This homemade cherry ice cream is so easy and is just as yummy as store-bought ones if made right. No-churn basically means it is made without using an ice-cream maker. No-churn ice cream recipes usually require less than 10 ingredients and allows you to be flexible with what you want to add in your ice cream. You can make any type of ice cream you want really. It was cherry season and I was craving cherries so I made this homemade cherry ice cream. This ice cream is literally made with fresh cherries and sweetened with maple syrup. It is really lovely in the summer.
Prepping your cherries
You have to take out the stems of every single cherry and remove the pits (seeds) as well. I would have recommend using cherry pie puree but they tend to have a lot of added sugar. I used a smoothie straw to remove the pits from the cherries. Next, the prepped cherries are blended into a semi-smooth paste with the maple syrup. You can also blend it into a very fine paste but I wanted to taste bits of cherries in my homemade ice cream that’s why. Then it is folded into the ice cream batter.
The cherry ice cream batter
No-churn ice cream recipes are mainly sweetened condensed milk mixed with freshly whipped cream and other flavorings like vanilla extract. Traditionally churned ice cream use butter or egg yolks but no-churn recipes don’t need this. The only hard work in this is waiting for the ice cream to freeze. That’s literally it. Keep your homemade ice cream in the freezer for at least 6 hours for the best results. If you want to add solid stuff like nuts or candy, add them to your ice cream about 2-3 hours after you started freezing it. This will make it taste more natural like the ones in the store. I used a 9×5 inch loaf pan for this recipe but a 8 or 9-inch brownie pan will work even better.
Tips for great whipped cream
Since whipped cream is an important aspect of a no-churn ice cream recipe, it has to be whipped until peaks form. Half-and-half cream won’t work here either. Before I make whipped cream, I freeze the beater’s whisks and the container I’ll be using before I start the recipe. The container which I’m pouring the ice cream is also frozen for a bit as well. No-churn ice cream is time-sensitive so you want it to be in a cold environment so that it sets properly.
You can also find the YouTube tutorial for this below!
Ingredients
2 cups fresh cherries, stems removed and pitted
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold whipping cream
Instructions
- Pulse the cherries with the maple syrup in a blender or food processor until it is semi-smooth.
- Using a hand mixer, whisk the vanilla extract, salt, condensed milk and blended cherry puree from step 1.
- Using a hand mixer, whisk the cream on medium speed in a separate large bowl until peaks form on the surface of the cream.
- Fold in the mixture from step 2 with the whipped cream bowl in step 3.
- Transfer to a chilled 9x5 loaf pan or a brownie pan, and smooth out the top.
- Wrap the pan tightly with cling wrap and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- If you want to add in nuts, candy or other toppings: freeze the ice cream for 2 hours straight, then fold in the toppings you want, then continue to freeze the ice cream for another 4 hours.