Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Ice Cream with Cherries and Pretzels

Every Thursday my grandpa spends the afternoon with my parents. I think my grandma has some kind of appointment or errands she runs during that time, and since my grandpa doesn’t drive anymore, she will drop him off at my parents’ to spend some time with them every week. My dad has quite a few cute stories from their weekly adventures.

Mostly they involve playing pool (apparently my grandpa is still pretty good and beats my dad regularly!) and getting an ice cream cone for a treat. I never thought of my grandpa as having a big sweet tooth, so it’s fun to hear that every week he requests ice cream, always the same flavor (vanilla with cherries and pecans).

Not that I blame him, I think I’ll do the same thing when I’m his age. Get my then-grown up kids to take me to get ice cream as often as I can. 🙂

This ice cream recipe is somewhat inspired by my grandpa, mostly because of the bright and sweet pops of cherry throughout. I also have been loving buttermilk lately, with it’s almost sour and complex taste.

So pairing that alongside cream cheese and sugar in an ice cream batter creates something very comforting but still surprising. If you’ve never used buttermilk when making ice cream before, I highly recommend you give this recipe a try—I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Ice Cream with Cherries and Pretzels, makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

5 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 oz. softened cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup sugar
seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries
1/4 cup chopped pretzels

In a pot, combine the buttermilk, cream cheese and sugar. Cook over medium heat so the cream cheese will begin to melt into mixture. Stir so the sugar will dissolve throughout as well.

In another bowl, have your egg yolks ready. Add a few spoonfuls of the warm milk mixture to the egg yolk bowl and stir. Continue until you can feel that the bowl (and mixture inside) has begun to warm.

You want to temper (warm up) the yolks before adding them to the pot so they don’t cook too quickly, causing cooked egg pieces to form throughout your ice cream batter. If this does happen though, don’t fret. We’ll fix it. Just keep reading.

Once warmed, add the yolk mixture along with the vanilla beans (scraped from inside the pod) to the pot.

Cook over low/medium heat until the mixture has thickened and can easily coat the back of a spoon. In the photo above my batter is not quite thick enough yet, but it’s starting to get there.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (removing any cooked egg bits or stubborn pieces of cream cheese) into a gallon size ziplock bag over ice. Allow the mixture to cool until it is chilled.

I usually put my bowl in the refrigerator to move along the process. You can also leave this mixture in the refrigerator overnight if you aren’t ready to make your ice cream yet.

Strain once more into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to make ice cream. Every ice cream maker is a little different, so just follow the steps for yours.

During the last few minutes of mixing, when the ice cream is a soft serve consistency, add in the cherries and pretzels. Freeze if you want a firmer consistency from what your ice cream maker can produce.

A bit of work, as ice cream tends to be, but worth it! Or at least it is to me since I LOVE ice cream…almost as much as my grandpa. 🙂 xo. Emma

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Ingredients

1x2x3x

• ▢ 5 egg yolks
• ▢ 2 ½ cups buttermilk
• ▢ 4 oz. softened cream cheese (cubed)
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped maraschino cherries
• ▢ ¼ cup pretzels (chopped)

Instructions

• In a pot combine the buttermilk, cream cheese and sugar. Cook over medium heat so the cream cheese will begin to melt into mixture. Stir so the sugar will dissolve throughout as well.
• In another bowl have your egg yolks ready. Add a few spoonfuls of the warm milk mixture to the egg yolk bowl and stir. Continue until you can feel that the bowl (and mixture inside) has begun to warm. You want to temper (warm up) the yolks before adding them to the pot so they don’t cook too quickly, causing cooked egg pieces to form throughout your ice cream batter. If this does happen though, don’t fret. We’ll fix it. Just keep reading.
• Once warmed, add the yolk mixture along with the vanilla beans (scraped from inside the pod) to the pot. Cook over low/medium heat until the mixture has thickened and can easily coat the back of a spoon. In the photo above my batter is not quite thick enough yet, but it’s starting to get there.
• Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (removing any cooked egg bits or stubborn pieces of cream cheese) into a gallon size ziplock bag over ice. Allow the mixture to cool until it is chilled. I usually put my bowl in the refrigerator to move along the process. You can also leave this mixture in the refrigerator overnight if you aren’t ready to make your ice cream yet.
• Strain once more into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to make ice cream. Every ice cream maker is a little different, so just follow the steps for yours. During the last few minutes of mixing, when the ice cream is a soft serve consistency, add in the cherries and pretzels. Freeze if you want a firmer consistency from what your ice cream maker can produce.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keywords homemade ice cream