The key to delicious homemade ice cream? Cream cheese

UNITED STATES – Imagine a cookie dough ice cream that actually has enough cookie dough in it: That is just one thrill of making your own ice cream.

Sure, it requires a machine and a bit of patience, but there is nothing sweeter on a hot summer day than scooping a flavour of your creation.

I fell in love with making ice cream when I was young, helping my mum manage ice and salt levels in an old-fashioned churning bucket. That passion eventually led me to complete a professional ice cream course at Penn State’s Department of Food Science.

These days, I like to experiment with flavours based on other desserts, such as peanut butter pie, with chocolate cookie pieces (the crust) and chocolate shards (the topping) rippling through creamy peanut butter ice cream (the filling). It is a recipe that captures the pie’s best – and one you probably will not find at scoop shops.

Half the fun of making ice cream at home is letting yourself get creative, and the base recipe I I have included here, along with these tips, are all you need to get started.

1. Start with a secret ingredient.

The key to really delicious homemade ice cream is in the dairy aisle, but it is not heavy cream or eggs. It is cream cheese.

Many at-home ice cream recipes call for egg yolks to create a creamy, scoopable custard base, but a lot of commercial options are Philadelphia-style, which is made without eggs. Instead, these commercial makers use stabilisers and sweeteners that home cooks might not be able to buy.

Cream cheese already contains stabilisers, which keep the final ice cream softer, creamier and easier to scoop for a longer time. Pair it with the correct balance of milk, cream and sugar, and you will have a base that tastes deeply of dairy but will not necessarily be described as cream cheesy.

2. Create a smooth base.

It is important to add the cream cheese at the last stage of this base recipe. After the milk is warmed, it is poured over room-temperature cream cheese to prevent lumps and curdling. If there are tiny clumps, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.

3. Chill well before churning.

Setting the base in an ice bath before transferring it to the refrigerator gives it a head start on chilling. You will want to keep it in the fridge for a minimum of four hours and a maximum of two days. Often referred to as the base’s ageing process, this time allows the flavour to develop and deepen. Think of this period as you would resting cookie dough: It lets the flavours mingle and really get to know one another.

While there is some debate over the impact of this ageing process on final flavour and texture, the most compelling reason for doing it is that it guarantees a very cold base, which will churn up more smoothly. A crucial part of the process is ensuring everything is as cold as possible so that the final freezing stages happen quickly.

4. Use a cold baking pan.

Aside from an ice cream maker, you need a standard metal loaf pan. Its benefits are twofold: By freezing the pan before making the base, you are ensuring that the just-churned ice cream lands in an ice-cold dish, which helps minimise how much of the base melts between churning and freezing. Two, the loaf pan makes easy work of layering in ripples or mix-ins. After adding half of the just-churned ice cream to the pan, swirl or layer in any additions before topping with the rest of the ice cream and mix-ins.

5. Layer in mix-ins.

Mix-ins probably define many of your favourite flavours. And it is true that swirling in saucy additions and layering in other ingredients are simple ways to create a new flavour without adjusting the base.

But it is just as easy to steep herbs or crushed coffee beans in your base to make your very own fresh mint or cold brew ice cream. Once you have a handle on the basics, let your imagination run wild.

Easy Homemade Ice Cream

This easy vanilla ice cream does not contain egg yolks as a lot of ice cream recipes do. Instead, it relies on cream cheese to provide texture, stability and scoopability. While it is excellent on its own, this ice cream also makes a great base for building almost any flavour you can imagine, from strawberry cheesecake to peanut butter pie.

Ingredients

For the ice cream base:

For the additions

180g to 360g mix-ins (to taste), such as rainbow sprinkles, edible cookie dough chunks or coarsely chopped chocolate sandwich cookies, chocolate covered pretzels or peanut butter cups (optional)

Method

1. Prepare the ice cream base: Cut the cream cheese into 1.2cm pieces and set aside in a medium bowl. This bowl will be used to refrigerate the ice cream base before churning.

2. Place a 22cm by 12cm metal loaf pan in the freezer. This pan is for holding the ice cream after churning.

3. Choose a large bowl that will contain the medium bowl with some room to spare around the edges. Fill the large bowl halfway with ice and add about a cup of cold water.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Set over medium heat and cook for about six minutes, whisking often, until the mixture steams and bubbles start breaking through the surface. Remove from the heat.

5. Using a measuring cup or ladle, scoop about 60ml of the hot milk and pour it over the cream cheese. Let sit, undisturbed, for one minute, then whisk vigorously until smooth. If it looks lumpy at first, keep going: It is essential to make it smooth at this stage. Gradually stream in the remaining hot milk, whisking constantly until smooth. If there are any clumps remaining, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.

6. Set the bowl over the ice bath and whisk occasionally until the mixture cools completely. Add the vanilla extract and whisk to incorporate.

7. Remove the bowl from the ice bath. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or, preferably, overnight.

8. Make the ice cream: Pour the chilled ice cream base into an ice cream maker and churn according to machine instructions.

9. Once the ice cream has reached a thick, soft-serve consistency, remove from the machine and transfer to the chilled loaf pan. If adding mix-ins, spread half the ice cream in the pan and top with about half of your mix-ins. Swirl with a butter knife or chopstick to evenly distribute them. Top with the remaining ice cream and mix-ins, and swirl once more to distribute.

10. Press a piece of parchment paper directly against the top of the ice cream and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid for at least four hours. The ice cream will keep for a long time in the freezer, but tastes best within two weeks. When ready to serve, allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, if needed.

Yields about 1 litre of ice cream

NYTIMES