With the warming of the season, heavy desserts are in our rear-view mirrors, and we’re now delighting in the cold creaminess of ice cream.
You can always go to your favorite grocery store and pick up a gallon or two, but why not make it yourself without the need of an ice-cream freezer? There are numerous no-churn recipes, and lately, I’ve been experimenting with several of them to come up with a creamy, flavorful version.
Some call for canned pie topping, which I’ve found doesn’t make the flavor come through very well. Others call for putting the finished product in your refrigerator’s freezer, then taking it out and stirring every 30 minutes during the first three hours to prevent the formation of ice crystals. That simply takes too much time and is totally unnecessary.
What I found to work perfectly, making the ice cream just as smooth, if not smoother, than what you can get in the store, is to gently press plastic wrap over the surface of the ice cream and cover the top of the container with another piece of plastic wrap, then put it in the freezer and leave it alone. It’s best - creamy and hard with no ice crystals - after about 18 hours.
Besides being a delicious alternative to homemade ice cream that has many more steps involved, no-churn ice cream is egg-free, making it ideal for those with egg allergies. I have one in my family - my youngest grandson - so egg-free ice cream is a real treat when he comes over.
If you make it today, you’ll have it ready for dessert tomorrow evening. It’s easy to make your own, taking less than 15 minutes from start to finish.
Cream Cheese-Cherry No-Churn Ice Cream
With an electric or stand mixer, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Scrape into another bowl and set aside.
While cream is whipping, drain cherries, reserving juice. Remove stems from cherries, if needed, and roughly chop.
In the bowl of the mixer, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Add 1/3 cup of reserved cherry juice to mixture and stir until well incorporated. Add chopped cherries.
Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture carefully by hand. Pour mixture into a loaf pan or other container, and, if you want to, gently pour a little more of the cherry juice on top and draw a knife through the ice cream so cherry swirls appear. Cover with plastic wrap, placing wrap directly on top of mixture and gently pressing it onto the surface of the ice cream. This will help prevent formation of ice crystals. Cover top of container with another sheet of plastic wrap or lid.
Freeze until desired firmness, 8-10 hours or overnight.
Note: This recipe is quite versatile and equally good for chocolate ice cream. Substitute one cup chocolate sauce for the cherries and cherry juice, blend it with the cream cheese-condensed milk mixture, fold in the whipped cream and pour into a loaf pan. To finish - for effect and for extra chocolatey deliciousness - drizzle a quarter cup chocolate sauce over the top and pull a knife through it, creating swirls as you go. Then, cover and freeze.
You can always go to your favorite grocery store and pick up a gallon or two, but why not make it yourself without the need of an ice-cream freezer? There are numerous no-churn recipes, and lately, I’ve been experimenting with several of them to come up with a creamy, flavorful version.
Some call for canned pie topping, which I’ve found doesn’t make the flavor come through very well. Others call for putting the finished product in your refrigerator’s freezer, then taking it out and stirring every 30 minutes during the first three hours to prevent the formation of ice crystals. That simply takes too much time and is totally unnecessary.
What I found to work perfectly, making the ice cream just as smooth, if not smoother, than what you can get in the store, is to gently press plastic wrap over the surface of the ice cream and cover the top of the container with another piece of plastic wrap, then put it in the freezer and leave it alone. It’s best - creamy and hard with no ice crystals - after about 18 hours.
Besides being a delicious alternative to homemade ice cream that has many more steps involved, no-churn ice cream is egg-free, making it ideal for those with egg allergies. I have one in my family - my youngest grandson - so egg-free ice cream is a real treat when he comes over.
If you make it today, you’ll have it ready for dessert tomorrow evening. It’s easy to make your own, taking less than 15 minutes from start to finish.
Cream Cheese-Cherry No-Churn Ice Cream
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
- 1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries
- 1 (8-ounce) package light or regular
- cream cheese, softened
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- (nonfat is okay)
With an electric or stand mixer, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Scrape into another bowl and set aside.
While cream is whipping, drain cherries, reserving juice. Remove stems from cherries, if needed, and roughly chop.
In the bowl of the mixer, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Add 1/3 cup of reserved cherry juice to mixture and stir until well incorporated. Add chopped cherries.
Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture carefully by hand. Pour mixture into a loaf pan or other container, and, if you want to, gently pour a little more of the cherry juice on top and draw a knife through the ice cream so cherry swirls appear. Cover with plastic wrap, placing wrap directly on top of mixture and gently pressing it onto the surface of the ice cream. This will help prevent formation of ice crystals. Cover top of container with another sheet of plastic wrap or lid.
Freeze until desired firmness, 8-10 hours or overnight.
Note: This recipe is quite versatile and equally good for chocolate ice cream. Substitute one cup chocolate sauce for the cherries and cherry juice, blend it with the cream cheese-condensed milk mixture, fold in the whipped cream and pour into a loaf pan. To finish - for effect and for extra chocolatey deliciousness - drizzle a quarter cup chocolate sauce over the top and pull a knife through it, creating swirls as you go. Then, cover and freeze.
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