Roasted Cherry Coconut Ice Cream

I tried my first real cherry a week ago.

My childhood had been scarred by cherry flavored medicine. My parents could only make me take it if cookies were promised and in full view. I will argue that it is the single worst thing I have ever tasted. From that point on, I avoided cherry popsicles, cherry koolaid... anything that even looked red (including holiday oreos with red colored filling). I had always assumed that real cherries would have that same awful overly sweet bitter taste. At the ripe age of 22, I figured it was time to find out the truth.

Real cherries tasted nothing like the branded generic cherry flavor. It was a revelation! An inspiration! I indulged in the flavor, the texture, and the intricacies of this new and exciting fruit (eating half a pound in the process). Then and there, the fates decided that cherries would have a presence in my life.

This roasted cherry coconut ice cream is absolutely divine. It is so easy to make and tastes gourmet. The roasted cherries are sweet and glorious and I can't stop talking about them. The ice cream itself has a fairly intense coconut flavor and can stand alone if need be, but the cherries really round out the flavors in the ice cream. This is, quite possibly, the best ice cream I have ever eaten.

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Bittersweet Chocolate Sherbet with Coconut Rum Sauce

This weekend I spent well over an hour scanning recipe books agonizing over whether I needed to consume something with excessive amounts of chocolate or coconut. Both of these sweets are near and dear to my heart so this was not a decision to take lightly. Thankfully, the great dessert gods spotted my great indecision, took pity, and swooped down from their fluffy whipped cream heaven to bestow this bewitching recipe on me. Bittersweet chocolate sherbet with coconut rum sauce. The perfect solution to my problem.

The sherbet is rich, so a little goes a long way. While delicious on its own, the coconut rum sauce gives the sherbet a true dimensionality. It balances the richness of the chocolate and brings a slight sweetness to the combination. Plus, you can put the leftover sauce on anything from fruit to muffins.

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Chocolate Coconut Granola

Every time I find myself in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, I stare longing at the granola. The crunchy, sweet cereal calls out to me from the shelves, asking me to partake, persuading me to indulge. As of late, the Kashi Cocoa Beach Granola has been particularly convincing. The chocolate! The coconut! The almonds! It seems like more of a decadent dessert than a breakfast cereal. And believe me, I know how incredibly seductive the the idea of dessert for breakfast is.

However, I cannot and will not fork over $5+ for this granola. Especially for a box that is dwarfed by every other box on the shelf. I do have restraint even in spite of the sweet nothings this cereal insists upon whispering into my ear (yes, this surprised me too).

As it has become increasingly awkward to salivate over this cereal for great lengths of time in public, I took it upon myself to create this at home. Though I may never know the mysteries that lie in that tiny, overpriced cereal box, I can tell you with the utmost certainty that my hunger has been sated for now. Next I venture into the cereal aisle, I doubt that granola will even register to my eager, searching eyes.

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