12monthsofcooking.com

Well the September issue has arrived – and with it an onset of Panic. This issue officially puts me 4 issues behind ( raspberry cupcakes, chipoltle ketchup hamburger, dark-chocolate ice-cream, and now chicken parmesan). I resolve to end the week with at least 2 out of 4 done ! I quickly embark on a trip to the grocery store determined to master the ice-cream and chiplotle hamburger.

For whatever reason – I decided that it was too uninteresting to just buy store-bought cherry ice-cream, so I bought my own homemade ice-cream maker. Word to the wise – keep easy things easy. It is now the 21st century – so I expected dramatic breakthroughs in homemade ice-cream technology by now. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the case – it still involves appliances that grind away with frozen bowls creating frozen semi-slush.

To start making the ice-cream – I bought a bunch of rainier cherries, pitted them, and then mixed with sugar and lemon in the fridge to macerate. I then combined sugar, milk, cream and vanilla extract in a bowl. First mistake – I didn’t buy enough cream at the store so I substituted milk. Second mistake – I didn’t let the freezer bowl freeze for a complete 6 hours. Third mistake - I didn’t read the directions so I didn’t put the stirrer in the bowl ( this was critical).

As I stand typing this – I have my half processed ice-cream in the freezer, and I’m waiting for it to freeze enough to try again in my homemade ice-cream maker. Things are touch and go at this point – not sure if the night will end with success or a trip to the grocery and the purchase of a pint of cherry-garcia !