Food is my love language.
Clean laundry is my husband’s love language.
So yeah, there’s a bit of tension there.
I hate everything about laundry. I hate washing it, I hate putting it into the dryer, I hate folding it, I hate putting it away. And I despise ironing with every fiber of my being.
Did you know some people actually iron their sheets? I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be friends with someone who irons sheets. I’d rather be canning in a 110 degree kitchen, or digging a million post holes by hand, or getting whacked in the face with my cow’s tail a dozen times.
So even though I outwardly attributed my impulsive creation of this blueberry cheesecake ice cream recipe to wanting to reward my husband for all the hard work he’s been doing on our house remodel lately; deep down inside I knew what he truly wanted was clean socks… And that I was really making the ice cream for my own selfish benefit. But hey, who can blame me?
There’s blueberry ice cream, and then there’s this Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream. It’s so good it deserves to be capitalized. It’s a whole different animal than your typical blueberry ice cream– it’s creamier, and richer, and you’ll want to eat it by the pound. You’re welcome.
(And I’m just kidding about not being friends with people who iron their sheets. Sort of.)
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe
(this post contains affiliate links)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, divided (frozen will work in a pinch, if you must)
- 3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice sugar (where to buy)
- 8 oz cream cheese (how to make cream cheese)
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour cream (how to make buttermilk)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract (how to make vanilla extract)
- Pinch of sea salt (I love this salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 cups heavy cream or half n half
In a small saucepan, mash together the sugar and 1 cup of blueberries.
Cook the sugar/blueberry mixture over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes and allow them to simmer and thicken. Cool slightly.
In a blender, combine the cooled mixture, the remaining fresh blueberries, buttermilk, cream cheese, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest. Blend until mixed completely.
Stir in the cream/half n’ half and allow to chill for one hour.
Freeze in a 2-quart ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s recommendations.
(This is the ice cream maker I have and LOVE)
Serve immediately, or place in freezer for a while to harden it up a bit, if you prefer harder ice cream.
Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, if desired.
Makes approximately 1.5 quarts.
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe Notes
- Regular granulated sugar will work here, too, if that’s all you have.
- If you don’t have lemon zest handy (I rarely do), you can substitute two drops of high-quality lemon essential oil instead. These are the essential oils I use— they are considered “food-grade.”
- I cooked half of the berries to add a greater depth of flavor to the finished recipe. However, if you’re in a hurry, just skipping the cooking and chilling and use all raw berries instead.
- The large amount vanilla extract in this recipe actually helps the ice cream from becoming crazy hard when you refreeze it. Actually, any alcohol will have that effect, and since homemade vanilla extract is made with vodka, it fits the bill just fine. However, if you want to omit it, that’s fine too.
- You can serve this with crumbled graham crackers, or add some graham cracker crumbs into the ice cream maker in the last 1-2 minutes of mixing. Or put it between two crackers for an ice cream sandwich. I made my own graham crackers using this recipe.
- Wanna get wild and crazy? Spoon your blueberry cheesecake ice cream into a graham cracker pie shell and chill until hardened for an ice cream pie.
- If you’re looking for a basic homemade ice cream recipe, here’s my Simple No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream, and also my Homemade Frozen Yogurt Recipe. Or heck, if you’re reading this during the wintertime, try Snow Ice Cream.
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe
- Yield: 1.5 quarts 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, divided (frozen will work in a pinch, if you must)
- 3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice sugar
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour cream
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt (I use this one)
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 cups heavy cream or half n half
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, mash together the sugar and 1 cup of blueberries with 1 tablespoon water.
- Cook the sugar/blueberry mixture over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes and allow them to simmer and thicken. Cool slightly.
- In a blender, combine the cooled mixture, the remaining fresh blueberries, buttermilk, cream cheese, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest. Blend until mixed completely.
- Stir in the cream/half n’ half and allow to chill for one hour.
- Freeze in a 2-quart ice cream maker (like this one) according to manufacturer’s recommendations.
- Serve immediately, or place in freezer for a while to harden it up a bit, if you prefer harder ice cream.
- Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, if desired.
I DO NOT iron anything! If it needs ironing, I don’t buy it. If my husband wants it, he can iron it. I hate laundry too!
The house remodel looks amazing. I hope you are planning a root cellar in the basement. It will be so much fun to have all the extra space.
This post might make me buy an ice cream maker! God knows I have no room for it, but this looks so good.
You won’t regret buying that ice cream maker! It’s awesome!
I have the same ice cream maker! It is amazing!
You are my soul sister. I hate everything about laundry, but love everything about food. ? I cant wait to try this!
Sounds SO delicious! 🙂
I too despise ironing! I’ll do anything to avoid it, hang it in the bathroom during someone’s shower or throw it in the dryer!
Your ice cream recipe looks amazing! We just made what we call “cheater” ice cream. We use frozen berries, blend them up in the food processor, add cream and cream cheese. Last night we used blueberries, so we added lemon zest to it too. No sugar necessary! We served it in a cup and it will be soft serve, or put the cups in the freezer to firm up a bit. Always a hit when we don’t want to pull out the ice cream maker! 🙂
I don’t know what it is about a statement like “not being friends with someone who ironed sheets” that actually makes me want to go and iron sheets:) Even though my dryer pretty much irons everything and my ironing board needs a good cobweb dusting!:D
Your recipe looks delicious. I would definitely make that if I wasn’t seriously allergic to dairy.
Could I use monk fruit sweetener instead of sugar? I’m wondering if it would freeze right?
Do you think strawberries would work?
Sure!
OK, so, I JUST made this… and OH my god is it good!!!
I was scared it wouldn’t work out too today well since its been 32° C all day here, so I had to work fast with the machine, but boy did it work!! Fantastic recipe! Thank you so much!
work out too well* today – oops, typo.
We are looking forward to trying this recipe. My daughter has been making a lot of ice cream during the quarantine.
Yay! I love comments like this– so glad you love it as much as we do!
Just wondering how do you keep your weight down with all these delicious recipes? Marg
Agree
I know I’m responding to an old post (recycled) but here’s my comment anyway:
I almost feel insulted the way you defame ironing. I enjoy ironing because I like the way the clothes look when they are ironed. And, I iron my sheets IF they need it. Sometimes all I have to iron is the top part of the top sheet and the pillowcases because that’s all that shows. And I enjoy doing laundry because I enjoy clean clothes. I hang the wash out on the line all year long.
Otherwise, I enjoy your cooking and all your recipes, which are much like my own.
Blessings, Christine
why take it personally?
Who honestly cares if someone does or does not like ironing? Just be happy with who you are and give others same respect. I think it is called being Christian, or finding your zen etc.
As someone else commented…..I’ve been wondering also how do you keep your rim figure with the cooking you do plus icecream!?
Not sure what happened…I followed the recipe exactly but the mixture is’t hardening in my ice cream maker. Any ideas?