Caramelized Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream
You guys. This ice cream. I don’t even know where to start.
When I got Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, I knew I was going to be making this goat cheese ice cream. Obviously, I’m drawn to all things goat cheese.
After reviewing the recipe in more detail, it sounded a lot like the flavors in a classic cheesecake. So I decided to throw in some graham cracker chunks and increase the amount of roasted cherries.
Now when I set out to roast my cherries, I had a math mixup. I had enough cherries for 1.5x the recipe in the book, but instead of scaling the sugar appropriately, I tripled the amount of sugar. I seriously have no idea how that happened, but it did. In fact, I didn’t figure it out until a couple days later, after the sugary cherries bubbled over in my oven, burning to the bottom, and after I ran the clean cycle on our stove, which makes the house smell oh-so-lovely. As a result, my cherries were more caramelized than roasted and the sauce was extremely thick. I figured that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and just went with it.
Hubby kept giving my glares when I told him the ice cream was going to be worth the hassle (and the smell). And then he tasted it. And all was forgiven. He officially proclaimed it was the best ice cream I’ve made (I know, he has said that before) and that I should only make this ice cream from now on (although he’d prefer me not to mess up my math and stink up the house). Spoiler alert, I have since made other ice cream recipes, but Hubby hasn’t claimed any of them as his favorite over this one.
With all that tanginess from the goat cheese, and the familiar graham cracker flavor, it really did taste like a cherry cheesecake in ice cream form. I can’t wait to make this again with other fruit flavors. I’m thinking blueberry or blackberry would be equally amazing.
Two Years Ago: Homemade Mayo and Blueberry Salsa over Grilled Mahi Mahi
Three Years Ago: Burger of the Gods
Four Years Ago: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Crockpot Roast Beef
Caramelized Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Yield: ~1 quart
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Cherries
3 cups pitted fresh or frozen (not thawed) red or black cherries
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
For the Ice Cream
2 cups whole milk (I used coconut milk)
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup (about 4 ounces) fresh goat cheese
1 1/2 ounces (3 Tbsp) cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (I used coconut milk)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup graham cracker chunks (~6 crackers, crushed)
Directions:
For the Roasted Cherries
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Combine the cherries, sugar, and cornstarch in a 9-inch square baking dish, tossing to mix. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes, until the juices are thickened and bubbly, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool completely, then chill in the refrigerator.
For the Ice Cream
Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the goat cheese, cream cheese, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until completely cool, 4 hours or overnight.
Pour the ice cream base in to your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.
Pack the ice cream into a storage container, layering the ice cream base, graham cracker chunks, and cherries. Do not mix. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.
Recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Yum that looks delicious and welcome back to my hometown! Cincinnati’s actually a great town that grows on you and has been evolving quite a bit in the time that you’ve been away. I suspect given your profession and work location history that we probably work for the same company as our day jobs ;).
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Yes, Cincinnati has changed a LOT since we moved away in 2007.
I would suspect you’re right. There’s enough info to know where I work, especially if you work here too 😉 Going to go check out your blog now. I would love to meet some other Cincinnati area bloggers!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Ok I work for the *other* big company in town (just checked your About page).
Isn’t the KA ice cream attachment the best thing ever? I am always making ice cream, even in the wintertime, but I never thought of using canned coconut milk as the base. I’ll have to try this out soon!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Absolutely. I didn’t think I could love my KAM any more than I already did. The ice cream attachment proved that I can.
I have lots of cans of coconut milk laying around and I know they make a good ice cream! Adding this one to my list 🙂
I bought myself KA ice creamer maker for my birthday this summer and I adore it! I’ve been thinking about making non-dairy ice creams, but the recipes all sounded strange. It’s great to see a recipe from a trusted source. Can’t wait to try.
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Let me know what you think if you try it. I am going to be experimenting with different milks since I can’t have cow’s milk…
love coconut milk based ice creams!! this one looks fabulous, and good call throwing in those oreos 😉
beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
It’s ALWAYS a good idea to throw oreos in 🙂
My brother’s favorite thing to get at Coldstone is chocolate oreo ice cream. Too bad I don’t have an ice cream maker, or I would definitely try this!
beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I’ve been told you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I never tried it before I got mine though…
I just made your recipe and luckily I tasted it before I cooled it. The ratio of sugar to cocoa powder is off. You should use at least twice the amount of sugar to cocoa powder in order for it not to have a horribly bitter taste. After adding more sugar it had a nice sweet to chocolately balance. Thanks for the recipe, my daughter is lactose intolerant and she will enjoy it.
beantownbaker — January 31st, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
I am glad you were able to adjust this recipe to suit your needs. Hubby and I both enjoyed the sweetness level of this recipe. I’m sure different cocoa powders have different levels of sweetness. I plan to try this recipe without the cocoa powder to make vanilla ice cream too. We loved the creaminess of it!
This look yummy and chocolate ice cream is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing the directions and ingredients.
I just opened a can of coconut milk and it looked extremely curdled. I shook it a lot but it was still completely curdled. Is that how coconut milk is supposed to be out of the can? Are there any brands that you specifically like to use?
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:44 pm
Hm. It doesn’t usually look curdled, more just separated. Did you try shaking it up? I use Native Forest since that’s what they sell in my grocery store. It looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Native-Forest-Organic-Classic-13-5-Ounce/dp/B001HTJ2BQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366829034&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+milk
Oh how I wish I could try this.. I am currently gluten and dairy free.. However this being dairy free is is not gluten free with the oreo’s… Bummer!!
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:28 am
I’ve made this recipe again without the Oreos and it’s really good. Not quite as good as with the Oreos, but if you wanted to make it gluten free, just leave them out.
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