Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

This fresh cherry ice cream is made with ripe cherries, sugar and whipped cream. So easy and delicious, no churning required. Gin optional! The flavor of my favorite summer fruit shines through. 

I have so many favorite summer fruits that it really is hard to choose just one but fresh cherries are definitely in my top three, along with figs and watermelon. You just can’t buy cherries or figs any other time where I live and watermelon grown out of season or imported is usually not very sweet, which is always disappointing. 

Last summer I got lucky though because I came across whole boxes of cherries at a discounted price and we ate like cherry kings for almost two weeks. Most of them were eaten straight from the box but the rest were turned into muffins, jam, tarts and, finally, this very ice cream. 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

If you don’t have fresh cherries, I’d substitute frozen ones but make sure to pit them if they aren’t already pitted. And doublecheck that the pitting process didn’t miss any pits if they are. Nothing will break a tooth faster than biting down on a hard cherry pit when you weren’t expecting one! 

Ingredients

12.5 oz or 354g cherries

1 cup or 240ml water

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1 2/3 cups or 393ml whipping cream

Optional: 2 tablespoons gin – I used strawberry infused gin for more fruity flavor 

Method

Pit the cherries. Chop them roughly (which helps to check for pits you might have missed!) and set aside a few for garnish for when you are freezing the ice cream later. 

Pulse the cherries briefly in a food processor. You want small chunks, NOT puree. 

In a pot large enough to hold the cherry chunks, dissolve the sugar in the water over a medium high heat and then heat to boiling.

Add in the cherries.

Cook until the liquid is reduced by about half and the temperature just reaches 220°F or 104°C. This could take as many as 20-25 minutes.

Remove the cherries from the heat and transfer them to another vessel to cool. 

Once they are cool, whip the cream to soft peaks. 

Gently fold a couple of spoonsful of the cream into the cooled cherries.

Then fold the cherries and cream into the rest of the cream. 

Gently does it! You don’t want to deflate the air in the whipped cream. 

Add the gin, if using, and fold again. This isn’t essential but I think it makes the ice cream easier to scoop and serve. 

Spoon the ice cream into a freezer friendly container with a lid. Top with the reserved chopped cherries then cover and freeze until set. 

Remove from the freezer 15-20 minutes before you want to serve it. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 9th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter I. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the I recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas 
• Blogghetti: Italian Chopped Salad 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Ice Apple Salad 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Ice Cream Wafflewiches 
• Food Lust People Love: Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Italian Ice 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Iced Gems 
• A Messy Kitchen: Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sun-Dried Tomato & Kale Italian Pasta Salad 
• Culinary Cam: Es Teler (Indonesian Drunk Ice)

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream – this post!

Pin this Fresh Cherry Ice Cream! 

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Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

This Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream is so easy to make, rich and creamy, tangy and full of flavor. It’s the perfect taste of summer. No churning required! 

I’ve mentioned here before about the delicious. magazine group I belong to, a disparate group of women, brought together on What’s App by one of the delicious. team, who have now become firm friends. 

And like many friends, we lead each other into temptation! Cookbooks are a particular weakness many of us share and when one of our number mentioned that she makes ice cream all the time from a vintage book she owns, we all scurried to find a copy online to order. 

Of course, this then required the creation of yet another What’s App group called Ice Maidens where we share photos of our ice cream. I fully expect that group to ramp up production as the weather heats up! Watch this space if you love no-churn ice cream.

Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

This is mash up of two recipes from the vintage cookbook Ices Galore by Helge Rubinstein and Sheila Bush. If you love easy ice creams, sorbets, etc. that do not need an ice cream maker to create, look for a copy of this book online. It’s a small paperback packed with great frozen treats.

Ingredients

312g or 11 oz rhubarb, trimmed

1 cup or 225g sugar

5 1/2 oz or 156g raspberries

1 cup or 240ml double or whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Optional: 2 tablespoons gin infused with strawberry

Method

Cut the trimmed rhubarb into 1 in or 2 cm pieces.

In a pot with a lid, cook the rhubarb down with the sugar until it is soft, stirring occasionally. Do not add any water. Depending on your rhubarb, this should take about 20-25 minutes.

Remove the lid and set the rhubarb aside to cool. 

Puree the raspberries and push them through a mesh sieve. Discard the seeds.

Add the raspberries to the rhubarb. Stir well. 

Once the rhubarb and raspberry are cool, stir in the strawberry infused gin, if using, 

Whip the cream to soft peaks, sprinkling in the cream of tartar as you go. The cream of tartar helps stabilize the cream.

Gently fold the fruit through the whipped cream. 

Put it in the freezer for 3-4 hours or until it’s beginning to set. 

When the mixture is beginning to set, beat well. 

Transfer to a freezer safe container with a lid and replace in freezer.

 

Freeze till completely set. 

Remove from the freezer shortly before serving. 

Scoop to serve.

Enjoy! 

I'm a little late joining the group but this is the10th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter I. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the I recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Instant White Dhokla
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Iceberg Wedge Salad
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Instant Pot Bean and Smoked Pork Soup
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Italian Beef Sandwiches
• Culinary Cam: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Saffron-Cardamom Ice Cream
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Italian Pane di Genzano
• Magical Ingredients: Instant Aloo Paratha
• Palatable Pastime: Indonesian Bami Goreng
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Orange & Feta Italian Orzo Pasta Salad
• Blogghetti: Strawberry Hibiscus Iced Tea Recipe

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

G: Grape Juice Jigglers

H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts

I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream - today's post! 

Pin this Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream! 

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Thai Coconut Ice Cream

Make your own Thai coconut ice cream with coconut cream, coconut milk, sweetened with palm sugar and enriched with powdered coconut cream. So creamy and delicious!

I did it! I finally used my ice cream machine for the very first time. It was a special occasion in more ways than one. First off, despite it being close to 20 years old, it worked. I guess in motor-years - like dog years, only different - it is still brand new.

Secondly, I was sent a fabulous new cookbook full of great ice cream recipes to review.  It’s called Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States: Make the Real Recipes from the Greatest Ice Cream Parlors in the Country (< affiliate link*) and was written by the Scoop Queen herself, Lindsay Clendaniel, creator of the very popular ice cream blog also called Scoop Adventures.

She brings us 50 imaginative recipes from all over the United States. I was gratified to find that Texas’ entry is from none other than Amy’s in Austin. How does Peach Honey Habanero grab you? As a person who recently made apricot habanero jam, the sweet and spicy combination sounds like my kind of ice cream!

The final chapter in the book is full of Lindsay’s own creative ice creams. I am particularly taken with two: Mint Julep and Rosemary Honey Walnut. Now that I’m home again in Dubai, I REALLY need to buy a 220V ice cream maker. Seriously. I was so sad to have to leave my new “old” friend in Houston.

For today’s special edition of Ice Cream Tuesday, I am joining a lovely group of friends, organized by Jenni of Pastry Chef Online, all making ice cream either from Lindsay’s book or from her blog.  Make sure to follow all the links in the list to see their gorgeous ice creams.

I chose to recreate Lindsay’s Thai coconut ice cream because of a special request from my younger daughter who asked for “coconut, please, but without bits.” Lindsay’s recipe calls for powdered milk but I decided to up the coconut ante by using powdered coconut cream and actual coconut cream in place of some of the coconut milk. I upped the Thai ante by using palm sugar for sweetener and agar-agar for the thickener, since they are both commonly used in Thai desserts. These substitutions ended up making the base thicker than it should be so I thinned it with more regular milk. Which is reflected in my ingredient list. I’d have used coconut milk for that too but was all out. All in all, very creamy, very coconut-ty and the family loved it!

Thai Coconut Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream, whether made in an ice cream machine or using the whipping cream/sweetened condensed milk method, is easy to make and the possible flavor combinations are infinitely delicious.

Ingredients

1 14-ounce or 414ml can regular unsweetened coconut milk
1 14-ounce 414ml can regular unsweetened coconut cream
2 teaspoons unflavored, powdered agar-agar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup or 120g powdered coconut cream
3/4 cup or 380g palm sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups or 190ml milk

Optional for topping: sweetened coconut flakes

Method
Half fill a large bowl with ice and water and set aside. Put all of the ingredients into a deep pot.  Whisk to begin combining and set the pan on the stove over a medium-high heat.

Bring to a gentle boil and continue whisking occasionally until the sugar, powdered cream and agar-agar are dissolved.

Remove from the heat and nestle the saucepan in the ice water bath.

Keep whisking occasionally until it’s cool. Once cooled completely, transfer the mixture to an airtight container and put in the refrigerator until completely chilled and softly set.

Pour the base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Mine’s the old-fashioned kind that requires ice and rock salt and churns with a big paddle.

Complete churning and transfer to a freezer-safe container.

The big paddle! 

Top with some coconut flakes if your intended eaters don’t mind bits in their ice cream. (Or even if some do. They don’t need to eat the top scoops!) Freeze until firm, at least four hours. I tell you, we could have eaten it right then, like soft serve. Divine!

Enjoy!

In closing, I’d like to share with the final words from Lindsay’s introduction in Scoop Adventures, with which I wholeheartedly concur:

Love people. Make them ice cream.

Check out all the other delicious ice cream recipes you are going to LOVE:

• Berry Goat Cheese Sherbet from Kimberly at The Hungry Goddess
• Blueberry Mojito Ice Cream from Barbara at Creative Culinary 
• Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream from Betsy at Desserts Required 
• Chocolate Sesame Brittle Ice Cream from Jenni at Pastry Chef Online 
• Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream from Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake 
• Dark Chocolate Orange Ice Cream from Allison at Decadent Philistine 
• Hops and Nuts Ice Cream from Sophia at New York Foodgasm 
• Peanut Butter Ice Cream from Donna at Cookistry 
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream from Dionne at Try Anything Once Culinary 
• Red Velvet Ice Cream Sundae from Kim at Cravings of a Lunatic 
• Thai Coconut Ice Cream from Stacy at Food Lust People Love 
• Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream from Kirsten at Comfortably Domestic

*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to the book, Scoop Adventures. If you buy after clicking on my link, I make some small change from the sale and you are still charged the normal price. Win-win! I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, with no other personal compensation. All opinions are entirely my own.