Josie turns two tomorrow (!) and we came up with this Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe for her party.  I was dreaming of cherry ice cream this year, even though we are months from seasonal cherries.  We ended up using frozen cherries and changing up Ina Garten’s Vanilla Ice Cream recipe.  We added almond extract and concentrated black cherry juice to make the flavor more intense and the results were pretty yummy,  if I do say so myself.  Josie just saw the ice cream photo on my screen and begged for more ice cream for breakfast.  Success.  To make your own Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream you will need:

*Ice Cream Maker

*3 Cups of Good Quality Heavy Cream (The quality makes all the difference!)

*2/3 Cups + 1 Tablespoon Sugar

*1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*3/4 Teaspoon Almond Extract

*One Vanilla Bean

*Two 12 Oz Packs of Unsweetened Frozen Cherries

*4-5 Tablespoons Black Cherry Juice Concentrate (We used this from Dynamic Health.  You could also cook down unsweetened cherry juice)

1. Heat cream, sugar, vanilla, scraped seeds from vanilla bean and empty seed pod in saucepan until sugar dissolves.  Place mixture in refrigerator to cool.

2. Pour the frozen cherries into a deep sauté pan and cook down over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring often.  The cherries will release a lot of liquid at first and then begin to look more gel-like.  When liquid seems to be thickening, add cherry concentrate, almond extract and tablespoon of sugar.  Cook a few more minutes until mixture resembles loose jam.

3. Place mixture in refrigerator to cool.

4. After an hour add cream and cherry mixture together, put into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s directions.

5. Allow ice cream to chill in freezer when complete and soften slightly before serving.

Enjoy!