Brandied Cherry-Choc-Chip Ice Cream (Healthified!!)

I can't get enough of this Ice Cream, and you'll see why when you try it.

It's delicious and amazing and you'll want to get drunk off it instead of your friday night beers and wines.

This ice cream had a great combination of creamy smoothness with crunchy chocolate and chewy sour cherries.

Ingredients

150g sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum (you can buy this at any health food store or specialty supermarket)

500g non-fat milk

60g honey (or 100g trimoline if you are lucky to have it at home, most people don't)

1/2 scraped vanilla bean

250g non fat greek yogurt *

250g non-fat cream cheese *

112g brandied cherries **

112g Semi sweet chocolate coarsely chopped

*If you don't care about the calories as much, replace the yogurt and cream cheese for 500g of mascarpone cheese (now this is a killer combo.. amazing! But for purposes of healthifying, let's stick to the nonfat yogurt and cream cheese.

** If you can't find brandied cherries (they are really hard to find) get any jarred sour cherries (not the candied cherries you put on a sundae, those are entirely different!) I use Trader Joe's Morello Cherries

When I buy them I rinse them under the water to get rid of that syrup (it's bad for you so resist the urge to drink the juice in the jar) and rinse out the jar. Then I put the clean cherries back in the jar and fill the jar with Kirsh Brandy.

This is very potent alcohol, one wiff can have you gasping. If you are making this for young children don't put kirsh in the cherries since the alcohol will not get cooked off. Use rinsed out cherries instead.

Leave the cherries to soak in the brandy for as long as you want. Then chop up however much you need to put in the ice cream. (Use the rest for black forest cake!)

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients,  except the chocolate and cherries, in a blender and blend for 2 minutes.
2. If the mixture is still cold after blending, you can put in the ice cream machine right away, if not, chill for 30 minutes.
3. When the ice cream has thickened and reached a soft serve consistency, fold in the chocolate and cherries and freeze till set.
   
   Easy as 1-2-3 isn't it? But now let me tell you about the chocolate sauce on top...

Warm Chocolate Sauce

250g non-fat milk

60g sugar

30g butter (or better yet, a butter substitute such as: I can't believe it's not butter, or smart balance)

150g semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Bring milk and sugar to a boil. Stir in butter and chocolate and continue cooking till it boils again. Stir continuously so as not to burn the chocolate. Refrigerate if not using right away and reheat however much you need just before serving.