7.28.15 Roasted Sweet Cherry and Honey Ice Cream
Here’s the thing with me and ice cream - I absolutely love it. Like, LOVE. And considering the fact that I’m currently 5 months pregnant with some serious ice cream cravings, combined with the fact that it feels like it’s about a million degrees outside, I’ve been eating a lot of it lately. Enough that I’ve reached the point where I feel like maybe I should be trying my hand at making my own. And here’s where I run into problems.
You see, as much as I love the stuff, actually making my own has historically been a bit of a problem area. It never sets right, or it’s all lumpy, or it just ends up terrible in some other way. And in general, I figured, no big deal. I mean this is Wisconsin after all, and with all that dairy our great state is known for, we have access to some of the best ice cream around. But then, things happen. Like you want to make a flavor that doesn’t seem to already exist. You know, something to use up all of those amazing Door County sweet cherries I’ve been buying up at the markets like there’s no tomorrow.
So here I was, totally stuck. On the one hand, making my own ice cream seemed so not worth it. On the other hand, once the idea of a sweet cherry and honey ice cream popped into my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What to do? After some research, I came across something so spectacularly perfect, it seemed almost too good to be true. All it required was whipping some cream, stirring in some sweetened condensed milk, and freezing until set. It couldn’t be easier! Of course, per my original craving, I had to throw in some roasted sweet cherries and honey for good measure. The result was fantastic - a perfect accompaniment to all the pie I decided to make last weekend.
Roasted Sweet Cherry and Honey Ice Cream
- 3 cups sweet cherries, pitted
- ½ cup honey, divided
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Toss pitted cherries with ¼ cup honey and place in a baking dish. (If you like smaller pieces, you can cut the cherries into halves; I ended up just leaving them whole). Roast cherries until they are soft and juicy, about 20-25 minutes. Mash them slightly with a fork, then set aside to cool.
3. Whip heavy cream until peaks form. Fold in the sweetened condensed milk, followed by the roasted cherries and the remaining ¼ cup of honey. Pour into a freezable container (a loaf pan works great for this), cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until set - at least 8 hours or overnight.
4. Once frozen, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out and enjoy!
