It was a very busy holiday week in Maine. After painting my strawberry rhubarb pie, I listed all the recipes I wanted to make. Savory flatbreads and galettes. Braised pork sandwiches and things with runny eggs on top. But the temperature skyrocketed to the 90’s. I couldn’t even touch my steering wheel when I got out of work Wednesday. Drenched in sweat from a 5 minute walk down the sidewalk. So I knew I had to make ice cream. After visiting the farmers market I decided to make a cherry and vanilla ice cream with a creme brûlée-like custard and roasted fresh cherries. 

Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

My mental health has been a little bit shaky this week. Imposter syndrome has crept back into my mind and taken my brain for a spin. I made a small mistake at work and beat myself up for it the whole way home. Probably a combination of the heat and exhaustion. My family reminded me I’m too hard on myself and I took a walk when it was only in the 80’s to calm down. I sat in a beautiful park before work and bought myself a chocolate almond croissant from one of my favorite bakeries. Still, I’ve been wrestling with thoughts of not being good enough. 

My safe haven, the farmers market, was bustling on Thursday. It was the hottest day of the week so far and the crowds of tourists and locals were all fanning themselves with pieces of paper and exhaustedly wrangling their kids in the field. I raced back to my car after picking up my perishables and placed them in a shady spot in the car. Images of the bright magenta cherries that I found unexpectedly at the corner booth flashed in my head.

Fresh Black Cherries

Cherries are probably my mom’s favorite fruit. So I knew if I didn’t use them that I could just give them to her. I didn’t have time to second guess, so I raced back across the street and bought a pint of them. I learned in the process that the woman who runs the stand, the one with the family of golden retrievers, rescued them all together. The brother and sister dogs were chasing each other around truck tires as the mom found a patch of shade to lie in. Unconcerned.

I thanked the woman and couldn’t believe how many people were still out in the sun. I drove home and stored my goods in the fridge while I did some chores. Sending emails and printing art for Etsy orders. All I could think of was ice cream. Tucked away in my air-conditioned bedroom. The beast was groaning and moaning at having to work in the extreme heat. And it was the only thing keeping me from turning into a puddle. 

Caramelized Vanilla Custard

I imagined a cherry sorbet. Similar to one I made years ago after staging at a fancy restaurant in Portland. The pastry chef taught me to make cherry sorbet. We picked and pitted them for half the morning and used a spectrometer to measure the sugar content. It blew my mind. Later I recreated it with chocolate ganache and fresh ricotta. The combination was glorious and so sumptuous. So I endeavored to come up with something that could rival it. Not a plated dish, but a simple cherry vanilla ice cream. I knew I would cook the cherries to give them a more complex flavor. And I knew I would add lots of vanilla to the custard. But I had no idea of how amazing it would turn out.

I started with the hard part. Cooking custard in the heat and stirring scalding cream over a steaming burner. Unpleasant, to put it lightly. I had blanched my eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. So I slowly poured in the hot cream and whisked it into a thick, pourable sauce. Then it went back into the pot. And I forgot to stir it for a few minutes as I cleaned my counter and prepped my cherries for pitting. It was a happy accident – causing the perfect amount of caramelization and browning of flavor on the bottom of the pot. When I finished the custard, it had small bits of burnt sugar flecks that tasted like creme brûlée.

Churning Cherry Gelato

I spent a good 20 minutes placing my cherries on a baking sheet and de-stemming them. Cutting around the pit and popping them out. Staining my fingertips with a pleasant pink hue while listening to music. The heat was creeping up on me, so I raced against the warming afternoon. Finally I was ready and spread them on the baking sheet with a sprinkling of sugar, salt, olive oil, and maple syrup. And cinnamon. They roasted for 10-15 minutes. Poor things. And came out jammy, caramelized, and dark with pools of pink liquid.

I poured my custard into a smaller baking sheet to help it cool faster in the freezer. But I could tell the texture was off. It was too thick. More like a pastry cream. So I added milk and whisked it together, directly in the pan. I used my instincts and stopped when I thought it was perfect. Ironically, this is one of the things that made the texture so incredible. I treated it like sauce-making – not falling back on a recipe when the humidity and circumstances were so unique. I had cooked it too long, too, but the caramelized flavor was delicious.

Roasted Cherries

When I was happy I scraped my roasted cherries in and swirled everything around. All I had to do was let it chill in the freezer and prep my ice cream machine. Funny enough, we sell the same one I have (which I got years ago) at the cooking store. A silver Cuisinart. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with it. It previously has resulted in icy gelatos and thick custards that have over-churned and stuck to the sides of the bowl. I nearly broke many spoons trying to scrape the custard. But I need to eat crow after this batch because it worked like a dream.

It didn’t take as long as usual. I checked on it several times and was super happy with the stretchy, creamy texture that rivaled gelato I’ve eaten in Italy. Filled with pops of caramelized cherries. Similar to raisins. I scooped it all into my ice cream container and took several bites. It was to-die-for. I try not to use too many hyperboles when I describe my own food. But it was insanely good. The texture was so silky and smooth and soft. I loved it.

My New Favorite Ice Cream

The ratio of everything was beyond perfect. A touch of cornstarch in the custard helped achieve that gelato greatness. I immediately was transported back to some of the best gelato shops in the world, in Florence. But my cherry vanilla ice cream was just as good, if not better. Not too sweet thanks to the cinnamon, roasted cherries, and a touch of sea salt. The olive oil, too. I fell in love with it immediately. And I’m not typically a cherry and vanilla ice cream person. If it’s not chocolate, lemon, or coffee, I’m usually not interested. 

But it was utterly delicious. I’ve been eating bites for dessert each night during the heat wave and thinking about it all day at work. I told one of my coworkers about the flavor combination and she looked mesmerized. The creme anglaise recipe is the one I will adhere to from now on. And I can’t wait to try it with other flavors and fruits. I almost added chocolate, too, which would have been incredible.

Saturday was the 4th of July. I worked for half a day and drove home to see my family, visiting from Florida. The whole morning I was frazzled, dodging tourists lined up for the parade. Running up and down stairs in the heat. So I was exhausted after driving, working, socializing, and staying up late this week to paint. I have a few days off now to visit my family. To write and play and recover from the heat wave, which is over thankfully.

Surviving the Heat Wave

I still have ice cream left, which has the most amazing texture even straight out of the freezer. And I’m looking forward to feeling better this week. I’ll be wary of making mistakes and feeling somewhat like an imposter, still, but I hope I can prove to myself that I’m just as capable of doing a good job as I am of making mistakes. My plan is to get more sleep, fuel my soul, and attack the week with a positive vigor. I’ll make myself something nice to take to work for lunch and go easier on myself. And regardless of what happens, I’ll have ice cream to comfort me at the end of the day. 

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out my Etsy shop for 100’s of recipe cards and art prints. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. Stay safe and eat some ice cream!

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Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

A burnt sugar and vanilla ice cream with roasted summer cherries

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword cherry, gelato, ice cream, vanilla

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 3 cups black cherries pitted
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Pit and de-stem cherries.
• Transfer cherries to a lined baking sheet and combine with olive oil, cinnamon, maple syrup, and a small pinch of sea salt.
• Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until jammy and soft. Let cool.
• Combine eggs, egg yolks, white sugar, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisk until light, pale, and fluffy.
• Heat heavy cream and whole milk in a sauce pot over medium-high heat until scalding and beginning to bubble.
• Slowly pour hot cream into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Once half is poured, add the rest and stir to combine.
• Pour mixture back into the sauce pot. Cook over medium high heat for 5-10 minutes until thickened. Allow custard to cook on the bottom of the pan slightly.
• Stir to combine and pour thickened custard onto a clean baking sheet. Add your cherries and stir to combine.
• Chill baking sheet of custard in fridge for 15-30 minutes or in the freezer for 5-10 minutes until cold. In the meantime, prepare ice cream machine.
• Pour custard and cherries into ice cream machine and churn for 20 – 30 minutes until stretchy and thick.
• Spoon into a reusable ice cream storage container and freeze for at least 30 minutes before serving. Top with macerated cherries.

Notes

• You can use strawberries, plums, or other fruits in place of cherries that can stand up to roasting in the oven. 
• Feel free to add chocolate chips or melted chocolate into your churning ice cream mixture for a Black Forest flavor. 
• I intentionally let the custard caramelize on the bottom of the pan. You can tell it’s caramelized when you smell a brown butter scent and the whisk has a little resistance. Don’t cook too much and burn!