Black Cherry v.1.1 (Faux-lo Top)

Guys, I swear I don't just eat ice cream. You missed some great stew and smoked jerk chicken thighs - with four veggie side dishes - because I was too lazy/hungry to plate up for the camera. That, and a full week's oat cake prep.

Nate is a fan of black cherry ice cream but hasn't been wowed by either the Halo Top or Enlightened offerings. Inasmuch as we had frozen cherries from last year alongside the strawberries, I was up for the challenge.

I followed the same procedure as for the strawberry version:

• 1 lb dark cherries (Bing)

• I chose to blend 2/3 of the cherries in the base and chop 1/3 to add in

• I got carried away by some other shiny kitchen object and ended up over-reducing the cherry juices, which turned to molasses somewhat in texture and color.

• I skipped the VitaFiber syrup step and instead added (without reducing) the vodka-erythritol juices back to the base. Having the full 2 T vodka incorporated in the base did not interfere with its texture excessively (beyond the vagaries of the freezer), as I had worried it would.

Feedback:

Has textural contrast, but not enough taste contrast. I didn't realize black cherry ice cream is held to a different standard, where the base itself is not particularly fruity but has more inclusions. Next time, I might blend only the juices into the base for continuity but otherwise add all the fruit as inclusions.

#icecream #sweet #recipetesting