Cherry Icecream with Chocolate Chips

With a whole lot of fruits picked from the market, summer has been a fruity fiesta for us! We generally eat up the fruits as such but with a watermelon, cherries, apricots, plums, rambutans and honeydew melon, there was an imminent threat of spoilage. The rambutans were eaten up first, then the huge water melon juiced and before the cheery cherries shriveled with age, I had to find a recipe to use them. And this luscious cherry icecream was born.

I stuck to my method of making a basic icecream and adding the cherry flavour later as it works well for me. The icecream is creamy and does not form ice crystals when frozen. I also don't prefer adding eggs to the icecream. The recipe given here is heavily inspired by Mike's Cherry Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Stracciatella. I totally loved the pairing of cherry with chocolate. His method of adding stracciatella towards the end of the churning process seemed a bit cumbersome for me since I do not use an icecream maker. I did add chocolate chips instead - I used Hersheys semi-sweet chocolate chips - though I do think the stracciatella would have tasted far better. Adding the lime juice gave the icecream a slight tang which was refreshing.

You'll need:

1 recipe basic icecream

250 gms cherries

2 - 3 tbsp sugar

Juice of one lime

A handful of chocolate chips

Make the basic icecream as given here.

For the cherry flavour/jam:

Cut the cherries in half and pit them. Put the cherries in a saucepan, add the sugar and cook them on a low flame till the cherries release their juices and the sugar dissolves. Cook till the cherries soften, it took me around 15 minutes. Take off from flame and let it cool. Puree the cherries till smooth, unless you prefer chunks in your icecream. A lip-smacking cherry jam is ready. It can also be used as a topping for the icecream.

When the basic icecream has set, cut it into pieces, add the lime juice and churn for 5 minutes. Then add the cherry jam/puree and churn again for 2 minutes. Now add the chocolate chips and mix lightly. Transfer to an air-tight container and freeze till set. Serve topped with cherry jam/fresh cherries/ chocolate chips.

Verdict: It was a refreshing fruity, tangy, creamy, chocolaty sensation that we licked our bowls clean. Highly recommended if you find fresh cherries in your region.

Other drool-worthy icecreams at Currybazaar:

Strawberry Icecream

Watermelon Icecream

Kesar Malai Kulfi

Sending this off to Paajaka Recipes for Sweet Series: Cool Desserts , WYF - Juices and Icecreams, WBB - Summer Feast at Monsoon Spice.

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