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. 
I can’t barely bake so the idea of finding a creative way to use leftovers astounds me. This looks AWESOME!
Gorgeous truffles!
I love red velvet… these look amazing.
I’ll have to remember this… I often have leftover cake too. They looks so pretty!
This is a very good recipe…thanks and happy new year, ciao Flavia
These are so pretty! Great for valentine’s day:)
These look so wonderful! Love the vibrant red!
These look so good. Wonderful idea.
Okay this is just hilarious! My grandma purchased a frozen Cheesecake Factory Red Velvet Cheesecake for Christmas. I took the remaining pieces home to make into balls, which we served at my new years eve party. SO good!
Amazing as usual! I tagged you on my blog to answer some questions:
http://bigmamashomekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-weekday-morning-routineand-ive-been.html
Have a great day! Rhondi
you are a genius! Such a great idea to use leftover and maintain portion control.
oh they look so yummi!!!
xoxo from rome
K.
http://kcomekarolina.blogspot.com/
Such a good idea, these look so good! I love the red velvet and cheesecake combo. You’re blog is awesome 🙂
Wow, these are so beautiful! Best way to use leftovers EVER! And who knew you could do so much with red velvet!
Sues
It’s not over-indulging because you’re able to stop at one. I would probably have eaten half a dozen of them, they look so good! What a great way to jazz up ‘leftovers’!
What a FANTASTIC idea!!!! These look beyond amazing!!
I remember the post about that cake. I really want to make it some day! The idea of turning some leftovers into truffles is pure genius! 😀
ooh, what a creative way to deal with the cake 🙂
I’m picky about what I bring in to work too. It bugs me when people bring in things that are clearly gnawed on, you know? This is the perfect way to reportion leftover cake into easily sharable treats.
Wives always know best! LOL
Glad you made him “eat” his words, so to speak. The truffles are so adorable and perfect for Valentine’s Day.
They’re adorable!!! They’d make a perfect Valentine treat too!!
So…. Don’t mean to appear ignorant, but some of us have NOT made cake balls from left over cake, please be more specific in your discourse, please.
ummm this cake failed. We followed the recipe to the t and it deflated and tasted bad. This recipe was extremely watery and gross and soggy. It fell apart quickly. Thanks!