The 90 degree heat wave with 150% humidity we’ve been having is quite miserable, especially considering our 20 year old HVAC unit is struggling to keep up. It seems about the only way to survive this summer heat is to eat all of the frozen things. So it’s a good reason to whip up a batch of homemade ice cream. I happened to have a container of plain mascarpone cheese that needed using up, so I thought it would be ideal for creating a creamy ice cream base.
Mascarpone for some reason screams cherries to me. I cooked down 2 cups of frozen cherries with a little bit of sugar and lemon juice just until the cherries were softened and syrupy, breaking up some of the cherries into halves and smaller chunks. That gets set aside to cool so it can be poured into the custard base later as it’s churning. If you don’t like big fruit chunks in your ice cream, you could absolutely blend this down into a puree. But I think the chunks of cherries work here and they didn’t make the ice cream icy at all.
Cherry Mascarpone Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup mascarpone 7 ounces
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups frozen cherries
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
- Place 2 cups frozen cherries along with 1 tbsp of sugar and lemon juice into saucepan. Cook while stirring continuously for about 5 minutes until cherries become soft and sugar dissolves. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use a handheld mixer to beat the egg yolks with ¾ cup of sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes. In a saucepan, combine milk and cream with remaining 2 tbsp of sugar and bring to a simmer 2-3 minutes. Slowly beat the warm milk into the egg yolks at low speed. Once incorporated, move everything back into saucepan, and simmer for 5 minutes while continuously stirring until the custard has thickened and sticks to the back of a spoon.
- Once milk/egg mixture has cooled, whisk in mascarpone, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
- Pour mixture into ice cream maker, then add cherry mixture. Churn according to manufacturer instructions.
- Put into an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours, then enjoy!
I have to admit that this was quite possibly the best homemade ice cream; it was some of the creamiest ice cream ever and the flavor of the cherries with the mascarpone and hint of lemon was killer. To die for.
Enjoy! <3 K&R
It was super yummy!