Weirdly, I’ve found I don’t like cheesecake very much.  I like the cream cheese pie we used to make with sweetened condensed milk, which as a small child I thought was cheesecake; not so much cheesecake.  This ice cream, though, I adore.  It’s rich and tangy and creamy and sweet.

Seriously, though.  This ice cream is great.  Make some.  🙂

Cheesecake Ice Cream

Yield:  1 quart or so

Ingredients:

• 6 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 3 T lemon juice
• 6 egg yolks
• 5 T agave nectar
• 1 tsp liquid stevia extract
• 1/16 tsp salt

Directions:

1.  In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and heat over low to medium until the mixture gives off steam steadily.  Stir often, scraping the bottom of the pan well.  The cream cheese will take a while to melt and integrate, but once the custard is hot enough it’ll mix in just fine.

2.  Remove from heat.  (The custard doesn’t need to be strained, and in fact straining it will separate out some of the thicker ingredients so I advise against it.)  Cover with clingwrap pressed against the surface of the custard, and put in the fridge to chill until cold.  (I usually cook the custard either first thing in the morning so it can chill all day and be churned at night, or in the evening so it can chill all night and be churned the next morning.)

3.  Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Remove from ice cream maker and store in freezer an hour or two to harden; then, it’s ready to serve!