Are you all set for your 4th of July BBQ? Burgers, check. Hot dogs, check. Watermelon, corn on the cob, Check! Oh, and definitely be sure to wear red white and blue!! That's what we always do in my family! And to go with your Patriotic attire, I have the perfect Patriotic dessert for you! I found this year's 4th of July recipe while I was browsing recipes LAST 4th of July. As soon as I saw it, I thought YES! Simple, easy to make, deliciously decadent, and red white & blue! Perfect! I couldn't wait to make it for this year's post!
I made it for Chris and Claire and they both just loved it. Claire loved that it wasn't overly sweet, and Chris said he liked how the cream cheese ice cream was the perfect thing to go with the cobbler and the berries. It's best when you have the perfect bite of all three things in one go. LOVE that! Oh, and the other great thing about this recipe is that it's a total do-ahead. I made mine the night before I was planning to serve it and it was perfect.
So, lets talk about the recipes for a minute, shall we? The recipe for the cobbler is from Southern Living and I found it on Myrecipes.com. Great recipe, yes, but I did tweak it, slightly. I changed it from the original mixed berry cobbler to a fresh cherry cobbler, just because the fresh cherries at the market looked so good, and I was going for a deep red velvet color. And who doesn't love chocolate and cherry together?? Feel free to make whichever kind of cobbler you like!
The ice cream recipe is from Epicurious.com. I looked at several recipes, and most of the ones I saw contained eggs. I was looking for an ice CREAM, not a frozen custard (which is technically what the addition of eggs would be), and I wasn't in the mood to cook the custard, and let it cool, etc. I just wanted to mix up the cream base, freeze it in my ice cream maker and enjoy. Perhaps next time I'll try one of the frozen custard recipes, but for now, I'm fine with the regular ice cream!
So there you have it. Red velvet cobbler, white ice cream, and fresh blueberries. It just may be one of my favorite 4th of July recipes ever! I think you'll enjoy it too! Try it!
For the cobbler:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
4 cups assorted fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons red liquid food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together cornstarch and 1/2 cup sugar. Toss cherries with cornstarch mixture, and spoon into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. (btw, I added a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the fruit/cornstarch mixture, just to brighten up the flavor a bit. Just sayin!)
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in red food coloring and vanilla until blended. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt. Stir together buttermilk, vinegar, and baking soda in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. (Mixture will bubble.) Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Spoon batter over berry mixture. Bake at 350° for 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake topping comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes.
For the ice cream:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup whole milk
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
Blend cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, then stir in cream. Freeze cream cheese mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours. Let ice cream soften 5 minutes before serving.
Tips:
As I said before, use whatever kind of fruit you like. Not a cherry fan? Use strawberries or raspberries! Or both! I'm sure you can use any other kind of fruit you like, but then you'll be introducing other colors instead of just red white and blue.
When you're making the ice cream, be sure to add the lemon juice. Tbh, at first, I wasn't even going to add it. Here's the thing... when I make a cheesecake, I like it to be a PLAIN cheesecake instead of a lemony one. I figured this would be the same sort of situation, but no. You definitely want the tang from the lemon in this instance. It makes the ice cream taste more like cream cheese! And one other thing..this ice cream recipe makes a small batch. If you have a big crowd, you may want to plan on making several batches ahead of time. Just sayin'!
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