This ice cream is a new entry for Food Nirvana, a kind of serendipity following a simple idea. If we can have chocolate covered cherries then why not chocolate covered cherries ice cream? All it takes is some high quality cocoa (Hershey's® Special Dark Cocoa [100% cocoa]) and some nice maraschino cherries and juice, plus the regular ingredients for a nice vanilla ice cream. Well, Food Nirvana has a fine recipe for vanilla ice cream so I just had to make this new ice cream ... so I did, and it is delicious. Now you can make it too!
Ingredients: (Makes about 1½ quarts of ice cream)
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
2 extra large or jumbo eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
A dash of salt
1 tbsp. of natural vanilla extract
1/2 cup of maraschino cherry juice
1/3 cup (or maybe a bit more) of Hershey's® Special Dark Cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. of Xanthan gum powder
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped maraschino cherries
Directions:
Prepare 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped maraschino cherries, then put them in a small bowl in the freezer until they are needed.
Mix the eggs with the sugar and the salt in the electric mixer on low to medium speed. Add the vanilla and the maraschino cherry juice and continue mixing on low to medium speed.
Add the cocoa powder slowly. When it is mixed in then slowly add the cream and the milk and mix until all the ingredients are well combined.
Add the Xanthan gum powder in small amounts by tapping on the spoon holding it so that it almost dusts its way into the rest of the ice cream ingredients while the mixer is running. That method is necessary to keep it from clumping together while being added to the ice cream mixture.
Turn on the gelato machine to pre-chill it.
Mix the ice cream ingredients on medium speed for five minutes to hydrate the Xanthan gum powder.
Add half of the ice cream mixture to the gelato machine and freeze the ice cream, putting half of the chopped maraschino cherries into the ice cream a few minutes before it is done freezing (the gelato machine mixing will slow down and that is when you add the chopped cherries and continue the freezing until the hardening ice cream nearly stops the gelato machine blades from turning).
Turn off the gelato machine.
Put the ice cream into a 3 to 4 cup plastic container with a lid and put it into the freezer.
Repeat the above freezing steps for the other half of the ice cream mixture and the chopped maraschino cherries.
Serve the ice cream after it has hard frozen (a few hours later) and be delighted.
Enjoy!