I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream!


I have a long and loving history with cheesecake ice cream. I first fell in love with the flavor combo at a Marble Slab Creamery. If you haven't been to a Marble Slab, go to the website, find the store closest to you, and go there now. Seriously, trust me on this....I think it's the best store-bought ice cream out there!

When I got my driver's license I would often go to Marble Slab at least 2 times a week and get a pint of the cheesecake ice cream to take home. Wow...gotta love young metabolisms!

Unfortunately, there is no Marble Slab within 3 hours of where I live now so I had to get creative to satisfy my beloved ice cream craving. (However, I definitely just checked and there are two Marble Slabs in Nashville, less than an hour from our next duty station! Woohoo!!)

I searched the web for cheesecake ice cream recipes and ultimately decided on the one that looked the easiest and didn't involve any stovetop cooking. I mixed up the ice cream base in the food processor and then popped it in the fridge for about 8 hours to chill.

Then I used my Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker Attachment to freeze the mixture. And the result was.....
....amazing!!!!

Rich, creamy, tangy, perfectly cheesecakey (yes, it's a word).

My husband was mmm-ing the whole way through his bowl. It was almost obnoxious.

He's already requested that I make it again. Given that it's not exactly a health food, he might have to wait a little more than 2 days before I make it again.

Cheesecake Ice Cream
Source: adapted from David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

8 ounces (1 box) cream cheese (I used reduced-fat)
1 cup sour cream (I used 0% greek yogurt)
1/2 cup light cream (I used half and half)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon (I omitted)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender and process until smooth. Pour into container, seal tightly, and refrigerate until well chilled.

When ice cream base is chilled, process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Place finished ice cream in a freezer-safe container with a tight-fitting lid and freeze immediately. Let ripen in freezer for at least 3 hours before serving, for best results.

Note: Next time I would probably double the recipe because it didn't make that much. Just enough for two me-size servings and two Husband-size servings.

Also, this ice cream is VERY rich so next time I might try using more half and half or milk to take down the richness a bit.

EDITED TO ADD: I made this a second time and I made some changes to make it a little less rich...
-Increased half and half to 3/4 cup
-Added 1/2 cup of skim milk (it was all I had...I would have preferred 1% or 2%)

These changes resulted in a not-so-rich but still totally delicious ice cream. It does freeze a little harder (because of the lower fat content) so just be sure to let it sit out of the freezer for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Heaven in a Bowl

Also known as Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

OMG. WTF. @#$%%^&*!!!


It should probably be a sin to eat this.

My hubs LOOOOOOVES peanut butter....especially peanut butter and chocolate together. I was itching to use my ice cream maker attachment so I decided to surprise him with some homemade peanut butter ice cream.

It was a huge success! There's just nothing else like homemade ice cream....nothing else compares!

I will admit though, the thing that really sold me on this ice cream recipe was that it didn't involve any cooking. A lot of ice cream recipes require you to "cook" the milk or cream, which I hate doing. Perhaps I've had one too many bad experiences with curdled milk. But the point is this recipes is super easy!

First you mix together the ingredients. I thought the recipe said you could use a mixer for this step....


But it turns out it says "blender or food processor". I quickly realized that I chose the wrong option. It just wasn't incorporating the peanut butter very well...mostly it was just breaking the peanut butter into chunks and spewing me with half & half.

So I switched to the blender....

Muuuuuuch better!

Then I chilled the mixture for a few hours in the fridge. I just stuck the whole blender container into the fridge.

Then you follow your ice cream maker's directions for freezing the ice cream. I didn't get any pictures of this step because I was too busy drooling.

Then you enjoy a super soft serving straight out of the ice cream maker....

With Reese's crumbled on top, of course!

If you're not into the super soft ice cream {in which case, you're crazy}, you can then place it all into an airtight container and freeze for a few hours to firm it up.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Seen on Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
2 2/3 cups half-and-half {I only had 2 cups of half & half so I supplemented with 2/3 cup of 1% milk...it turned out fine!}
Pinch of coarse salt
Dash of vanilla extract
1 heaping cup mini Reese’s cups, wrappers removed, frozen and chopped (optional)

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients (minus the candy) in a blender or food processor; and puree until completely smooth. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator {for at least 2-3 hours}. When the mixture is chilled through, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. To mix in the Reese’s, transfer the ice cream to a storage container and gently fold in the peanut butter cup pieces until evenly distributed. {We just crumbled Reese's on top when serving}

Source: adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz