Recipe 7: Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Pieces

Sunday, February 3, 2015

            As I’ve said before, I really love ice cream.  It’s usually the food I’m craving, and it almost always can make me feel better (with the exception of a truly horrendous Baskin Robbins experience).  But something else I love about ice cream is how it makes other people feel.  How their face lights up and their mood brightens when they take that first cool, creamy spoonful.  It’s especially wonderful when the ice cream in question is one you made.

            My sister Jenny’s been having a rough week.  She’s had a migraine for about five days now, and it’s only just (barely) getting better, so when she said she was really craving blueberry cheesecake ice cream, I knew I had to make it.  What I didn’t know was how much she’d love the ice cream I made for her.  When she first tasted it, she smiled for the first time in days.  I got all warm and gooey inside when that happened.

            There are several ways to make cheesecake ice cream.  First, you make a plain cheesecake base.  Then, you decide how to inject the filling.  You can choose to swirl in the filling, put it in when you’re almost done churning, or drizzle it on top at the end.  Jenny really wanted a bright purple ice cream with chunks of berry it in, so I opted to swirl in the filling before churning it.

            While Jenny absolutely loves this ice cream, I’m not 100% convinced by it.  My favorite types of ice cream are really rich and creamy with as few ice crystals as humanly possible (one of the many reasons why I adored the Coconut Ice Cream with Crystallized Ginger).  Unfortunately, fruit has a lot of water in it and so did the blueberry pie filling I used.  Adding it in before the churning process meant that I lost a lot of the base’s creaminess.  It still tastes pretty good but not as phenomenal as I thought it would.  I’m especially upset by this because the cheesecake base was so freaking good.  I mean, really good.  I kept tasting it over and over again while cooking.  It was kind of a distraction.

            A little bit of research has shown that a good way to improve creaminess and decrease ice crystals in ice cream is by adding emulsifiers.  Emulsifiers are basically additives that prevent fat and water from separating in ice cream (thereby improving creaminess and decreasing melt time).  A really common emulsifier is egg yolk, which is why the more egg yolks you add, the creamier your ice cream will be.  However, if you’re adding a lot of fruit (which has a lot of water in it), you might need to go the extra mile and add something else like guar gum or carrageenan.  Both of these are natural (not synthetic) and are commonly found in store bought and small batch ice creams.  Here’s a good article about different kinds of emulsifiers and the correct amount to use in your ice cream (Note that adding too much can make your ice cream chewy.).  As I make more ice creams and use fruit, I’m going to look into purchasing a couple different kinds and experiment.  If I could even just reduce the ice crystals to the blueberries, I’d happily make this ice cream again.

            With that being said, I’d like to stress that this was a good ice cream.  Jenny has eaten at least one serving of it a day since I made it and seems to have cheered up quite a bit.  The flavor is also really soothing, and I like the texture of the frozen berries – they’re like little frozen surprises.  So for those of you that don’t mind a little bit of ice crystals in your ice cream, I’d definitely recommend this recipe.  For those of you that hate ice crystals, I’d recommend skipping the fruit and drizzling some on top when you serve it.  That’d really be the best of both worlds.

            The following Blueberry Ice Cream recipe comes, more or less, from Recipe Girl.  However, I opted for full-fat ice cream because, come on, why make ice cream if you’re going to count calories?  That’s not what ice cream’s about.

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 12 ounces 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened (next time I’m going for full fat)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 21 ounce can of blueberry pie filling (You can make this for yourself with blueberries, powdered sugar, and water, but why add an extra step for yourself?  The pie filling works just as well.) 

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until smooth.
2. Combine the milk and cream in a heavy, medium saucepan; bring to a gradual near-boil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Gradually add hot milk mixture to cheese mixture, adding in approximately ¼ cup at a time (be careful not to dump in too much and cook the egg), stirring constantly with the beater until all has been incorporated (It will get very frothy.).
4. Return mixture to pan.  Cook over medium heat for approximately 10 – 15 minutes, stirring constantly.  Be careful not to curdle the eggs and remove from heat when mixture sticks to the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and cool completely, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir blueberry pie filling into milk mixture.  Refrigerate several hours (or overnight) until mixture is very cold.
6. Pour mixture into ice cream maker’s canister; freeze according to instructions.  Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for three hours or until firm.
7. Optional: Add bits of graham cracker to the mix as you’re putting it into a freezer-safe container. 

I’m personally not sure whether or not to call this ice cream a success.  I love the color, and the flavor is actually very soothing and makes you feel instantly happy; it’s also surprisingly refreshing.  However, I would have preferred fewer ice crystals and a sharper cheesecake flavor (I just cannot stress enough how delicious the plain cheesecake custard base was.).

I’d rate this recipe as in-progress and encourage people to experiment to get a flavor and texture that they prefer (and then tell me what they did).  It’s also worth noting that I may have made this ice cream incorrectly.  First, I didn’t want to curdle the eggs and the mixture was so frothy (making it difficult to see) that I may not have cooked it long enough.  Second, this recipe was twice as large as any I’ve attempted and may have produced uneven freezing, resulting in those ice crystals.  Third, I had to make the ice cream and then freeze it in its canister before transferring it to a new container several hours later.  The more often you take out and thaw and freeze ice cream, the more likely you are to get ice crystals.

So I’m not willing to give up on this recipe or say that you shouldn’t try it.  Rather, I’d say go for it if you love blueberry cheesecake – my sister does, and she thinks this is the best damn ice cream I’ve ever made.  Sometimes being a perfectionist just gets in the way of good ice cream.

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 6 hours
• Ice cream set time: at least 3 hours
• Taste: soothing and sweet with a strong blueberry flavor and icy, crunchy bits of berry; cheesecake flavor is muted and mellow
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium (depending on if you want to make your own blueberry filling or buy a can)
• Makes: about 8 cups