Cherry and Red Bean Paste Ice Cream Recipe

Ryan Thomas is a university graduate who enjoys cooking recipes from a wide variety of culinary traditions.

Ice cream is a wonderfully simple dessert to make—just prepare a simple custard, cool, and process in an ice cream maker! It does take some practice to get the process down, but once you've done so you can easily churn out huge quantities.

And you will definitely want to do just that with a recipe like this one. Cherry and red bean paste ice cream is rich and creamy with deliciously strong flavors. The combination of cherry pie filling gives it a sweet dessert decadence, but what truly makes it exceptional is the addition of red bean paste.

I love to play around with red bean paste. This ingredient is very popular in East Asian countries, particularly Japan, China, and Korea, but it is not nearly as well known as it deserves to be in the West. To me, red bean paste is like a fruity version of chocolate; it is just as rich in terms of flavor but less decadent and harsh.

The combination of red bean paste with cherry is truly wonderful. This recipe is entirely my own, although I based it on a previous recipe for a chocolate orange ice cream with candied nuts, which is just as delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pound red bean paste
• 1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Photo Guide

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Instructions

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine together the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Using a whisk, beat the egg yolks until they are thick and creamy.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy cream, milk, red bean paste, and cherry pie filling. Heat and stir until all are combined together (several minutes).
3. Pour about one-quarter of the hot liquid into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Then pour the entire contents of the mixing bowl back into the saucepan. Over low heat, cook for around 15 minutes or until it thickens substantially. Be careful not to boil as this will ruin the custard.
4. Remove from heat, and place the saucepan into a large ice water bath. Once it is reasonably cool, refrigerate for several hours.
5. Process in an ice cream maker according to the machine's instructions.

Comments

Iqra from East County on April 18, 2021:

This Cherry and Red Bean Paste Ice Cream sounds very yummy, I must follow this recipe. Thank you very much

Ryan Thomas (author) from Eureka, California on April 18, 2021:

Red bean paste is sort of misleading for the name, it is actually quite sweet itself! Not as sweet as chocolate but still a dessert. I suspect that this is part of the reason it isn’t as well known. Glad you like the look of it in any case!

Liz Westwood from UK on April 18, 2021:

This sounds like an interesting recipe. It is very well-illustrated. In the UK mixing sweet and savory flavors is less common, but is catching on a little now.