Roasted Cherry-Mint No-Churn Ice Cream

Well, if the weather is still warm enough to eat ice cream, I would suggest making this cherry-mint no-churn ice cream.  I fell behind posting what I made this month because I've been very busy lately, with camping last week and then some volunteer work my son and I were doing this week.  But, I have to admit, most nights I look forward to spend time with my family during the summer.  We love to watch movie and summertime is the time we catch up with movies.  And sometimes we're doing things outside.  So even as I'm still baking and creating desserts I don't have time to write the post!

The idea of making this combination comes from me starring in the opened kitchen pantry and saw a box of Girl Scout Cookie's Thin Mint.  I love those cookies!  Love it more than Oreos, really.  But buying a box of that isn't very friendly to my wallet, so it's best to ration the consumption.  Anyway, I had cherries also sitting in the fridge.  I thought by combining these two, I would get an exciting flavors.

The cherries got roasted for some time in a 400F oven.  I was thinking roasting them would bring more sweetness and give them caramelization.  Caramelization equals sweeter, right?

Okay, so here's the recipe because I need to watch a movie! :D

Roasted Cherry-Mint No-Churn Ice Cream

Serves 8-10


1 tablespoon kirsch (cherry brandy)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup roasted cherries, see instruction below
1 cup coarsely chopped Thin Mint cookies--depending on how you like the cookies, you can add more if you want!


In a large bowl whisk together kirsch and vanilla extract with sweetened condensed milk and salt.

With a mixer, whip heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Fold the cream into the condensed milk mixture.  Fold the roasted cherries.

Line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap or wax paper.  Spoon half of the ice cream mixture.  Add half of the cookies, mix gently with spoon.  Spoon the rest of the ice cream mixture and then add the last half of cookies.  Press plastic wrap onto the surface of ice cream and wrap tightly.  Freeze until firm, or for at least 12 hours before serving.

Let ice cream stands for 10 minutes or so before scooping.

How to roast cherries:  Heat oven to 400F.  Place cherries on a baking sheet and roast until soft, about 10 minutes.  Cool before using.

Cherry-Almond Coffee Cake

Last week my family went cherry picking at Hood River and some two cups of those cherries went into this coffee cake.  We picked mostly Bings and some Rainier too.  The wind was blowing hard while we picked the fruits but the view was still gorgeous.  Lots of sunshine and surprisingly not many people went picking that day.

We went to the same farm, Hood River U-Pick Organic Cherries, last year as well.  Their fruits are large, sweet and easy to pick so we're happy to be back this year.  And as usual, we picked more than we can eat in a day or two :)  

Making a coffee cake is an easy way to use up the cherries.  It then can be served as dessert or snack.  This particular one is spot on, not too sweet, has tender crumbs and stay moist for a few days.  I meant to soak the cherries in kirschwasser but forgot, so feel free to soak the fruits if you like for overnight, I bet it'll be even tastier!

Cherry-Almond Coffee Cake

Serves 12

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature plus more for the pan

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sour cream

2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.  Butter an angel food cake pan.  In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon; transfer half to a second bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and 2 sticks butter to combine, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the almond extract.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.  Mix in the sour cream until just combined (the batter should be very thick).

Scoop half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading to evenly distribute it, and sprinkle with the walnut mixture.  Scatter cut cherries on top of mixture.  Top with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining topping.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degree F and bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes more.  Let the cake cool completely in the pan before unmolding and serving.

Source:  adapted from Woman's Day, December 2016/January 2017

Chocolate Shortcakes with Macerated Cherries

Meet strawberry shortcake's cousin: chocolate shortcake with macerated cherries :)  When chocolate craving hits and there are cherries in the fridge, I made this to satisfy the sweet tooth.  These two components actually work fantastically together, the flavor mimics the black forest cake.  The only difference is that this shortcake isn't split into two when it's time to eat it, but instead the cherries and cream are piled on top.  It doesn't matter how you eat it, what matters is the deliciousness of this dessert.

Few things about the chocolate shortcake.  Even though it's called shortcake, the result will be close to chocolate cake; I don't mind it a bit though since it's like making an easy chocolate cake.  Do not allow the shortcake to bake too long because it tends to get dry; a few crumbs sticking to the toothpick should be fine when it's time to check the doneness.  Otherwise, the shortcake is chocolaty and fun to eat with any kind of macerated fruits.

Chocolate Shortcakes with Macerated Cherries

Yield 6 servings

Biscuits:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup chilled whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Macerated Cherries:

1 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup kirsch

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups fresh, pitted cherries



1 cup chilled whipped cream

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Toasted slivered almonds for garnish, optional

Make the biscuits:  Preheat oven to 400 degree F.  Line baking sheet with parchment.  Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat cream and vanilla in medium bowl until firm peaks form. Stir cream into flour mixture until moist clumps form.  Transfer mixture to lightly floured surface and knead gently until dough forms ball, about 10 turns.  Pat dough out to 3/4-inch thickness.  Using 3-inch cutter, cut out biscuits.  Gather dough, pat out again, and cut out total of 6 biscuits.  Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet.

Bake biscuits until toothpick inserted into centers comes out slightly dry, about 10-12 minutes.  Transfer to rack; cool.  Biscuits can be made 6 hours ahead; let stand at room temperature.

Make macerated cherries:  Heat water and sugar in a small saucepan.  Let it boil and stir until sugar is dissolved; off heat, stir in kirsch and vanilla.  Let it cool.  Once cools, pour syrup onto cherries.  Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.

Using electric mixer, beat chilled whipping cream with the confectioners' sugar until soft peak forms.  Place 1 biscuit on each of 6 plates.  Place large spoonful of macerated cherries with juices atop biscuits.  Top with whipped cream.  Scatter almonds and pass remaining cherries alongside.



Source:  adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2007

Cherry Cream Layered Cake

Yesterday I just got back from my short vacation to Eastern Oregon for five days.  I had an amazing time there, the scenery is so beautiful, it's worth driving the long miles.  Even though I'm tempted to write the story here, I usually write it down on my personal blog.  I also am taking a two-week vacation from my summer work since last week, and today I realize how good it feels not to wake up in the morning to my alarm buzz.

Last night while I was just done with dinner and starting to read last week's newspapers, my phone rang.  It was my friend, Julie, who wanted to come over and she's saying that she had something to share with me.  In less than five minutes she was at my door, bringing me  a tasty treat.  It was Rainier cherries; big in size and sweet in flavor.  We exchanged our hellos and started to talk about where to buy cherries with the best prize.  So far, she won :)  I went to pick cherries a couple weeks ago at Hood River and they're quite expensive though they're organics.  My parents and my family picked several types of cherries, including Bing, Lambert, Van, and Rainier.  We went a bit overboard with the deed, it seemed that once you picked you couldn't stop until all the buckets were full.  I don't know if that's called greedy or it's just plain uncontrollable yearning after waiting for a year for the cherry season to arrive.

Most of the cherries have been eaten fresh, some will be made into cherry pie filling, and a handful made it as the filling for a simple, four-layer cake. I made up my mind of what kind of cake I wanted to make, this time a vanilla chiffon cake was suffice to be the base.  Whipped cream was the frosting and fresh Rainier cherries soaked in kirsch dressed up the cake.  The result was a rustic and homey cake.  The flavor is fantastic though, if you're a fan of chiffon cake, you'll like it when it's paired with whipped cream and fresh fruits--I'm always partial to this combo anyway.

There's no definite recipe to get this cake right.  All you need is some creativity:

• Have about 2-3 cups of fresh, pitted cherries, let them soak in a tablespoon or two of kirsch in a bowl before you start the cake.


• Recipe for vanilla chiffon cake can be found here.  It's from my old blog and to change it into a vanilla-flavored cake, change the lime juice with water, omit lemon extract, add vanilla extract instead, and add lemon zest.


• In this post, I made the cake in two 9-inch pans and each cake was cut into two layers.  Alternately, you could still bake it in three 8-inch pans like the original recipe.  Baking time for 9-inch pans is about 20 minutes.


• I made whipped cream frosting from 2 cups of heavy cream and 2 tablespoon of sugar.

It didn't need to look perfect as along as it tasted delicious!  My son could eat this night after night for dessert.