Chocolate Covered Cherry Ice Cream

Because....

• It's gorgeous outside (at least here in Texas)
  
  
• And it's one of my FAVORITE days of the year (Opening Day of Aggie Baseball)
  
  
• And it's Friday (which just makes everything better)

I'm going to share with you all one of my all-time favorite treats my momma makes:


CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRY ICE CREAM!


Every year, for as long as I can remember, my mom has given me 1 of 2 (or both) things for Valentine's Day:

Chocolate Covered Cherries OR Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies.

This year she bought my a box of chocolate covered cherries, which inspired my idea to turn them into Chocolate Covered Cherry Ice Cream for The Hubs & I for Valentine's Day. (Sadly, I left the cherries at my sister's house and had to go buy another box at HEB).

Ingredients:

* 1 cup heavy cream
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup minus 1 Tbsp. sugar
* 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
* 1 tsp almond extract
* 1/2 & 1/2
* milk
* 1 box Queen Anne's chocolate covered cherries (10 cherries total)



Directions:

1. Chop up the chocolate covered cherries into little pieces (trying not to eat any as you go).


2. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs & sugar until they are a lemony color. Add the cream, vanilla extract, almond extract and (depending on your ice cream maker - see below) the cherries.


3. Prepare ice cream according to your ice cream makers direction, using 1/2 & 1/2 and milk to fill to the "Fill Line".


4. Transfer ice cream to a air tight container & put in the freezer to "cure" (aka firm up).

5. Enjoy!

My Tid-Bits:

* If your ice cream maker is the type where you can put the paddle in BEFORE adding the ice cream mixture, then go ahead and put your chopped up cherries in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

* If you ice cream maker is the type where you put the paddle in AFTER you add the ice cream mixture, don't put your chopped up cherries in the mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Rather, dump the cherries directly into the ice cream maker AFTER you've put the paddle in place. Otherwise, the spot where your paddle should fit will be filled with chocolate covered cherries.

* My mom recommends mixing up the ingredients and letting them sit in the refrigerator for 3 or so hours before you make the ice cream. It helps to meld the flavor together.

* If your ice cream maker is like mine, your ice cream will still be on the thin side after the suggest amount of freezing time. Putting it in an airtight container and putting it in the freezer to cure for a bit will help firm it up before you serve.

* And "Note To Self"...if you're planning to make ice cream, it helps to put the ice cream freezer bowl in the freezer BEFORE you're ready to make it. I totally forgot and we ended up not getting to eat our treat until the next day. Oops!!

* And lastly, if I could be anywhere today, it would be here...

Olsen Field - Home of Aggie Baseball

If you were looking for me from Feb - May during any of my college years, there's a pretty good chance you would have found me here. I LOVE AGGIE BASEBALL. (Don't tell The Hubs I said this, but I'd much rather go to an Aggie baseball game than a football game any day). My college roommates & I even had a count down to Opening Day calendar on our wall every year. There's just something about the 'clink' of the aluminum bat, the LOUD student section & trying to guess the number of engines on the train before it passes by the ballpark that makes Olsen Field one of my favorite places on earth. I can't wait to catch a game in Aggieland this year. Maybe we'll even make it to Omaha...