Best 2 Fresh Bing Cherry Recipes

FRESH BING CHERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Pit 2/3 of the cherries. If you have a cherry pitter or a totally awesome Cherry Chomper, I am jealous of you. Though I just cut the cherries in half with a paring knife, then carefully pried them apart and removed the pit - not too bad. Still no Cherry Chomper, though. (Update: I have since learned this method, which is way easier!)
• Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice over the cherry halves and toss lightly.
• Pit and dice the remaining 1/3 of the cherries. Cut the cherry in half, remove the pit, and then cut each half into fourths. Or, you know, cut 'em how you like.
• And then sprinkle the other teaspoon of lemon juice over the diced cherries and toss a little. We're keeping the cherries a nice burgundy so they can become a nice light burgundy. Not pink!
• Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until the mixture is frothy. This takes a good couple of minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and whipping cream over low heat, until the mixture is very warm - when it forms bubbles around the sides, it's about ready.
• Very slowly pour the hot cream/milk mixture into the beaten eggs, whipping briskly the entire time. You're tempering the eggs - heating them slowly and evenly so that you don't make scrambled eggs instead of beautiful custard.
• Return the milk/cream/eggs/sugar mixture to the saucepan and, stirring constantly over medium-low heat, cook until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon - about 10 minutes (sometimes takes as long as 15, but watch carefully and remove from the heat as soon as it's thick).
• Remove from the heat.
• Stir in the cherry halves (NOT the diced cherries - those go into the ice cream at the last minute).
• Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes or so.
• Stir in the vanilla.
• And then puree! I use my handy dandy immersion blender. You can also use a good old fashioned blender. Be careful, though. The mixture is still hot. Let it sit for a few more minutes if you're not sure.
• Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve.
• Let the custard cool completely. This can happen in the fridge, or you can set the container in a bowl or sink of ice water to speed up the process.
• Once it's cooled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer instructions. I use this handy dandy Cuisinart number. It's way easy.
• When the mixture is just about frozen, add the diced cherries.
• Now you can eat it, or spread it in a container and freeze the rest of the way.
• We enjoyed this plain, and I also whipped up some dark chocolate hot fudge to try over the top. Both are equally, sinfully great.

FRESH PEACH, APRICOT AND BING CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Make your favorite pie dough and roll it out to fit a 9 inch pie dish with a round top and bottom. Place the bottom piece of dough into the pie dish and reserve the top until after pie is filled. Chill dough until ready to fill. Make an "x" in the bottom of each peach and submerge in boiling water for 1 minute to loosen skin. Let cool briefly and then peel skin off peaches. You may want to peel your apricots in the same way. In a large bowl, gently mix sliced peaches, apricots, cherries, cane sugar, brown sugar, tapioca and orange juice. Pour fruit mixture into the prepared pie dish. Make lattice top, cover fruit mixture and crimp to seal edges. Lightly beat egg white with a teaspoon of water. Brush lattice top with beaten egg whites. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until top is golden brown and contents are bubbling. Let cool and enjoy.