Red Wine Roasted Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

The best laid plans always seem to go awry, doesn’t it? I try to stick to a blogging schedule… but when that fumbles and I’m up to my arms in the best ice cream I’ve ever made that I just know would be perfect for this holiday weekend, I have to wipe my hands of this pre-made schedule and just hit publish. I love this holiday, not only because it celebrates America, but also how communal it is. BBQ parties, seafood boils, watching the fireworks explode across the sky, giggling as you see who actually coordinates their outfit to be red/white/blue… but of course, what interests me more is seeing the beautiful red/white/blue treats that permeate the blogging community, like this, this, this, and this. What I’m sharing now is not a specifically July 4th dessert, per say. Instead think of it as an ice cream that screams summer. That happens to include red hues. That’s just delicious, and really, isn’t that the only reason you need to make this?
This ice cream is entirely inspired by Skye. She keeps posting photos of red wine marinated plums, red wine poached pears, and red wine roasted figs and stuff. I had opened a bottle of cabernet sauvignon for our one year anniversary and had some left over, so I immediately knew what to do with the rest. I let the cherries marinade in wine for about an hour, then tossed it with some olive oil and threw it in the oven to roast. I highly recommend you make double what you need, because you’ll want to just eat these wine-roasted cherries straight out of the oven.It’s pretty simple. I use the same base I always do – a custard base with heavy cream and milk. I did use all brown sugar because I think it added more depth, especially since it’s a wine-cherry ice cream. It’s seriously delicious. As you know from this roasted strawberry ice cream, I love roasted fruits. Or pan-frying them. As much as I love fresh fruit, there’s something about cooked fruits in desserts that grab me.
I paired it with dark chocolate. Red wine, cherries, and dark chocolate. Tell me that’s not delicious. These were leftover bars from Apotheker’s Kitchen that I couldn’t resist using (and nibbling on).
I roasted the cherries with the stem on, and unpitted. Roasting with the pit really gets the fragrant out – almost an almond-y flavor.
I added the wine-roasted cherries and chopped chocolate near the end of the churning phase, so that it didn’t completely blend into the ice cream but stayed in nice chunks and swirls.
Hope you have a lovely holiday weekend! Happy fourth of July, everyone! If you’ve been following me on instagram, you’ll know I had a pretty packed day yesterday visiting New Hampshire with Meg of Bread + Barrow. We explored a brick-oven bakery that makes sourdough as well as a mushroom farm!!!!! We walked away with yellow oyster, blue oyster, king oyster, elm, chestnut, and bear’s head / lion’s mane mushrooms!!!!! Expect a ton of recipes including mushrooms in the near future :).
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RECIPE: Red Wine Roasted Cherry Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips

Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 egg yolks

Roasted Red Wine Cherries:
2 cups cherries
red wine
olive oil
sea salt

1| Prepare the night before: Stick freezer bowl in the back of the freezer the night before you plan to make ice cream.
2| Toss cherries with red wine and marinade for 2 hours. Toss onto a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt, and roast at 350F for 30 minutes. Cool. Pit and split in quarters or halves. Set aside.
3| Heat milk and heavy cream until it begins to simmer – do not let it boil. Remove from heat.
4| In the meantime, whisk yolks and sugar until thick. gently stream milk mix into yolk/sugar mixture, whisking constantly after each addition. This is called tempering – the point is to prevent cooking of egg yolks. Have patience, and do this slowly.
5| Pour mixture back into a saucepan and heat until custard is thick. I like to use the spoon test – dip a wooden spoon into the mixture, and remove it. Draw a line down the back of the wooden spoon. If the line remains visible, then the custard is thick enough. Stir in vanilla extract.
6| Cover with plastic wrap and immediately chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.
7| Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to instructions. Fold / stir in chocolate chips and cherries near the end of the churning cycle (20 minutes for my ice cream maker).
8| Pour churned ice cream into an airtight container and freezer for another few hours.