Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 cups heavy cream
2 large eggs plus 4 egg yolks
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pitted sweet cherries, quartered or roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup shaved sweetened coconut

Directions

Combine milk, 2?3 cup of the sugar and the cream in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring mixture to 175 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be hot but not bubbling.

Meanwhile, combine the whole egg and egg yolks with the remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer or whisk by hand until pale yellow and thick, about 2 minutes with a mixer or 4 minutes by hand.

Remove 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture from the saucepan and add slowly to the beaten egg yolks while whisking vigorously.

Whisk this mixture back into the cream mixture in the saucepan. Over low heat, cook mixture until it reaches 180 degrees, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. The custard should be the thickness of heavy cream but should not boil or bubble. If the mixture starts to give off a fair amount of steam, take it off the heat for a few moments and stir vigorously.

Pour custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a nonreactive bowl. Stir in vanilla extract.

Place bowl into a larger bowl filled halfway with ice water to cool. When mixture reaches room temperature, cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 6 hours.

When mixture is chilled, transfer to an ice-cream machine and follow manufacturer's directions. The ice cream will still be somewhat soft after churning.

Pour ice cream into a large bowl, and fold in cherries, blueberries and coconut. Serve as is, or transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until firm, 1-2 hours. Makes about 2 1/2 quarts.