Black Cherry Ice Cream

This ice cream is simple, fast to prepare (although it does take a few hours to cool), and sooo yummy. I made this as a Black Cherry Ice Cream and I called it that for the sake of brevity, but actually, you can flavour it with whatever sort of jam you most like devouring! I’m thinking Fig with bits of crystallized ginger would be pretty nice…

PS If you want it to be vegan, just leave the egg yolks out.

Serves 3 to 4 (depending on your greed. Around here, it serves three. He he).

Ingredients

One tablespoon of corn starch.

Two cups of soy milk

A little extra soy milk to dissolve the cornflour.

Two tablespoons of vanilla essence

Half a cup of maple syrup

Two egg yolks

Pinch of salt (optional).

Half a cup of St Dalfour’s Black Cherry jam, (actually, any flavour you wish will be delicious, I have used their raspberry jam with scrummy results in previous batches. This French jam has no cane sugar in it. It’s the only jam I ever buy, due to its lack of nasty extras.)

Making the Ice Cream

Combine the cornflour with a little soy milk in the saucepan . Mix until the corn flour is dissolved.

Pour the rest of the soy milk and maple syrup into the saucepan. Mix together with the cornflour mixture. Turn on the heat and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly.

I add a few frozen berries at this point, just to give the ice cream a more appealing colour. Gently squish the berries on the side of the sauce pan with the back of your wooden spoon to release the colour.

When the mixture has thickened, add two egg yolks and cook for another three minutes, whisking constantly to avoid eggy lumps in your custard.

You may mix in a pinch of salt at this point if you enjoy a bit of salt in your ice cream. I do, I feel like it makes the other flavours ‘pop’ into high relief.

Cover with cling wrap to avoid a skin forming and pop it into the fridge until it has completely cooled down (three to five hours).

When your ice cream base is completely cool, pour it into your ice cream maker and churn for about thirty minutes until it turns into a delicious frozen treat.

When your ice cream is done, take about one cup of St Dalfour’s Black Cherry jam and gently mix it throughout your ice cream. I recommend not adding the jam ‘til the end because it has a way of just vanishing during the churning process. All the carbs without the big flavour, no thank you!

Tips

If your Ice Cream base is too stiff when you remove it from the fridge, thin it out with a little extra soy milk. You may also want to add a little more vanilla essence. Be sure to taste it while it is churning, as the temperature changes what you taste. Adjust accordingly.