Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt

Sour Cherries

Cherries with pits removed

Cherries and sugar, boiling

Cherries, cooling

In the blender. Forgot to snap a shot when I added the yogurt.

Pouring the chilled yogurt and cherry mixture in the ice cream maker

Almost done!

I always fail to take photos of the finished product in a pretty dish.

Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt (recipe adapted from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop)
3 cups fresh sour cherries

3/4 cup sugar (I used a little less)

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (original recipe called for 1 cup, so taste as you add)

3 drops almond extract (measure carefully, this is potent)

Remove the pits from the cherries, and dump them in a medium saucepan with the sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until cherries are soft. The aroma will nearly kill you.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. To hasten the process stick the pan in a wide, shallow dish half-full of cold water.

Puree the cherries and their liquid in a blender with yogurt and almond extract until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours. Then freeze in your ice cream maker. If the mixture is really well-chilled, it only takes about twenty minutes (it won't freeze as solid as store-bought, because it doesn't have all those chemicals).

Spoon it into the container you'll store it in and stick it in the freezer so it can firm up a bit more. I recommend taking plenty of tastes during this process.

Don't have an ice cream maker? You can simply freeze in a container, and stir every half hour until it freezes. The texture won't be quite as smooth, but I doubt you'll care.

Wordless Wednesday: Sticky Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, a cookbook I use weekly.

Technique can be found in this post from Steamy Kitchen.

Chocolate cookies with Creme Filling

That's right, HOMEMADE OREOS! The moment I saw these on smittenkitchen they were catapulted to the top of the list. Unfortunately for my poor husband who is trying to get back in top-notch shape, my baking obsession is not helping him feel uberfit.
We all have our crosses to bear!

This was actually pretty darn easy and didn't take nearly as long as I anticipated. I started them about 9:45 pm, which is normally almost my bedtime, but I could not rest until these were made! I finished mixing, baking, filling and even had all the dishes done by 11:30. I should have used slightly more filling in each cookie, there was quite a bit left over.

Coffee Ice Cream

I've been obsessed with making ice cream lately. Folks, I must warn you, once you taste homemade ice cream, french custard style, you will be ruined for commercially produced ice cream. Even Ben and Jerry's. My first attempt was vanilla, and Tom still hasn't stopped raving about it. It was just like a rich custard, frozen. Almost too rich! I've also tried Philadelphia style (no eggs) chocolate but to me it's no contest.
My latest venture is coffee ice cream, in honor of Tom's birthday. I chose a recipe from David Leibovitz's The Perfect Scoop in no small part because it was one of the few that contained less than 15 eggs. I love decadent, but I still have to be able to run, people!
It takes a small investment of time, but other than ensuring you watch the heat and stir, stir, stir! it's not overly complicated to make. Oh, and use decaf -- unless you want a serious buzz from your dessert!