The Gourmet Cookbook's Ice Cream #3: {Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirl}

 

This is a thick and dreamy ice cream that is perfect for first time ice cream makers, or beginners, as you can blend up all the ingredients in a blender, chill, and then freeze in your ice cream maker! There is no worry with making a custard. You can have this recipe ready in mere minutes!

Ruth Reichl says, "the perfect recipe for anyone who thinks that making ice cream is complicated, this delightful shortcut came to us from the French chef Michel Richard, of Citronelle, in Washington D.C., who was fascinated by American cream cheese. This ice cream is rich, creamy, and taqngy- absolutely unlike anything you can buy in the store."

I loved the tang of this ice cream and found that it is, in fact, very unlike anything any other ice cream I've ever had before. This ice cream would be great as is, but also as a topper for any homemade fruit pie and/or brownies! However, I wanted to experiment with adding fruit to the ice cream and I just happened to win a jar of homemade blueberry jam from my local farmer's market so I went with that! It was so, so delicious! I went ahead and froze the ice cream in the ice cream maker, then put it into an airtight container, then I took about 1 to 2 tablespoons of the blueberry jam and swirled it into the cream cheese ice cream. The results were so, so good! This might just be my favorite ice cream recipe so far and I will definitely be making it again!

Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirl

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes 1 quart

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: items to stir into the ice cream, such as jams or fruit or anything you like!

Combine cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in cream and vanilla. Chill completely.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container (this was when I took about a tablespoon or so of my blueberry jam and swirled it into the ice cream, making a pattern), put in freezer to harden. Let ice cream soften for 5 minutes before serving.  

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