Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
A rich and creamy cheesecake ice cream is swirled with a scratch-made strawberry sauce and crushed graham crackers to make the most amazing Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.
Ingredients
- 1 lb strawberries hulled and diced (roughly 2 cups)
- 1 cup granulated sugar divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup graham crackers roughly chopped (approximately 4 oz)
Instructions
- Chill the ice cream bowl for at least 24 hours or until solid. You should not hear any water sloshing around when you shake the bowl. Combine the diced strawberries and ¼ cup of the granulated sugar in a medium saucepan.
- Heat over medium and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use.
- In a large bowl, add the cream cheese and the remaining ¾ cups of granulated sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to make sure it’s very cold before churning.
- Churn the ice cream mixture in the bowl of your ice cream machine according to your manufacturer’s instructions (mine took about 25 minutes), until it is thick and the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.
- Spoon ⅓ of the ice cream base into a shallow container or a loaf pan. Drizzle ⅓ of the strawberry sauce over the ice cream. Sprinkle ⅓ of the graham crackers over the sauce.
- Repeat two more times with remaining ice cream, strawberry sauce, and graham crackers. Lightly swirl with a knife to distribute.
- Press plastic wrap or wax paper to the surface of the ice cream. Freeze for at least 4 hours, or until solid. Let sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Make this recipe gluten free by using your favorite gluten free graham crackers or cookies.
- Instead of graham crackers, try vanilla sandwich cookies, gingersnaps, or shortbread cookies.
- The cream cheese needs to be at room temperature in order to get really smooth and mix into the ice cream base easily. Let it sit out at room temperature until you can easily make an indent in the cream cheese with your finger.
- Plan ahead by making sure that your ice cream maker bowl is in the freezer at least 24 hours before you're going to make ice cream.
- Homemade ice cream can be stored in the freezer for up to one month. Keep it in an airtight container with a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper pressed to the surface of the ice cream to keep ice crystals from developing.
- Homemade ice cream should be easy to scoop if you let it soften at room temperature for 5 minutes after removing it from the freezer.