I have been longing for an ultra creamy, decadent, melt in your mouth, I shouldn’t be eating this kind of ice cream. In August I made a Cheesecake Ice Cream with Blueberry Lime Swirl, and it was one of the creamiest, most delicious ice creams I have ever made. I wanted to recreate the cheesecake ice cream but add a more seasonally appropriate swirl.
That’s where the chocolate and peppermint come in.
I love Nutella, but I usually prefer a dark chocolate spread over the chocolate hazlenut spread. Usually where you can find Nutella, you can find a Dark Chocolate Spread. I got my spread at World Market (though I can’t find it on their website). I also purchased Peppermint Extract online from Chef’s Catalog and have been looking forward to making something with it. It’s very potent, and I even dabbed a bit on my wrists. I love the smell of peppermint and especially love the bright taste.
Cheesecake Ice Cream
4 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
1 cup Sugar
1 large Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup Milk
1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
Crushed Peppermints, optional
1. Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until creamy and set aside.
2. Bring the milk to a boil over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat and add a quarter cup of the milk to the cream cheese mixture and mix until combined and smooth. Continue with 2 more quarter cups of milk and then add the entire mixture back to the pan with the rest of the milk.
3. Stir over medium-low heat until thickened slightly (should take around 3 minutes). Remove from heat, strain mixture, and let cool 10 minutes.
4. Combine the heavy cream and cream cheese mixture together. Pour into your ice cream machine and freeze according to manufactures instructions. During the last few minutes of churning, add the crushed peppermints if you are using. (I recommend adding them, they provide a nice crunch.)
5. When ice cream is thickened and finished freezing, slowly pour in the chocolate peppermint mixture and let ‘swirl’ a few times in the machine before turning off. (You can also do this by creating layers of the ice cream to a container and adding the syrup between layers , then swirl with a knife a few times.)
Chocolate Peppermint Swirl
2 TBS Dark Chocolate Spread
2 tsp Peppermint Extract
1. Add the dark chocolate spread and peppermint extract in a microwavable safe bowl, and microwave 10 seconds. Mix together.
The cheesecake ice cream is so creamy and it actually tastes like you are licking cheesecake, in a good way. A great way. The chocolate peppermint swirl is a great addition. When it starts to melt the whole bite has a nice, subtle, peppermint flavor, but the small pieces of chocolate and peppermint bits are the best. If you have an ice cream maker, I totally reccomend making this ice cream. And if you don’t like peppermint, maybe the blueberry lime swirl version is more up your alley?
