Cherry Maple Walnut Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 qt of light cream
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup
• 1 can of cherries in syrup
• 2 handfuls of toasted walnuts

Methods

1. Separate the cherries from the syrup and give the cherries a chop.
2. Heat the cream until nearly boiling, then add the maple syrup.
3. Allow the cream to cool to room temperature, add the syrup from the canned cherries. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator.
4. Once the mixture is cold, turn on the ice cream machine! Churn, churn, churn.
5. The mixture will thicken in 30 minutes or. Add the chopped cherries and the lightly crushed toasted walnuts. Harden the mixture in the freezer.

My cream mixture curdled slightly overnight in the refrigerator. I'm guessing it was due to the syrup from the canned cherries. This recipe actually really overflowed my ice cream machine so that it wouldn't properly mix the cherries and walnuts in. I ended up mixing those in my hand, which caused a bit of deflating. Interestingly, the maple flavor wasn't as strong once the ice cream hardened. You may want to increase the amount of maple syrup.

Basic Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 4 blocks of baker's chocolate, 100% cocao, unsweetened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 quart cream
• 3 shots of espresso

Methods

1. Using the double-boiler method, melt the chocolate.
2. Once the chocolate is melted, slowly add the cream. The chocolate will freeze up but continue whisking until everything is homogeneous. Keep the heat on.
   
3. When the cream is just about to boil, add the sugar and espresso. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and allow the mixture to cool.
4. If you don't like the skin that forms, you could get rid of it. Otherwise, it doesn't really harm anything. Add the mixture to the ice cream maker and churn away!
5. Harden in the freezer.

The coffee should help accentuate the chocolate flavor. Feel free to increase the amount of chocolate if you so desire.