Bing Cherry Ice Cream + Toasted Almond Bark

Graham Sr. kindly gave us his cherry pitter to borrow since we talked up buying one (and finally making a cherry pie) so much. The ease of having a container of already-pitted cherries in the fridge was just too tempting, and of course, we ate them all.

On sale, in-season cherries are hard to pass up, and this ice cream is, too. We even saved some cherries for it.

Cherry Ice Cream

3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup cream
1 teaspoon ground vanilla bean
pinch of Maldon salt

2 cups Bing cherries
juice of one lemon
2 tbsp. can sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients and put the bowl in the fridge to chill. Pit the cherries (a recent should-have-been-obvious discovery: a cherry pitter is so much easier than using a knife) and using a muddler, mash them with the sugar, lemon, and vanilla. Set aside. Pour the milk mixture into an ice cream machine that's already running and then pour in the cherry mixture. After it's semi-frozen, put the ice cream in the freeze for at least an hour to set.

Toasted Almond Chocolate Bark

1 cup sliced almonds
2 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate
pinch of Maldon salt

Toast sliced almonds in a skillet on medium heat or in a 350-degree oven. Once they're fragrant, after about 3-5 minutes, spread them into a pie plate and add sea salt and the chopped chocolate. Stir until melted and coated, then stick the plate in the fridge. Use this to top the ice cream.