#COOKING WITH CLORIS--CHERRY ALMOND CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM

I’ve been on an ice cream binge lately. Can you blame me? It’s the perfect finish to dinner on a hot summer day. (It’s also perfect at any other time during the day!) For me, nothing beats homemade ice cream. It’s quick, easy, far less expensive than purchased gourmet ice creams, and free of chemical additives whose names no one other than chemists can pronounce.

I love experimenting with different flavors whenever I make a batch of ice cream. Sometimes I use fresh fruit. For this batch I grabbed a jar of natural cherry fruit spread, the kind without any added sugar, because no matter how sweet a sweet tooth you have, you simply don’t need it for this ice cream. It’s sweet enough from the sugar and chocolate chips. The addition of almonds gives it a bit of crunch.

Cherry Almond Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

1 T. vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3/4-cup sugar

pinch of salt

1/2-cup mini chocolate chips

1/2-cup sliced almonds

1/2-cup cherry fruit spread or jam (such as Polaner All Fruit)

Whisk together cream, milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Slowly whisk in sugar and salt until dissolved. Place in refrigerator to chill for at least an hour. 

Turn on ice cream maker. Slowly pour in mixture. Process 15 minutes. Add chocolate chips and almonds, then cherry spread, processing 5 more minutes.

Serve immediately for soft-serve. For harder ice cream, scoop into a plastic container and freeze for a couple of hours before serving.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR RUBY MERRITT'S CREAMY FROZEN FRUIT SALAD

Today we’re featuring a recipe for Creamy Frozen Fruit Salad, courtesy of author Ruby Merritt. You’ll find this recipe and many more wonderful desserts in Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Loveand Writing.

Ruby Merritt is a teacher and an author who writes stories because they won’t leave her alone until she does. Her debut novel and first book in her Spirited Heart series, Ella’s Choice, takes place in 1870s Wyoming. Learn more about Ruby and her writing at her website.

Creamy Frozen Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups of sour cream

2 tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 banana, sliced

8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1/4 cup sliced maraschino cherries

Mix all together and freeze in individual desserts cups. Thaw 5 minutes before serving.

Ella’s Choice

When Ella Hastings is captured by the Blackfeet Indians at age nine, then adopted by the Lakota Indians, she is thrust into a new way of life and transformed into Little Brave, adopted daughter of their revered and peaceful chief, Grey Owl. Ten years later the white man returns. Their soldiers storm her tribe’s village and bring reminders of a world she’d almost forgotten. Suddenly, she is confronted by the question: To which world does she now belong? Her only hope in discovering who she really is lies with the enigmatic army scout, Beech Richoux.

Son of a French trapper and Lakota mother, Beech Richoux was raised in a white man’s world after his mother’s death.  Acting as an army scout to raise money for his horse ranch, he’s unaware of the Army’s true intent to annihilate his mother’s people until it’s too late. And the white woman he finds living among the Lakota only adds to his desperation to save his people. Now the narrow path he has created to balance himself between these two worlds is tipped by the mysterious white woman known to the Lakota as Little Brave.

Can two people robbed of their own childhood learn to live together in such differing worlds? Can Little Brave and Beech forge a new path into a life where they both are finally set free?

Buy Link

paperback 

ebook