I’m coming at you all loaded today. Loaded with cheesecake and strawberry chunks in this strawberry cheesecake chunk ice cream and with news! Let me start by saying, Happy National Cheesecake Day!! Who even knew there was a day dedicated to sweet graham cracker crust and baked cream cheese? Like really? I just happened to see it on the bulletin board at Trader Joe’s a week ago. This is exactly the kind of encouragement I needed to combine two of the best desserts ever, ice cream and cheesecake. This is the best ice cream you will ever have. I know, that’s quite a claim! But I’m confident that you’ll feel the same way when you give this recipe a try. Here’s why you have to give this recipe a try: 1.) It’s easy to make and requires just 10 ingredients. 2.) strawberry glaze and strawberries throughout the ice cream 3.) the base of this ice cream is made with cream cheese and mascarpone 4.) CHUNKS of cheesecake (need I say more) ? I have searched a lot (and sampled, too) for the best strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I always find that though the strawberry is there in most of these recipes, it’s the ‘cheesecake’ part that’s lacking. Either it’s fulfilled using crumbled graham crackers or golden Oreo. Neither of these in my book is actual cheesecake. Nope there is just no substitute to the real thing. One last thing before we make ice cream… I’d like to share a bit of news with you – and no i’m not eating ice cream for two. I am so excited (x1000) to tell you that Little Spice Jar now offers ZipList! Many of you may already use ZipList from other blogs to save your recipes and create grocery lists for you. For those of you that aren’t so familiar with ZipList, it’s a wonderful (and super handy) tool to organize all of your recipes in one place. You can even add all of the ingredients from a recipe to a shopping list with just one click. Oh and they have a mobile app, which means you don’t need to write down your grocery list, pull it up right from your phone. How cool is that? Up in the menu bar, you’ll notice we have a new menu item – the recipe box. That’s where you can go to access all of the tools that ZipList has to offer. You can even set up an account through the link if you don’t have one. Once you have a ZipList account, hit the save button to add the recipe to your ZipList recipe box. And that’s it! So now, you can save this strawberry cheesecake chunk ice cream recipe in your ZipList recipe box! Let’s make ice cream! We’re going to start by making the vanilla cheesecake flavored ice cream base. I’m using cream cheese and mascarpone in this recipe in addition to the cheesecake pieces. We start by whipping the cream cheese, adding sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Then, we mix in the mascarpone, the milk, and vanilla. The last step is to fold in the sour cream. The sour cream and lemon zest paired together are going to give this ice cream just the right amount of tang to cut through the richness of the cheeses, just like cheesecake. Once the mixture is thoroughly mixed, let it cool in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours and preferably overnight. It’s gotta get really cold before it’s mixed in an ice cream maker. By now you’re probably thinking that most of these ingredients are actually used in a cheesecake. You’re right! I wasn’t kidding when I said we’re making cheesecake ice cream. You also want to grab 1-2 slices of cheesecake from a local bakery, grocery store, or if you’ve got some leftover from before, that’ll work perfect too. Just freeze the slices overnight, cut them when they’re frozen right before throwing them into the ice cream base, it’s easier that way. Mix the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers directions. I let it run in the machine for 23 minutes. The ice cream will loosely resemble a soft serve, maybe a tad bit runnier. Dumb the ice cream base into a large bowl, drop in frozen pieces of cheesecake. I usually like to freeze leftover slices in the freezer and use them for treats like this ice cream or to cover with chocolate for an extra special snack 😉 Toss in a can strawberry pie filling. If you over mix, you’ll end up with pink ice cream. If you want soft, swirls of strawberry glaze throughout, mix ever-so gently. Pour the ice cream batter into a large loaf pan or a 19×3 baking pan. Let the ice cream freeze for 4-5 hours or overnight. When you’re ready to serve, just let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 8-10 minutes before scooping. That’s it! Strawberry cheesecake chunk ice cream is going to become your new favorite ice cream because it’s so easy and unbelievably irresistible. Give it a try, you’ll be glad you did!
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For the cheesecake bites: Purchase 2 slices of cheesecake or use leftover cheesecake slices. Freeze the slices for 2-3 hours until stiff, cut into cubes and keep frozen until ready to mix into ice cream batter.
