Chocolate Cherry No Churn Ice Cream

Today is National Ice Cream Day. Why we have a National Ice Cream Day is beyond me. But who am I to question a reason to eat ice cream at least one day per year?

Well, I suppose this does not apply to me since I use every day of the year to eat ice cream. Because YOLO. (Is that still a thing? Or am I sounding out of style?)

Either way, I had a hankering for a new ice cream, one that I could make myself, but I had two things stopping me: I didn’t want to cook to make the rich custard base; and my ice cream machine which would do all of my churning, was packed away. We are moving in a few weeks (watch me transform our new home here) and I know the looks Mr. Kara’s Couture Cakes would have given me for digging through perfectly packed boxes when I could have gone to get a pint of Ben and Jerry’s much more reasonably.

Who ever said I was reasonable? He knew who he married. But I’m all for simplifying things and making a packing mess on top of the dishes I was about to create was, alas, not reasonable. You win, hubby.

A no churn ice cream it would have to be. I’ll admit, this was the first time I’ve put together a no-churn, spoon-it-into-a-pan-and-freeze-it kind of treat. I was skeptical. But I was also desperate.

Chocolate covered Queen Anne cherries are hubby’s favorite thing at the holidays so that was the first flavor I decided to make – though not the only one on this particular day. Not difficult as I was grabbing all ready made foods to put this ice cream together. It was easy enough with all of my ingredients assembled and at the ready, just whip up my heavy cream till it’s a nice and firm, then add the can of condensed sweetened milk and whip again.

My goodness that looked heavenly! It wasn’t easy to resist dragging a spoon through there to taste it.

Ok. I didn’t resist it. I mustn’t lie. But hey, product and quality control.

I layered the whipped ice cream mixture in the pan, about 1/3 of it, and then poured some chocolate candy shell in, and dotted the layer with cherry pie filling.

Then more ice cream, more chocolate and cherries, then the last layer of ice cream. I put a piece of parchment over the batch, snuggly atop the ice cream so that no freezer burn would happen, and then into the ice box. I tested it after 2 hours and it was soft. Really soft. I was disappointed and worried it wasn’t going to turn out. All those Pinterest recipes lied!!! But I decided  to settle my horses and wait over night…

Ah, patience pays off 🙂 Tuck that nugget of brilliance away for another day. Patience.

Now I would be remiss for not telling you that the cherries get a little frozen-ish. They have enough water content in them that they get icey, rather than staying soft. But I kinda liked it! Mixed with the quick to melt in your mouth chocolate candy shell it was delightful, perhaps bordering on sinful.

Here’s the scoop (*gigglesnort!* get it?)… It’s easy. It’s a GREAT thing to do with the kids, you can even let them do it all themselves and just supervise. The possibilities for flavors added is endless! Yes, it’s quicker to go to the store and get ice cream and eat it than go to the store, get ingredients, put them together and wait over night for them. But that’s no fun! Try cracking the recipes for your favorite store bought ice creams and see what you can do! And you can add as many of your flavor components as you want. No more wishing there was more of this swirl or of that crunchy little bite.

Give it a try! Tell me what you think below!