Cherry Garcia Frozen Custard

With all the cherries that I have on hand, I decided that I absolutely had to try and make a Ben & Jerries ice cream copy cat--Cherry Garcia. I don't have an ice cream maker of my own, but my mother-in-law was kind enough to let me borrow hers. With the ice cream maker in my possession, I have been feeling giddy all week...as though I had just unwrapped a christmas gift. I was very excited to make ice cream for the first time ever and I was determined to make great ice cream on my first try. Originally I had planned to follow the recipe exactly, but the 2 raw eggs that it called for kind of threw me off. Raw eggs? It just kind of screamed, "Salmonella"! I decided to improvise by cooking the eggs. The end result--frozen custard!



Cherry Garcia Frozen Custard

1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup fresh cherries, pitted and quartered (mine were frozen)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk (vitamin D milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until light and fluffy. Continue whisking and add the sugar, a little at a time. Whisk until completely blended.

2. Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat until bubbles form around the edges. Slowly add the warm milk mixture to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.

3. Pour mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture is thickened. Stir in vanilla extract. Let cool and then cover. Chill in refrigerator until completely chilled (2 hours).

4. Once the mixture is well chilled, fold in chocolate and cherries. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Source: Adapted from Annies Eats.