The Rainier Cherry, a hybrid, has the highest sugar content of all cherries.
They are available on the east coast only in early summer. They’re delicious.
Rainier Cherry Ice Cream.
Check for abbreviations, if needed
For the cherries:
1/2 C water
3/4 C sugar
1 C pitted and halved Rainier cherries
For the ice cream batter:
6 oz regular cream cheese, ambient
1 3/4 C heavy cream
3/4 C 2% milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and stripped into the milk (or 1t vanilla extract)
1. Combine cherries, water and sugar and BTB in heavy sauce pan
2. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes, then drain
the cherries and set aside in the fridge to await Step 12
3. Discard the steeping syrup
4. Smooth out and aerate the cream cheese at high speed in a
standup or hand mixer
5. Combine and stir the cream, milk and vanilla and cook over
medium heat until the edges bubble, but do not BTB
6. Remove the vanilla bean halves
7. Blend in the vanilla seeds (the black specks tend to bunch)
with a whisk or stick blender
8. With the mixer running at slow speed, drizzle the hot milk
mixture into the cream cheese
9. Strain into a container with a spout, (it’s OK to rub the
solids through the fine mesh strainer)
10. Cover and fridge until thoroughly chilled
11. When ready, pour into the ice cream maker bowl and churn
until thick
12. Remove bowl from ice cream maker and fold in cherries with
a spatula
13. Transfer ice cream to freezer container and freeze until
you can’t wait . . .,
at least four hours
Note: (This recipe is inspired by a Bing Cherry Ice Cream
recipe in Williams-Sonoma’s Ice Cream.)
