath when I reached the top. By the time I left Victoria two year later, I could have made it to the top of that mountain in 30 minutes running. My motivation partly stemmed from wanting to be in better shape and partly because the faster I could make it up and back down the mountain, the faster I could get ice cream from Ice Cream Mountain located near the entrance of the park. My favorite ice cream from that little stand was the dark cherry. It was sweet and tart with big chewy pieces of cherry in every bite. I’ve never quite been able to find ice cream as good as that little stand.
A few years ago I was spending way too much money on ice cream, so I decided to buy an ice cream machine to cut down costs. In actual fact, it just led to me making and eating more ice cream. I really wanted to try and recreate that cherry ice cream from Ice Cream Mountain. I’ve made so many batches of cherry ice cream, tweaking ingredients, adding more cherry syrup, less cherry syrup, but it just never tasted right. Until one day I realized that the key ingredient to a good cherry ice cream is almond extract! Since my discovery, I have finally been able to perfect my chocolate cherry ice cream. Aside from the almond extract, the other key ingredients to a good cherry ice cream are perfectly sweet and juicy cherries. Stemilt’s sweet dark cherries were absolutely perfect for this recipe.
Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups Stemilt sweet cherries, pits and stems removed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp cherry syrup
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 cup shaved chocolate
Cool off this summer with a delicious scoop of homemade Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream made with delicious dark-sweet cherries.
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Instructions
- Roughly cut the cherries into quarters.
- Place them into a medium saucepan with the granulated sugar.
- Heat until they become thick and syrupy, stirring occasionally, for roughly 20 minutes.
- Remove from the stove and place into the fridge until they are cool, preferably overnight.
- In a medium saucepan, add the heavy cream, milk, cherry syrup, and almond extract.
- Heat on medium-low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it come to a simmer.
- Remove from the heat. Refrigerate until chilled, preferably overnight.
- Pour the cold cream/milk mixture into your ice cream machine and churn for 25 minutes or until the ice cream begins to look very thick.
- Add cherries and shaved chocolate to the ice cream machine and churn until combined, roughly a minute.
- Remove the ice cream from the machine and place into an airtight container.
- Place into the freezer for a few hours to further harden.
- Once you are ready to serve, remove from the freezer and let sit on the counter for 5 - 10 minutes until it’s soft enough to scoop, Ice cream can be stored in the freezer for a few months, but it is best eaten within a few weeks.
Nutritional Information
Per Serving
- Calories: 257
- Fat Content: 15g
- Saturated Fat Content: 9g
- Unsaturated Fat Content: 5g
- Carbohydrate Content: 29g
- Protein Content: 3g
- Cholesterol Content: 53mg
- Fiber Content: 1g
- Sugar Content: 25g
- Sodium Content: 54mg
(18 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)
