Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Not long after I made that strawberry cheesecake ice cream, my mom bought some blueberries at the grocery store. She came to me and asked, “Hey…could you make that ice cream again? With blueberries this time?” Of course, I was more than happy to, and here’s how it went!

I used the same basic cream base as last time, but the fruit was a completely different process. With all the changes I’ve made, I’d say this is pretty much my own recipe now. Remind me to post it in the near future!

We all agreed that when I made the strawberry ice cream, there was not nearly enough of it for our ice-cream-loving selves. So, this time I made a double batch.

Having so much ice cream did result in a couple of issues. The cream on its own list barely fit in the ice cream maker, meaning I had to mix the toppings in by hand afterward. When we ate it, it was clear that I didn’t do quite as good a job as the machine. There was way too much graham cracker at the top, but next to nothing in our last servings. The berry flavor was almost overpowering at the end, since so much of it had sunk down.

Ice cream is ice cream, so I couldn’t call it bad, but I do believe that there are some improvements I can make in the future. Mainly just making sure everything is stirred in evenly. Aside from that, it was pretty great! Like I mentioned earlier, I will be sharing this recipe sometime soon.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Yesterday was the last day of summer, and before it was over I had to cross one more thing off of my list.

Cheesecake ice cream.

I’ve been craving it since the spring—don’t ask why, because I have no idea myself. As a special last treat before we dive into what’s bound to be the craziest school year of my life (freshman year + all online, WHAT??), I decided to make some!

The original recipe is from Handle the Heat, but I made quite a few changes of my own. It came out AMAZING!

Roasting the strawberries is something I never would have thought of, but it such a great idea! They were soft and juicy and this really brought out the flavor. Just like an ice cream shop (except better)!

So, onto the things I changed:

  • Instead of using 3/4 cup of sugar, I reduced it to 1/4 cup and added in 1/4 cup of Stevia. It was still perfectly sweet—not missing anything!
  • I omitted the corn syrup, which was optional.
  • We didn’t have any whole milk, so I used 2% and added in a little bit extra heavy cream.
  • Neufchâtel cheese in place of cream cheese. It’s essentially the same thing.
  • We didn’t have any sea salt, but regular iodized salt didn’t make any difference.
  • Rather than chopping the graham crackers (in a blender, I assume), I crushed them with a spoon. This way there was a little more variety in the sizes of the crumbles.

When mixing the berries and graham crackers in at the end, I held back just about 1/4 of the stuff to stir in at the very end. That way, there was a sort of ribbon of toppings in addition to the ones that were evenly mixed in.

This ice cream made a perfect last-day-of-summer treat! I will definitely be making it again.