Intense Chocolate Ice Cream With Sour Balsamic-cherry Sauce

Total Time: 7 hrs 35 mins Preparation Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 7 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2/3 cup honey
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla (optional)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sour pitted cherries, in light syrup,gently drained
• 3 drops almond flavoring (optional)
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3 teaspoons cold water

Recipe

• 1 for ice cream:.
• 2 melt the 2 oz.
• 3 chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat.
• 4 to the melted chips, add the heavy cream, buttermilk, honey and cocoa, stirring well to incorporate (the cocoa may not fully incorporate until mixture is more warmed).
• 5 the melted chocolate may"seize" (or clump up), but as the other ingredients heat, the chocolate will melt.
• 6 increase heat to medium, and bring mixture to almost boiling, stirring frequently.
• 7 this may take 6-10 minutes or more.
• 8 you may notice small flecks of cocoa in the hot mixture; this is ok.
• 9 turn heat down to low.
• 10 while the cream mixture is warming, with a hand mixer, cream together the egg yolks and sugar until lighter in colour, about 2 minutes on medium speed.
• 11 this will be a very thick, almost dry looking mixture.
• 12 take about 1/4 cup of the hot cream mixture, and add to the egg mixture.
• 13 mix until combined.
• 14 slowly add the slightly warmed egg mixture into the cream mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the egg from being cooked too quickly.
• 15 cook over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 3 or 4 minutes.
• 16 mixture will still be liquid in appearance.
• 17 chill this custard completely, either in the fridge overnight, or over an ice bath for about 30 minutes.
• 18 make sure custard is cool.
• 19 freeze in an ice-cream machine as recommended by your owner's manual.
• 20 (n. b. in my cuisinart ice cream machine, it to about 35- 38 minutes before ice crystals started to show. this is longer than recommended. even then, it was still very thin.).
• 21 put the soft ice cream in a container in the freezer.
• 22 for the first couple of hours, stir every hour to make sure the ice crystals are being distributed.
• 23 freeze at least six hours or overnight.
• 24 this ice cream has a softer texture than some other home-made ice creams.
• 25 for the sauce.
• 26 in a small saucepan, combine the honey and the 1/2 cup water.
• 27 warm this mixture over medium heat until honey is dissolved.
• 28 add the cherries.
• 29 simmer for about 3 minutes.
• 30 turn the heat down to medium-low.
• 31 add the almond flavouring and the balsamic vinegar.
• 32 simmer for about 1 minute.
• 33 mix together the cornstarch and the 3 teaspoons cold water together in a small dish/glass.
• 34 stir into cherry mixture.
• 35 simmer about 3-5 minute, or until slightly thickened.
• 36 (this is a thin sauce, you may thicken it up with more cornstarch/water slurry if you want) serve over chocolate ice cream either warm or chilled.