Cherry and thyme jam cheesecake ice cream - IN COLLABORATION WITH BALL PRESERVING-

Cherry and thyme jam cheesecake flavoured ice cream

Ingredients:

For the cherry & thyme jam:

·      3 tbsp Ball® pectin

·      750g cherries, de-stoned, roughly chopped and mashed

·      Small bunch of thyme – around 8 sprigs, leaves removed from stalks, gently muddled or bruised

·      45ml bottled lemon juice

·      ½ tsp butter

·      660g granulated sugar

For the cheesecake crumble:

·      100g digestive biscuits, roughly crumbled

·      6 dates, stones removed

·      4 heaped tbsp butter, melted

·      A sprinkle of sea salt flakes

For the no-churn icecream:

·      600ml extra thick cream, whipped

·      400ml condensed milk

Method:

·      Start by making the jam. First sprinkle the Ball® pectin into the base of the Ball® fresh TECH Automatic Jam and jelly maker before adding in cherries and thyme

·      Next, pour the lemon juice over the cherries and add the butter (this reduces foaming)

·      Press the jam button. The cook time will automatically show up as 21 minutes – press enter. This kick-starts the Smart Stir technology, so you don’t have to stand over a hot cooker as you stir a simmering pan

·      After four minutes you are prompted by two beeps to begin to gradually add in the sugar. Place on the glass lid and then simply let the Ball® fresh TECH Automatic Jam and jelly maker do its thing

·      The Ball® freshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker will continue to automatically stir your ingredients while it cooks. It will beep again at the end of the process signalling the jam cooking is complete. Press cancel, unplug the jam maker and immediately remove the glass lid. Then, remove the stirrer, using oven gloves. Remove any foam on top of the jam, as necessary

·      Ladle the hot jam into warmed Ball® preserving jars immediately. Be sure to sterilise your jars with boiling water for storing your freshly made jam (as this prevents jar breakage). Cool to room temperature.

·      For the cheesecake crumble, start by crumbling or blitzing the digestive biscuits until they are a fine even crumb

·      Melt your butter then add this to the biscuits along with the dates and blitz together again. You should have a fine crumble that’s sticky. Press the crumb into the base of a dish until you’re ready to add to you ice cream mix. This will help you achieve bigger chunks of crumble

·      For the ice cream mix simply whip the cream until it begins to form soft peaks. Pour in the condensed milk and whip a little more, being mindful to not over whip. The aim is to simply combine the two.

·      When you’re ready to make up your ice cream simply scatter in your chunks of cheesecake crumble followed by spoonfuls of your glossy cherry and thyme jam being careful to not over mix so that you get gorgeous lumps of jam and crumble

·      Store in an airtight container in your freezer for around 4-5 hours or until frozen. Remove from the freezer around 15-20 minutes prior to serving. 

Cherry season is upon us so when a delivery of the freshest, newly picked summer cherries arrive, it’s impossible to not eat half of them immediately, straight off the bat, before thinking about how best to preserve that taste of summer for as long as possible…jams, jellies, frozen ice pops all come to mind, even a baked cherry frangipane is tempting!!! 

I land on making a batch of cherry and thyme jam (I can never get enough of that subtle note of thyme, it goes with everything). 

For this recipe I used my new Ball® freshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker which makes delicious jam in less than 30 minutes and is a great way to preserve fresh fruit. It comes with a book of recipes and tips to help you experiment with different flavours. Better still it uses Smart Stir technology, so you don’t have to stand over a hot cooker as you stir a simmering pan. It also automatically controls the temperature of the ingredients, guaranteeing you delicious jams and jellies every time.

My daily morning toast has become that little bit more luxurious as has everything else I managed to add my cherry jam to, from baked brie to the ultimate French toast for weekend brunch. The most decadent dish however is this creamy cherry and thyme cheesecake no churn ice cream. An ice cream which I guarantee will impress. From the generous lumps of sweet cherries through to the hunks of sticky crumbled biscuit all amongst the perfectly rich and smooth sweet cream.

To check out the Ball® freshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker head to Lakeland -