The Cherry, the Chocolate, and the Holy Walnut

So, I told someone that I would make them a chocolatey cherry-y thing when a big thing finally went through. It was still pending, but I had some extra sour cherry juice in my fridge that had been sitting there for months that needed using up, and an ache to make ice cream.

This wont be a particularly easy ice cream to replicate, as it was a "use up what I have" sort of ordeal. It did stay very soft in texture even after being frozen, so perhaps it could use less sugar. Next time I would use 5 oz unsweetened chocolate, rather than mixing it. That aside, I would leave everything the same until I made it again. Hopefully with pictures. My roommates descended upon it before I could photograph it!

Onto the recipe...

Black Forest Ice Cream

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used Trader Joe's)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (again, TJ's)
2 T powdered chocolate (I used generic, ideally I'd use the surprisingly affordable Valrhona)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
dash soy lecithin
2 T beet juice (optional)
1 1/2 C sour cherry juice (this is the stuff in a jar of sour cherries)
1/4 salt
1 t vanilla
1/4 t almond extract
1 T tapioca starch

Optional: Walnuts and cacao nibs

Mix together the water, chocolates, the sugar and the tapioca. Heat until chocolate and sugar have melted, and the mixture has thickened a bit from the tapioca. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir until smooth, ideally do this in a blender.

Cool, and then prepare in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Add in cacao nibs or walnuts toward the end, if desired.

Coconut Chocolate Sherbert

I am currently churning this in my lame Cuisinart ice cream maker. Will report back soon.

This is def on the menu tomorrow, shaved fennel with toasted pistachios. I have a head of fennel, and some pistachios that are aching to be used. Though I am going to toast the pistachios my self.