Thursday, July 5, 2012

Happy 4th of July!

This July 4th, we're celebrating with just a few friends and our little guy.  Of course grilled meats are on the menu, but to pay tribute to the colorful festivities, I broke out the ice cream maker and experimented with some cheesecake ice cream with strawberries and blueberries on top.

Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt

Directions
Place all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. Pour into a container, seal it tightly, and refrigerate the base until well chilled.  I left mine in the fridge for a few hours.

After the ice cream base is fully chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions. We have the Cuisinart ICE-20 and it took about 20 minutes to sufficiently chill our batch.  Place the finished ice cream in a freezer-safe container with a tight-fitting lid and freeze immediately.  You'll probably want to wait about 3 hours before serving.

I sprinkled some blueberries and sliced strawberries on top and added a graham cracker for garnish.  Sorry - no pictures!  I'd like to try to make this again with bits of red velvet cake mixed into the base sometime soon.