Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Zak's grandparents mailed us a big box of cherries last week and we decided to try a new cherry vanilla ice cream.  The recipe we tried a year or two ago was ok, but froze very hard.  This new recipe was like the peach raspberry ice cream we made a few weeks ago--we basically used the base and then added cherries. My friend let us use her cherry pitter, which was awesome!  It is a great tool.  The ice cream was great, soft and creamy and perfect on a hot summer day.

1 c. milk
3/4 c. sugar + 1/8 c.
1 c. half & half
1/2 Tbl. vanilla
2 c. cream
2 c. pitted, quartered cherries
1 1/2 Tbl. vanilla

1.  Scald milk on stove until bubble form around the edges, remove from heat.
2.  Pour into a heat-proof bowl and stir in sugar and salt until it's all dissolved.
3.  Add in half & half, vanilla and heavy cream.
4.  Cover tightly, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5.  Freeze ice cream according to ice cream maker's directions.  Once it has churned for about 20 minutes (starting to stiffen up), add pitted, quartered cherries and continue mixing another 5 - 10 minutes.
6.  Freeze in freezer for a few hours.

delicious!

Peach Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream

We have been itching to make homemade ice cream, but it hasn't been very "summer-y" around these parts until the last few days.  After much debate, we decided on a vanilla ice cream with peaches from Zak's grandparents and raspberry jam or syrup to swirl in.  We ended up using the basic vanilla ice cream recipe from our ice cream maker book and went from there.  The result was simply delicious.  We were too eager to try it after a few hours in the freezer that we completely forgot about the sugar cones we bought.  Anyways, this was supposedly a 2 quart recipe, but we separated it into two containers to fit into the freezer, so I don't know how much total it made.  But it was worth it!

1 c. milk
3/4 c. + 2 Tbl. sugar
pinch of salt
1 c. half & half
1/2 Tbl. vanilla
2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 c. pureed peaches (2 fresh peaches)
about 4 Tbl. seedless raspberry jam (didn't have any homemade stuff, but Smucker's worked just fine)

1.  Scald milk on stove until bubbles form around the edges, remove from heat.
2.  Pour into a heat-proof large bowl and stir in sugar and salt until it's all dissolved.
3.  Add in half & half, vanilla and heavy cream.
4.  Cover tightly, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5.  For the pureed peaches, Zak blended them with about a Tbl. of plain yogurt to smooth the texture out.  And then he heated up the jam in the microwave so we could pour it easily.
6.  Add peaches to refrigerated mixture and freeze according to ice cream maker's directions.
7.  We added the jam after about 20 minutes of mixing it, just on top and let it run for a few minutes.
8.  Freeze for at least 2 - 3 hours before tasting, it will be tempting though!

before freezing

it was a bit soft when we ate it, but it was so good (also check out the cute bowls Zak's parents got us, we love them)

delicious!

Peach Gelato

Zak's grandparents stopped by a week or so ago and brought us a big box of softball-sized, juicy peaches (as well as some plums, a mouth-watering cantaloupe, and a huge watermelon). We both adore peaches (I have delicious memories of my grandpa making peach frappes when I was a kid, and then there was my aunt's peach cobbler, and and and...) and were thrilled to have so many of them. We ate plenty of them for breakfast (with strawberries and blueberries, mmm) and smoothies (so good), but what I wanted to try the most was a gelato-type dessert. Zak really wanted to make peach ice cream, as we liked our peach frozen yogurt, but weren't too thrilled with some parts of it. But I told him to trust me, because gelato is the number 1 dessert food of all-time, in the category of frozen desserts. He wasn't sure about it, but once again, he has learned never to doubt my culinary expertise, haha.

This recipe is so easy and simple, and what is best about it is that it captures the essence of the peaches. As opposed to an ice cream, where the cream is most of the flavor, the gelato showcases the flavor of the peaches. It is absolutely delicious, and while it may not be 100% traditional gelato, it's certainly good enough for me in Moscow, Idaho. Enjoy!

(P.S. Thank you, Grandpa & Grandpa Brown for bringing us all that yummy fruit!)

3 lbs. peaches, pitted & peeled (I used about 4 cups, since I had no idea how many pounds it was, seemed to work out fine)
1/4 c. sugar (or more)
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt [other variants include mascarpone or creme fraiche, I want to try them both]

1. Cut the peaches into very small pieces-the smaller they are cut, the faster they will freeze.
2. Arrange peach pieces in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet and freeze solid, about 2 hours.
3. Place frozen peaches in food processor with sugar, and grind briefly.
4. Add the yogurt (or other ingredient) and pulse until the mixture is smooth (we added some of the leftover peach juice and some vanilla as well).
5. Empty mixture into a small container and freeze again, about 20 to 30 minutes. The texture should be soft, but not too soft.


A small problem with this is that it freezes very solid, and then takes awhile to thaw. We had it in the fridge for about 3 hours after keeping it in the freezer all night, and it was perfect.

Honey Peach Frozen Yogurt

This week we made honey peach frozen yogurt because we had a bunch of peaches and we love peach ice cream. However, we decided to use vanilla yogurt instead of heavy cream so it would be a less fattening. This recipe was really simple and we added a few extra ingredients until it tasted how we wanted it to. Delicious!

3 c. peaches (peeled, pitted - - about 3 peaches)
1 (32 oz.) vanilla yogurt
1/4 c. honey
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Place all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.
2. Add mixture to ice cream maker and freeze according to directions.

Very simple! It did freeze rather hard, so it'd be a good idea to let it stand at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes before serving. Also, we decided to blend all the peaches up because we hate having frozen chunks of peaches in the middle of the ice cream/yogurt, so if you want to blend half and have the other half cut up small, that would work too.

Oh, and I was a little exuberant with the food dye.

Vanilla Cherry Ice Cream

Yesterday we made an impulse purchase: a 4 qt., Rival ice cream maker for $20. It was on clearance at Wal-Mart and we decided we might as well give it a shot; we don't need to get the $100 Kitchenaid attachment just yet. Well, I had been looking at recipes for bing cherries (since we have a huge flat left, and some are starting to turn yucky), and came across a vanilla cherry ice cream recipe. And since that is both one of our favorite recipes, we decided to give it a shot. It's a very simple recipe and we are quite pleased with the results with both the recipe and the ice cream maker. We are now excited about making different types of ice cream this summer....

2 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk
3/4 c. white sugar
1 Tbl. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 c. fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half (we did quarters so it would be easier to eat)

1. Combine the cream, milk and sugar; stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in the extracts; add the cherries.
3. Pour into ice cream mixture and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.

churning away

after being frozen overnight

yum yum yum!

Zak has stained hands now, haha

Watermelon Berry Sorbet

Ok, so when Zak's family came to visit for a day or so, we had our delicious chicken kabobs, corn and watermelon. However, we did not consume most of the watermelon, and I decided to find some kind of recipe that would use up our leftovers. I found this great one on recipezaar, and tweaked it a little. It's easy, healthy and delicious!

1 c. water
1/2 c. water
2 c. cubed seedless watermelon (I must have used 4-6 cups, basically filled the blender)
2 c. fresh strawberries, hulled (I only used 1 c., I wanted the watermelon to be the star)
1 Tbl. minced fresh mint (Next time, I'll use maybe 1/2 Tbl.--we have spearmint & peppermint in our mint garden, so it was really fun to go outside and pick it!)

1. In a small saucepan, boil water. Add sugar to boiling water, stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool slightly.
2. Put watermelon, strawberries, and sugar syrup in blender. Cover and process for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to a 9"x13" dish. Freeze for 1 hour or until edges begin to firm.
4. Stir in mint, freeze another hour.
5. Transfer to blender, cover and process 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
6. Freeze another 2 hours, or until it is firm.

I tweaked the freezer times a bit; it originally said to freeze the mint in for 2 hours, then transfer it all into a blender just before serving. But then it was all slushy, so we ended up freezing it again for another hour or so. The only picture I have is of the sorbet being a little more on the liquid side, but it's still very yummy and refreshing!