Non-Dairy Mint-Cherry Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Almond unsweetened milk

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• pinch of salt

• 5 egg yolks, beaten

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups mint leaves

• 2/3 cup chopped cherries

• 2 tbsp flour

• 2 tbsp water

1. Heat the milk, sugar, mint and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

2. Remove from heat once the mixture is hot and steaming. Cover and let infuse for an hour.

3. Once infused, use a strainer to remove the mint leaves; press down with a spoon or spatula on the leaves to extract as much flavor and color as is possible. Discard the mint leaves.

4. Whisk together the flour and water to form a paste; there should be no lumps.

5. Warm the infused milk. Whisk the flour paste into the milk as it is warming.

6. Slowly pour some of the warm infused milk into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan with the infused milk.

7. As the custard cooks, stir constantly with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula/spoon. If testing with an instant read thermometer, it should read around 170ºF.

8. Place the saucepan with the custard in an ice bath to cool it down. Refrigerate until very cold, about 4 hours or overnight.

9. Transfer custard to prepared electric ice cream maker and churn for 15 to 20 minutes, until mixture is thickened.

10. Five minutes before mixture is thickened, add chopped cherries. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. For a firmer texture, transfer ice cream to an air tight freezer container and free for about 2 hours or overnight.

11. Remove from freezer and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Yields: 1 quart

Notes&Tips:

• Ice Cream is an easy dessert to make but requires much waiting and a bit of pre-planning time. With that said, it is very rewarding when you put that first spoonful of ice cream into your mouth. Over the years I have made many different flavors of ice cream, however this is the first time that I have made a mint-flavored one.

• You may be wondering since this is a mint flavored ice cream, how come it's not green? Well, I did not use any artificial flavorings nor colors in my ice cream. When the mint leaves are steeped in the milk, it does change the color but not to a bright green. If you notice the color of the infused milk in the picture above has a very light green. However, the mint taste in the ice cream is absolutely divine!

• If you just want a mint flavored ice cream without the fruit, then feel free to omit the cherries and you've got yourself mint ice cream. I almost always like to incorporate fruits and or nuts in desserts that I make - this is a signature thing with me.

• In addition to tasting the delicious fresh mint in this Non-Dairy Mint-Cherry Ice Cream flavor, you also get to bite into pieces of sweet cherries.

• I did not churn the fruit too much in this recipe, so about half of the fruit stayed whole. Depending on your preference, you could churn the cherries longer to fully incorporate it into the ice cream.

• Note that if you're using an electric ice cream maker, the bucket needs to be frozen for 16 to 24 hours prior to making the ice cream.

• Everyone in my family thoroughly enjoyed this delicious ice cream after we had an invigorating bike ride on a lovely summer evening.