Blueberry Cheese Ice Cream (No Churn)
Blueberry Cheese Ice Cream. No Machine. So Easy. So Good. Simple ice cream bliss, chocked full of berries and tangy cream cheese. Rich, velvety, creamy, yummy.
Servings: 1.5 Litre ice cream
Ingredients
Blueberry compote
- 250 g fresh blueberrries
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
Cream cheese ice cream
- 250 g cream cheese @room temperature
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 150 ml sweetened condensed milk
- 450 ml heavy cream whipped to soft peaks.
- 7 Lotus Biscoff biscuits (optional) with milk chocolate cream
Instructions
- Combine the blueberries, lemon juice , sugar and cook till the berries are soft and saucy. Mush a little if you like blueberry bits instead of whole blueberries. Cool completely.
- Whisk the cream cheese together with the lemon juice until fully softened. Set aside
- Whisk heavy cream on low speed until soft peaks. Add the whipped cream cheese, condensed milk and vanilla essence. To avoid over whipping, using a spatula and gently combine until well mixed.
- Add in the blueberry compote and crushed biscotti biscuits in 2 parts. Do not mix in completely; just give it a few swirls to get pretty blueberry whirls in the cheese ice cream.
- Transfer into an ice cream tub or airtight container. Sprinkle the top with any remaining blueberry compote and biscotti. Flatten a piece of cling wrap or parchment onto the surface of the ice cream to keep it as airtight as possible. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight.
- When serving, take the ice cream out from the freezer and set aside to soften for ~30 minutes OR depending on the weather where you are, you can do more or less until it has softened to that perfect scoop texture. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
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No churn ice cream tends to be more icy as the lack of churning does not break up the structure of the ice cream as much resulting in larger ice crystals which creates ici-ness. The following are some tips which I find helps to produce a smoother and softer ice cream texture.
#1 Do not overwhip the cream - because this is a no churn ice cream, stop whisking the cream at soft peaks. When all the fruit compote and cream cheese has been added and combined, you want the batter to have the texture of melted ice cream at room temperature and this is more easily achieved with soft peaked whipped cream. I find the ice cream batter with this sort of consistency produces a smoother and softer and less icy scoopable texture.
#2 Air tight please! - to keep the ice cream as air tight as possible, a good way is to flatten a piece of cling wrap, wax paper or parchment, sealing the surface of the ice cream to prevent contact with air. This helps to reduce ici-ness and prevent freezer burn.
#3 Be patient and find the right ‘soft’ spot - this Blueberry Cheese Ice Cream freezes hard. Therefore it needs to soften at room temperature for an appropriate period of time before it gives that creamy perfect scoop. How long one may ask? Depends on your environment and when you are serving it. For me, it took ~ 30min on a hot afternoon but longer when it was served as after dinner dessert on a rainy evening. So be patient, give it the space to soften and find your perfect ‘soft’ spot.
#4 Small is good - store the ice cream in smaller containers which can be preferably served and consumed at a single sitting. With larger-sized containers, taking the ice cream out & letting it soften for a serving, before freezing it again causes the ice crystals to expand and therefore ici-ness. That is also typically the reason why even with commercial ice cream, the more it is refrozen after scooping, it still tends to harden and become icy.
#5 Storage - this Blueberry Cheese Ice Cream tastes best eaten in the first 2 days and can be kept for 3 to 5 days stored airtight (note tip #2 above) in the freezer. Home made ice cream is never designed for longevity. Therefore in the au naturale world of homemade ice cream, be sure to make and enjoy yours as fresh as possible!