Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Cherry Rose and Coconut Ice Cream

It is too hot for words. Walking outside feels like wading though hot pudding and my glasses fog up each time I dart from one air conditioned space to another. This is the time for envy towards anyone with central air. I have one air conditioner in the dining room and I literally close off spaces to tunnel the cold air towards my bedroom. One day got so hot, I actually slept in the living room and that was only because I would not fit inside the actual AC unit. I tried.

Cherry Rose Coconut Ice Cream

Needless to say, cooking in this weather is absolutely out of the question. Spinning ice cream on the other hand is perfectly acceptable. Oh, and so is eating it straight from the machine instead of dinner. There's fruit in it, and dairy, and a coconut has the word "nut" in it, so it counts as a protein, right? Anyways. I've had this recipe earmarked for a while and when I found beautiful ink-black cherries at the farmers market, I decided that this will be a week for ice cream. I basically made it as is (how can you not, it's beautiful), except that I substituted rose tea for the actual rose buds. The flavor was very understated in the ice cream, but I loved the cherry spiked coconut flavor, with just a hint of something floral. It felt very tropical. Now where's the cabana boy? I need an umbrella drink!

Cherry Rose Coconut Ice Cream 2

Cherry, Rose and Coconut Ice Cream
via Tartelette

For the rose infused cherries:
1 cups pitted and halved cherries
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 tea bags of Numi Organic Tea White Rose

For the ice cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whole coconut milk
1 cup granulated sugar

Prepare the cherries:
Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn the heat off and let steep one hour (longer for an even intense rose flavor). Remove the tea bags and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the ice cream:
In a large saucepan set over medium low heat, bring the cream, milk, coconut milk and sugar to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, preferably overnight.
Process the mixture into your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's intructions.
Once the ice cream has reached soft serve consistency, pour into a freezable container. With a spatula, swirl in the cherries and a few tablespoons of their liquid. Freeze a couple of hours. Or, if you're impatient like me, swirl some of the syrup and the cherries into your ice cream during the last minute of churning in the machine, that way it's ready to eat as soon as you find a spoon.

4 comments:

Joy said...

I love coconut ice cream. I want some.

Fly said...

Its still soft and you gave it to me a week ago....yum. yum. yum.

Anna said...

I got this ice cream Attachment for my Kitchen Aid in May, and didn't use it yet. I'm a bit skeptical that I can actually make ice cream. But your ice cream looks so divine I'll give it a try this afternoon. Crossing my fingers. LOL

scrambledhenfruit said...

There are several food groups represented here- sounds like dinner to me! It sure is hot enough for ice cream...Thanks for sharing :)