Monday, July 30, 2007

Move Over Ben and Jerry!

About a year ago I joined a cooking club. It's a lot of fun. If you're not familiar with the concept, basically, we rotate houses each month. The person who hosts is responsible for coming up with a theme and making the main entree. Everyone else contributes appetizers, side dishes and desserts. We have had some great themes: Greek BBQ, Farmer's Market Fresh, Cooking with Booze. Our hostess for August has come up with the theme Healthy Junk Food. We are supposed to lighten up our favorite fast food or junk food treats. People are bringing calzones, plantain and zucchini chips, pizzas. And I offered to bring dessert.

Now, sometimes I bring an old standby for these dinners. Like Cooking with Booze...I made Manhattan Mushrooms (mushrooms cooked in sweet vermouth). And sometimes I try something new. When it's new, I try it out a week before to make sure it's palatable. For our junk food fest, I decided to try my hand at a light version of my favorite vanilla ice cream with cherries and chocolate chunks.

Geek Boy agreed, it's better than the $4 pint.

Bookwoman's Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream (approx. 9 servings)

2 1/2 cups 1% milk, divided
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 bag frozen cherries, each cherry cut in half (I was going to use fresh, but these babies are already pitted)
juice of half a lime
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 big Hershey bar, chopped

Combine half of the milk and both egg yolks in a pan over medium heat. Heat until bubbles form around the edges, but do not boil. Stir frequently.

Remove from heat and add cream cheese, stirring until smooth.

Combine cream cheese mixture and all the remaining ingredients except the chocolate bar. Cover and chill completely.

When it's cool, dump it into the freezer can of your ice cream maker and let it rip.

The final product is a bit more purple than the original, the cherries bleed into the mixture. But it still tastes pretty darn good. Can't wait for Sunday!

1 comment:

Zarzuela said...

Good lord! If only I didn't have such a blood sugar problem, I'd be running home to make that right now!

Jessica