The Better Maraschino Cherries (a.k.a Drunken Cherries)

   

When I was younger the best thing about going out to family dinners was ordering my signature cocktail (a Shirley Temple) with extra cherries. What? Did you expect me to say the best part was quality time with my parents? My parents were always home, but maraschino cherries weren't. In my 8 year old mind, cherries trumped parents. 

I don't have a tool to pit cherries so I have to do it the good ol' fashion way

I came up with this recipe as I was in the kitchen trying to make a sophisticated cherry ice cream from scratch, and I can hardly keep my fingers out the jar long enough to type a few coherent sentences. It's too delicious. I already plan on straining the cherries and putting them into ice cream, but I could also use the syrup as a topping. Also, the syrup is delicious mixed with ginger ale or sparkling water. 

Why yes, indeed, that is a Gucci advertisement as the backdrop. 

The Better No Machine Ice Cream

    

 

For the longest time I have refrained from making ice cream since I lack the storage space for an ice cream machine. I often look longingly at ice cream recipes on Tastespotting and pass the ice cream appliances in Bed Bath & Beyond while shedding a lone silent tear. For the sake of storage (and my wallet), I have to be ruthless when deciding whether or not to make any kind of purchase for our kitchen, and I know an ice cream machine just wouldn't see enough use.

 

Then I started thinking how people have been making ice cream far before Kitchen-Aid or CuisineArt stepped in to help with the job. The process is a bit more tedious, but in the end you'll end up with a delicious ice cream and guess what? The $70 you would have spent buying an ice cream machine will still be in your pocket. 

 

This recipe calls for a bucket ton of egg yolks! Maybe it seemed a bit excessive to me since I tripled the recipe-- if I was going to do this by hand I wanted to have a lot of ice cream to show for my efforts. But anyway, you'll have the makings of a beautifully creamy custard before it goes into the freezer. 

 

In fact I made so much ice cream that normal mixing bowls for the ice bath wouldn't work. I had to get a little creative and use a soup pot and a dutch oven.

The vanilla ice cream recipe cake from David Lebovitz's blog. Oh how I love that man! What I would give to be his best friend that he bakes for. I'm sure he has a sparkling personality, but if I'm totally honest I just want to take his food and return home to eat and watch Netflix. Does that make me a bad person? Oh, it does? *Shrugs with indifference*

When my vanilla ice cream was at soft serve consistency I added some cherries that I soaked in sugar, lemon juice and whiskey (cherry recipe to come later). Summer is winding down at an alarming rate so make your ice cream before the chilly season comes around. But then again, does it really matter what season it is when it comes to ice cream? Answer: hell no!