Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream

 

On the Lamb threw a Speakeasy last night… complete with Bathtub Gin and Juice, Pork and Wild Boar Sliders and Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream. There was bourbon and scoundrels as far as the eye could see. Before we get down and dirty with my new favorite ice cream flavor, here’s a peek at what setting up a roarin’ Speakeasy looks like.

 

A Speakeasy requires a guest list, a password at the door, and a cash box for cashmoney.  

 

The menu.  Stellar.  

 

I think every good Speakeasy should have the option to play Spin the Bottle… don’t you? 

 

As the night progressed, we would come to know these strawberry flavored marshmallows very well.  

 

 

Silly games for a party full of strangers.  

 

We are the ladies of On the Lamb and we require pretty dresses.  

 

We had streamers on the ceiling.  No… these streamers did not hang themselves.  We hung them.  Every one. 

 

Ever go snooping in a medicine cabinet?  Yea…. me too.  We have candy in our medicine cabinet.  Everybody wins. 

 

Brioche buns for the pork and veal sliders.  Shut up.  So good!

 

We run a tight ship.  Our night was all planned out.  

 

And before we got the hungry grumpies from all our prep work, Rachel made us lunch.  Bless her soul. 

The Speakeasy was a raging success.  Pictures of the evening will be up shortly.  I was running around with food and cocktails, not my camera.  Thank you to everyone who shared their evening with us.  You people made our gathering amazing!  Y’all know how to bring the fun!  Thank you for your support and your thirst and your appetites.  

If you’d like to know more about On the Lamb and be on the mailing list for our upcoming events, check out onthelambfb.com.  Oh!  Daily Candy likes us too.. RAD!

 

Now let’s get down to business.  We have some ice cream to talk about… just about the best ice cream ever!  Bourbon soaked cherries in a gorgeous vanilla ice cream.  Take a few days to soak dried cherries in bourbon.  They’re amazing in desserts, in cocktails, in your face… you can’t go wrong.  

This ice cream base is Alton Brown’s recipe.  I love that it is devoid of eggs.  Sometimes ice cream bases with egg yolks get a little too… eggy for me.  In this recipe, the cream is heated to 170 degrees F, then cooled overnight and churned the next day.  It works out wonderfully!  The bourbon in this recipe really works to keep the ice cream pretty soft even when it’s in the freezer.  Dreamy.  Do it.  

 

Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream
     adapted from Alton Brown

     makes 1 quart of ice cream

     Print this Recipe!

2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cherry preserves (not jelly. preserves)
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
1/4 cup bourbon soaked cherries, roughly chopped
1 to 2 cups of bourbon for soaking cherries, 2 Tablespoons bourbon for the recipe

Make bourbon soaked cherries by combining 1/2 cup dried cherries with 1 to 2 cups of bourbon. Let the mixture sit in a clean jar with a lid, for at least two days. Once the cherries have plumped up you can make this ice cream with the cherries and a bit of the bourbon… and you can sit around just sipping on the rest of the bourbon. Deeelicious.

Combine all ingredients except the chopped cherries and bourbon, in a large saucepan over medium heat. Place a candy or frying thermometer in the milk mixture. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. This is pretty hot for milk. If your milk breaks a bit, don’t worry too much. It’ll work out in the end.
Once 170 degrees F is reached, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the vanilla bean and add the chopped cherries and bourbon.  Stir to combine  and  place mixture in a lidded container and refrigerate overnight. This will allow the flavors to mellow and improve the texture of the milk.
Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine but will increase in volume and be the texture of soft serve ice cream. Place the mixture in a container with a lid and freeze for at lease one hour before serving.