Cheesecake Ice Cream

It is approximately one billion degrees outside. This temperature has absolutely no bearing on my intense desire for ice cream. Ice cream is something that is present in my life whether it is the temperature of the sun outside (like now) or the temperature of Hoth. Because this is the case, N and I recently acquired a kitchen appliance that rivals our dishwasher, toilet, and water heater for the status of Favorite Modern Convenience. Gone are the days when an unfortunate child was forced to sit for hours either hand-cranking an old-fashioned ice cream maker, or watching the ice and pouring on rock salt to keep the freezer at the same temperature. I did plenty of that  when I was a small child. Nowadays, things are different.  We can have ridiculously easy homemade ice cream.

My discovery of this delightful fact was courtesy of my mother. My family always has homemade ice cream at 4th of July (hence the childhood memories of vigilantly creating ice cream over the course of a whole day). This year, the old ice cream maker was retired in favor of a small, electric, Cuisinart model. It was so easy I could hardly stand it. So the very next day, N and I set out to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to purchase our own. We came home with a shiny brushed steel model that hums quietly as it creates frozen treats.

So here is how shamefully easy it is to make your very own ice cream:

 Start with these five ingredients. Just five. That you will probably have sitting in your refrigerator on any given day. Cream cheese, vanilla extract, sugar, eggs, and milk. The recipe I originally got this from made 6 quarts, so I cut everything down by 2/3. But not before considering making three separate batches and utterly filling my freezer with cheesecake flavored ice cream.

 Beat three eggs until they are thick and creamy. Normally I avoid using a hand mixer if I can. There is something about them that just doesn't jive with me. But for this kind of thing, when you need things to be really creamed, it is necessary.

 Once the eggs have been beaten to an estimated level of creaminess, add a cup of sugar.

 Then add one teaspoon vanilla, and two blocks of cream cheese. This, actually, is what you really need the electric mixer for because cream cheese is nigh impossible to make creamy with a whisk or spoon.

 Use the electric mixer to blend the ingredients, adding milk along the way to make the mixture into an actual liquid. Something thick and creamy can't go into the ice cream freezer. The freezer is what should make it thick and creamy.

This, if you can see it, is what the consistency of the mixture should be. Your ice cream is ready to be frozen! 

 This is the gorgeous ice cream maker that N and I purchased. It was a little pricey, but to us, so worth it. Most homemade ice cream recipes call for an electric freezer of this nature, so if you have a big ice cream habit, it is definitely worth the money.

 This is what the ice cream looks like when it starts out in the freezer. That gray thing is the paddle that stays stationary while the frozen ice cream bucket rotates around it. Genius!

After 25-35 minutes (depending on the recipe), this is what your ice cream should look like! This particular one took exactly 30 minutes to freeze. The goal is something thick, creamy, and that looks like ice cream. I usually start watching it at the 20 minute mark.

Generally, the ice cream will be frozen but very soft. If you like solidly frozen ice cream, transfer it directly to the freezer (the one above the fridge) and wait a few hours. If you are like me, at this point, you scrape the ice cream into a tupperware container as fast as possible so you can crouch over the bucket licking all the extra off the sides of the paddle and scooping tastes from the sides of the bucket while you wait for the batch to freeze.

So far, we have made plain vanilla ice cream, brown sugar ice cream, caramel ice cream, and this cheesecake ice cream. The possibilities are endless and we are having the best time coming up with flavors and toppings. Although I genuinely enjoy ice cream all year round, having this new culinary hobby is the perfect distraction from the blazing heat beating relentlessly on our door. Try it for yourselves!