I know it seems like I had the will power to wait a full day, if not days, before churning this red wine roasted cherry chocolate ice cream. Nah, I lasted for about six hours. This is how I’ve spent the time in between: Decide to blog about ice cream. Meticulously scoop and style ice cream. Attempt to photograph ice cream. Be forced to eat ice cream once it starts to melt. Decide the pictures weren’t good enough. Repeat steps 2-5. Putting the fun in funemployment! And the fat in fatemployment.
My favorite part of the churning process is that you get to watch the base transform to ice cream right before your eyes, like magic, or illusions, Michael. It’s mesmerizing, really. I could get lost in your eyes forever, ice cream. I suggest you sync this video up with the opening loop of Miley Cyrus’ “4×4” (round and round and away we go!) or call Delilah and tell her that you’re at that magical point of the relationship where you can feel yourself falling in love but you can’t stop and you don’t even want to but don’t tell her it’s about ice cream and ask her to play a song for the occasion. Delilah will take care of you, she knows what’s up.
Guys, I made a gif! How fun is that? We Should We Call Me…when I’m a tech wizard.
Anyways, the actual ice cream production process is very easy: pour into pre-chilled ice cream maker bowl (preparing for an ice cream emergency, remember), churn for about 15-20 minutes or until thick, and then pop in the freezer for an hour or two. Or, if you don’t mind softer ice cream, devour immediately. Also, if you’re adding a mix-in (like the roasted cherries in this recipe), make sure to add them the last minute or so, or else your ice cream will never freeze up and you’ll have a quart and a half of really delicious milkshakes. Not a terrible fate, though, you know?
I was worried about the ice cream, since it was churning until it was literally overflowing from the bowl, but after a day in the freezer, all was well in the frozen confection universe. The cherry and red wine flavor didn’t permeate the entire ice cream quite like I wanted it to, but there were enough halved cherries in the mix that you get one in most bites. The chocolate is rich and decadent enough, though, that you barely even miss the cherries. Barely. The red wine really kept it from venturing into maraschino cherry territory once everything reduced down. I mean, I’m definitely that person at the bar that asks for extra maraschino cherries, but I’m not trying to have them in my ice cream.
I’m already plotting my next ice cream (peach crumble sandwiched between shortbread cookies whaaaaat), so you know that bowl is back in the freezer. Girl Scout motto: be prepared/eat all the cookies.
FoodShaack 