Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Growing up I remember making homemade ice cream to celebrate holidays, summer or just because.

I love it!

It's so amazing to see the few ingredients, cream, eggs, sugar make such a divine treat.

This recipe is a little more complicated that the usual vanilla, but it's worth the extra effort- it tastes like frozen cheesecake!

We have served this to many guests and is always a hit!

Just make sure you have an ice cream maker and enough ice.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

4 cups half and half

2 1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. grated lemon peel

1 package (16oz) frozen unsweetened strawberries

In a large pan, heat the half and half to 175 degrees. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs. (This is an important step. If you just dump in the eggs, they will curdle and cook- you do not want scrambled eggs in your ice cream, yuck!) Return all to the pan, whisking constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 and coats the back of a metal spoon. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Stir in whipping cream and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, lemon juice and peel until blended. Gradually beat in the custard mixture.

Chop strawberries in the food processor. Stir into custard/cream cheese mixture.

Fill cylinder of ice cream maker to the fill-line. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions.