Peppermint Cherry Ice Cream Recipe

This Peppermint Cherry Ice Cream is creamy and sweet with bits of cool peppermint candy and fresh cherry bits woven throughout. You can enjoy it as a soft serve in about half an hour, or let it freeze to a hard homestyle ice cream.

When school is out I see all the grandkids. It’s my pleasure to host a “cousin day” occasionally. We do fun things and build memories. Often in my kitchen.

The grandkids are growing so fast. It is pure pleasure to sit and listen to their stories about their lives and times at home and school.

Those happy shining faces light up with happiness when we get together. The kids get time to play outside, ride the tire swing and check out the chickens.  I get to catch up with the family news.

More Ice Cream Recipes:

This recipe is a twist on our cherry Peach ice cream recipe pictured below. There are many more ice cream recipes on Homemade Food Junkie you may enjoy. Here are a few more to get your ice cream machine started. 🙂

Cherry Mint Ice Cream:

Eventually the kids gravitate to the kitchen. Time for a creative foodie project. My oldest granddaughter, Aliyah, is particularly focused on creating fun foodie recipes.

She requested homemade Ice Cream for a treat. I knew it would have to be a fast batch. No cooked custard  ice cream. That requires a long cool down time in the fridge.

I modified my quick Homemade Peach Ice Cream Recipe with Montmorency dried sour cherries for this recipe.

This is a basic vanilla ice cream using heavy whipping cream and pure maple syrup. It soft serves is about 30 minutes and uses panty ingredients for add ins. Off season is still a good time to make ice cream if your inventive.

Lainy wanted mint ice cream….I was thinking ok… I have some mint just coming up outside. Maybe I could puree it?

Lainy gave me a look and said mint candy. OH! I still had some peppermint candy from christmas somewhere.

We dug around in the cupboards and came up with a partial bag of Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips .

Aliyah piped up with “Let’s make Cherry ice cream”. My eyes started crossing. No fresh cherries in the trees for month yet.

I found my Dried Montmorency sour Cherries and used those. They add a nice counterpoint of tart with the sweet peppermint candy. The kids loved the combination.

It turned out so well I’m sharing this wintertime peppermint cherry ice cream recipe with you. Your ice cream maker never has to take a break. Have some fun with it in the cold winter months.

And use up your leftover peppermint candy. Homemade Ice cream is so easy to make with these modern churns. No mess either.

Kids are so amazingly creative and unafraid to try new things. Aliyah jumped right in and chopped up the cherries. Camilla and Lainy stood on a stool and helped me pour our ice cream recipe into my handy electric ice cream churn. They stayed glued to that stool until the ice cream was done.

These new electric ice cream machine work fast and predictably. No worries the ice cream is going to fail, taste like rock salt, or take two hours to complete either. I REALLY Love my Cuisinart ice cream maker

So do my grand kids.

Amazon Links for this Recipe:

When the ice cream started running over the sides I offered spoons to the kids for a taste test. They all went crazy for it. So I brought out the ice cream bowls and dug enough ice cream out for the girls to each have some.

The ice cream continued to churn while they devoured their soft serve ice cream goody.

Not bad for a quick homemade ice cream treat. Done in about 30 minutes and lots of family time. Works for me. 🙂

I turned off the churn and put the rest in the freezer. Dave enjoyed his peppermint ice cream dessert. He was very happy to eat the kids creation. He kept telling me how good it was.

Cherry Mint Ice Cream Recipe:

This ice cream is sweetened with pure maple syrup. If you prefer, you may use sugar one to one with the maple syrup. It will not be as rich with the maple flavor missing though.

I enjoy adding maple syrup to ice cream for sweetening. The extra flavor element is very pleasing in the recipes I’ve used it in. Maple syrup is a bit healthier for you than processed sugar. Enjoy!

Substitutions:

• Use up old peppermint candy canes from the Christmas holidays. Just crush them in a bag with a rolling pin.
• a Few drops of Peppermint extract can replace the candy but you will miss that yummy crunchiness. If you want to enhance the peppermint flavor use the extract (carefully) and add the candy too.
• Frozen cherries can be used instead of the dried sour cherries if you wish but you may need to reduce the maple syrup to tone down the sweetness.
• Granulated white sugar can replace the maple syrup. However it MUST be dissolved completely before pouring the churn. So whisk it well.

How to Make ice Cream in an Electric Ice Cream Machine:

This is the simplest of pantry ice cream recipes. I’ve given you amazon links (pictured above) for crushed peppermint candy and the dried cherries. You won’t even have to chop the candy if you buy it crushed.

1. In a large batter bowl with spout to pour(or mixing bowl)
2. Whisk together heavy cream, milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup (to taste) and vanilla.
3. Pour immediately into your stainless steel ice cream freezer bowl.
4. Add the mint candy into the churn.
5. churn about 20 minutes until the ice cream reaches the freezing point and starts to set up.
6. Five minutes before the ice cream is finished pour in the chopped tart cherries.
7. Churn until the ice cream is creamy and thick.
8. It will be soft set.
9. Eat right away or immediately transfer to a freezer airtight container.
10. Freezer several hours to harden completely.
11. To serve, remove from freezer 5 to 10 minutes before serving to soften.

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