I wrote a post in December about a recipe I made from Homemade Decadence, which was Birchbox's December Book Club Book! I won the book through Birchbloggers and I've been wanting to make another recipe! The other day Alex and I went through the ice cream flavors and picked out one that we wanted to try!
There is a grocery store here called Harris Teeter. We hadn't heard of it until we moved here and we finally went there for the first time last week. It's really nice! It is also in the same shopping center as Target and Michael's, so that's super convenient! We went there the other day to get all of the ingredients for the recipe and we made the ice cream when we got home!
We used our Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker to make this recipe. This is the exact recipe from the book:
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cold half-and-half
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp vodka (optional) (we didn't use it)
1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and coarsley chopped
1 cup coarsely crumbled graham crackers (optional) (we used them)
Directions:
1) In a blender, combine the half-and-half, lemon juice, vanilla, vodka, if using, cream cheese, sugar, and salt. Blend on high until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of strawberries to the blender. Blend until smooth.
2) Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. During the last minute of churning, add the remaining strawberries and the graham cracker crumbs, if using. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.
3) Ice cream is best served within 5 days of churning.
Makes about 4 cups
The amount the recipe calls for is just slightly more than the machine could handle, once the toppings at the end were added in.
Once the ice cream had churned for about 25 minutes, I started adding in some of the strawberries and graham cracker crumbs. Toward the end it looked like it might overflow so I poured everything into a pyrex dish and mixed in the remaining toppings.
I put it in the freezer with a lid on it for four or five hours and then we tried it. So delish!! The strawberry chunks are nice and frozen and the graham cracker crumbs make it sooo yummy! That first night it wasn't quite as firm as ice cream normally is, but the next night when we had it again, it was perfectly frozen!
Once the ice cream had churned for about 25 minutes, I started adding in some of the strawberries and graham cracker crumbs. Toward the end it looked like it might overflow so I poured everything into a pyrex dish and mixed in the remaining toppings.
I put it in the freezer with a lid on it for four or five hours and then we tried it. So delish!! The strawberry chunks are nice and frozen and the graham cracker crumbs make it sooo yummy! That first night it wasn't quite as firm as ice cream normally is, but the next night when we had it again, it was perfectly frozen!
This was so fun!! I can't wait to try another recipe when we finish this flavor! Or maybe a little while after...since it's just half-and-half and cream cheese haha :)
Alex's birthday is next week!! I have an idea for a recipe we might make for that out of this book, too!
Thanks for reading!
