The Scoop: "Cherry Garcia"

My dad is a huge fan of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. While floating around online the other day I found a recipe for a Cherry Bourbon ice cream. It sounded delicious and I knew I had to try it. I'm not a big whiskey/scotch/bourbon girl but a splash of it in this recipe really makes the ice cream amazing.

Cherry Garcia

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups skim milk
1 cup fat free half-and-half
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can pitted cherries in heavy syrup, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/4 - 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in large saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk and half-and-half. Warm over medium heat, stirring constantly about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Whisk egg yolk. Gradually whisk in about 1 cup of the milk mixture. Add yolk/milk mixture into saucepan with remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in vanilla.
3. Pour mixture through fine wire mesh strainer into a bowl. Throw away any chunks collected in strainer. Cool about 1 hour, stirring occassionally. Place plastic wrap directly on cream mixture and chill in refrigerator for 8-24 hours.
4. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. About halfway through add cherries and bourbon. In the last few minutes add chocolate chips. For my KitchenAid mixer attachment, I let it mix/freeze about 10 minutes, added the cherries and bourbon, let that go for another 5 minutes or so, and then added in the chocolate chips for the last 3-5 minutes.
5. Store in air-tight container in freezer. Let stand at room temperature about 5 minutes to help with scooping before serving.

original recipe featured on Southern Living: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cherry-bourbon-ice-cream-50400000113396/

AEM