Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Before anything else, I have to give a shout out to my older brother, Greg, down on Long Island in NY who is celebrating his birthday today! Love & miss you bro!

My future daughter in law, Jenn is visiting this weekend from college. She goes to Perdue in Ft Wayne, IN and is taking a breather as she finishes up her senior year in a few weeks and graduates. She heard through the grapevine that we got an ice cream maker and I had to promise to make her some ice cream the next time she was here. One of her most favorite things is cheesecake...strawberry cheesecake to be exact, so I set out to make an ice cream with those flavors. I made sure to have a whole cheesecake and extra homemade strawberry sauce for her too.

Please note that you really should make the strawberry sauce the day before you make the ice cream so that it has enough time to cool and thicken up...I actually did, but not intentionally, so it's a good thing that I just happened to so that I could share this wisdom with you. Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Strawberry Sauce:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen Strawberries
• the juice and zest of one lemon

Graham Cracker Mixture:

• 2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Ice Cream:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix
• 1 quart heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.
Gradually stir in water until smooth.
Stir in strawberries, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon.
Stir in butter.
Pat into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in.x 1-in. baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Crumble the cooled mixture and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the ice cream ingredients.
Fill ice cream freezer cylinder; freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

In a large container, layer the ice cream, graham cracker mixture and strawberry sauce three times; swirl. Freeze.

Here is Jenn enjoying her ice cream OVER a piece of cheesecake with extra strawberry sauce!



And here she is with her fiance, my younger son, Nick. (aren't they gorgeous?!?)



This ice cream is soooo good! I hope you'll make it!

Enjoy!
Christina