• Whole Milk 3 Cups
• Heavy Cream* 1 Cup
• Sugar 3/4 Cup
• Large Egg Yolks 6-7
• Smashed Cherry Pits 1 - 1 1/2 Cups

• Not ultra pasteurized or listing stabilizers on the carton. This is preferred, but not a deal-breaker.

Heat milk, cream, pits, and half the sugar, in that order, in heavy bottomed stainless steel saucepan over low to medium heat. When hot to the touch, shut off heat, whisk and let steep 1-2 hours, tasting every 30 minutes.

When hot dairy tastes as strong as you'd like it (remembering that it will taste stronger in flavor and sweetness when it's hot), bring liquid to boil and add egg yolks stirring ALL THE TIME. NO short cuts on this, really, truly. STIR ALL THE TIME. Stir it over medium heat with a wooden spatula or spoon (or that little silicon covered whisk). Stir constantly, being careful to reach around and into the corners, where the cream is most liable to curdle.

Have a thermometer handy. You're bringing the stuff to 180 deg AND NOT ONE DEGREE MORE. Do not let the cream boil. Check the consistency by holding a spatula up sideways and making a streak along the back of the spatula with your finger. When the streak remains without the cream running down and obscuring it, the cream is ready. That's essentially 180 deg.

IMMEDIATELY: Set the pot into a bowl with cool or cold water, and keep stirring 2-3 minutes to get the temp down by 10-20 degrees.

Pass it through a fine meshed sieve, pressing on the solids to press out as much of the liquid as you can.

Let the mixture cool the rest of the way.

Make creme anglaise with scented liquid, being sure to chill in ice bath until chilled through and through. It is best eaten the day it is churned but will keep 5 days in a non-reactive container (I use glass) with a tight fitting lid in the coldest part of your fridge.