Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Blueberries, cheesecake, and ice cream. Those are pretty much 3 of my favorite things, so naturally I absolutely loved this ice cream. Ross declared it the best ice cream that I've ever made (but to be fair he says that every time I make a new ice cream flavor).

I definitely had my doubts about this recipe. It uses no eggs and gets it cheesecake flavor from a packet of instant cheesecake flavored jello pudding. There is no actual cream cheese in this recipe, but if you tasted it, you wouldn't know. It came out amazing. It was creamy and rich and indulgent, the way ice cream should be!

A couple notes about the recipe:

1. It makes A LOT of ice cream. You may have to freeze the mixture in 2 batches depending on the size of your ice cream maker.
2. I used 2% milk for the ice cream and it was fine.
3. If you wanted to save time you could buy a premade graham cracker crust and crumble that into the ice cream instead of making the graham cracker crust yourself.
   

Recipe: Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Adapted from: AllRecipes.com

Blueberry Mixture:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Graham Cracker Mixture:

• 2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Ice Cream:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix
• 1 quart heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in butter. Pat into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in.x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the ice cream ingredients. Fill ice cream freezer cylinder two-thirds full; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. Whisk before adding to ice cream freezer (mixture will have some lumps).
4. Crumble the graham cracker mixture. In a large container, layer the ice cream, graham cracker mixture and blueberry sauce three times; swirl. Freeze.

Ricotta Ice Cream

I was so intrigued by this recipe that the second I saw it I knew I had to try it. So nevermind the fact that there's a blizzard outside, last night I was making ice cream. This ice cream tastes just like a frozen cannoli! The taste of the ice cream is incredible. The texture on the other hand is a little weird. It was sort of grainy because of the ricotta. I guess that I should throw out a disclaimer that I am very picky about textures. I don't like cottage cheese because it's too lumpy; I don't like pudding because it's too smooth (this is weird, I know). Ross didn't mind the texture at all. In fact, he loved everything about this ice cream.

The ice cream itself is really simple to make. It's basically just combining ricotta, milk, simple syrup, and vanilla extract and then pouring it into the ice cream maker. And I guess as far as ice creams go this one is on the healthier side. There are no eggs or heavy cream.

I decided to just make the ice cream and not the cones, but I think these would actually be very good inside of cones (or cannoli shells!) because the I think the crunchiness of the cones would disguise the grainy texture a little more. If you're looking for a really rich and creamy, decadent ice cream, then this isn't it. But if you want something delicious and different, try this!

Ricotta Ice Cream
Recipe: Giada de Laurentiis, Food Network
Ingredients:

• 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup simple syrup, recipe follows
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips* (the original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I thought 1/2 was perfect)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese and milk until smooth. Add the simple syrup and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
   
2. Pour the ricotta mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. Add the chocolate chips 10 minutes before the end of freezing.

Simple Syrup

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup sugar

In a saucepan, combine water and sugar over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and allow the syrup to cool.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Move over Oreo Cookie Cookies, I have new favorite recipe!

If you like key lime pie, you will love this recipe. It literally tastes like someone threw a key lime pie into my ice cream maker.

This recipe is seriously good enough to justify buying an ice cream maker if you don't have one already.

It is by far the easiest ice cream recipe I have come across. No stove, no blender, no strainer. Just a bowl, a whisk, and an ice cream maker. I had a few doubts about the recipe because it doesn't use any eggs, but the result far exceeded my expectations. It has a really great, almost light, texture. It's not super rich and creamy which pairs will the citrus flavor. It's perfect for summer!


The recipe calls for graham crackers to be added in, but when I made these ginger cookies the other day I saved a couple since I knew I'd be making this ice cream later in the week. The ginger cookies were the perfect match for the ice cream, both in texture and in flavor.

The original recipe also calls for 2% milk and fat free sweetened condensed milk, but I used whole milk and regular sweetened condensed milk. I think next time I'll try it the way it was originally written to compare.

Recipe: Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup bottled Key lime juice (such as Nellie and Joe's)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• Dash of salt
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 graham crackers (1 1/2 cookie sheets), coarsely crushed, divided
• Key lime wedges (optional)

Directions:

Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture into freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Stir 1/3 cup graham crackers into ice cream. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container, and cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon graham crackers. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired.

Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches with Mango & Raspberry Sorbet

I love ginger almost as much as I love lemon. If it has ginger in it, i want it. Ginger cookies, ginger salad dressing, gingerbread, ginger with my sushi. I even had ginger ice cream the other day!

Ginger is normally one of those Fall/Winter only flavors. But this recipe caught my eye because it paired the ginger cookies with mango & raspberry sorbet which is a perfect excuse to eat ginger in the middle of Summer.

The cookies were really easy and quick to make. Plus they were fun to make because you get roll the balls of dough around in sugar and squish them with a glass. I really enjoyed the addition of chopped candied ginger in the cookies. Plus, now I have a bunch of leftover candied ginger to put to good use. (I'm predicting a homemade a ginger ice cream so stay tuned...)

These make great cookies for ice cream sandwiches because they're flat and sturdy. Just make sure you squish them flat enough before they go in the oven. (My first batch [below] was a little too poofy but they were delicious sans ice cream). The raspberry and mango were great flavor compliments to the ginger. Peach or lime would probably go together really well also.


Recipe: Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 16 cookies
Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup plus 5 teaspoons sugar, plus more for rolling and flattening
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
• 1 pint mango sorbet
• 1 pint raspberry sorbet

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, ground ginger, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in egg, then add molasses and candied ginger. Reduce speed. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate until slightly firm, 15 minutes.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop balls of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Roll each one in sugar, and return to sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, press dough to flatten into 3-inch rounds. Bake until edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.
4. Sandwich one scoop of sorbet with 2 cookies. Repeat, alternating sorbet flavors. Serve immediately, or freeze in airtight containers up to 3 hours.