Salted Carmel Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwich

I had a cheesecake craving this week. It all started when I went to the bakery last week and I was all set to order a slice of cheesecake; but, they had completely run out of it. Even though I had already planned my post this week to feature a salted caramel ice cream, when I was in the kitchen, I realized that I still really wanted cheesecake. And that's when the idea hit me: How about a cheesecake ice cream with salted butter caramel drizzles and graham cracker pieces, too? Thinking it through some more, I figured that cheesecake ice cream drizzled with caramel and sandwiched in between a couple pieces of graham crackers would be the best route.

So it was born -- the Salted Carmel Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwich. Obviously this isn't your traditional baked New York style cheesecake. The ice cream is airy, sweet and cream cheesy. The salted caramel drizzle brings in a sweet buttery flavor; and the tiny bit of salt enhances the cream cheese flavor of the ice cream.

This cheesecake ice cream is very versatile. You can serve it with fresh fruit. You can even crush up graham crackers and  use it as a bed for your ice cream, then add some fresh black berries (or any other fresh berries you have on hand) to make a totally different dessert. 

Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cups sugar

8 oz package cream cheese

pinch of salt

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

The Salted Carmel Sauce can be found on my previous post "Sassy Strawberry."

In a medium sauce pan, heat 1 cup of the heavy cream, milk, and sugar. When the mixture is warm, temper the 3 egg yolks in a separate bowl. Once 3/4 of the mixture has been tempered with the eggs, pour the ice cream batter back into the sauce pan and return to the heat. Add the cream cheese and, if you desire a bit more tanginess, you can include some sour cream. Use a whisk to break up the cream cheese and make the ice cream base smooth. After the ice cream base reaches a low boil, remove it from the heat. Place the ice cream base in a heat proof bowl. Next, stir in the remaining heavy cream, salt and vanilla extract. Place in an ice bath for 1 hour and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.  Follow your ice cream maker instructions. When your cheesecake ice cream is a soft serve consistency, place the half of the ice cream in a 9x9 inch freezer safe pan.  Let the ice cream set up in the freezer.

To make the ice cream sandwiches, break some of your graham crackers in half and use them as patterns to cut out ice cream squares in the 9x9 pan. Place an ice cream square on top of one half of your graham cracker, drizzle on your salted butter caramel, and then place the other half of your graham cracker on top of your ice cream sandwich.  

You can serve your Salted Caramel Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwich with a side of caramel sauce for those with an extra big sweet tooth. 

Enjoy.

Bao

Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

Since I began making homemade ice cream, I have had the grand desire to make great homemade ice cream sandwiches. I've seen many reviews of big fat ice cream sandwiches on huge cookies. But I don't necessary think bigger is always better. And I think after a while of eating all that ice cream your frozen taste buds won't be able taste the cookie or ice cream anymore.

This Christmas my lovely wife bought a set of ice cream sandwich molds, which really got my juices flowing. I read the instructions for the molds and they suggest using a store-bought cookie dough and rolling it out into a baking sheet. Once the cookie is baked and still soft, the instructions say to use the mold to punch out the top and bottom part of the ice cream sandwich.

I wanted to bring up the degree of difficulty and make my own cookie dough, so I searched my favorite food sites and blogs and landed on a sugar cookie recipe. When I was rolling out the sugar cookie dough, I thought it would be easier to stamp them with the mold and then bake them since sugar cookies for the most part retain their shape during baking.

I think my steps worked out pretty well, for the most part. I was able to place the bottom part of the cookie in the mold and fill in the chocolaty homemade ice cream. I then removed the mold and placed the top cookie. The ice cream sandwich was good but not great. I'm going to have to try again as it was a little messy to eat.  I was looking for a softer cookie so that when you bite into the ice sandwich it doesn't push the ice cream out.

As a quick alternative, I had some Trader Joe "Joe Joe's" (Oreo-like cookies), so I scraped out the creme and stuffed it with some dark chocolate ice cream. These were delicious and almost bite size, mini ice cream sandwiches.

Thank you for reading my first ice cream post of the year. Stay tuned for exciting new flavors.

Raspberry Ice Cream Sandwich

Raspberry Ice Cream Sandwich

If you like raspberries and chocolate than this is your ice cream sandwich. The raspberry ice cream is not to tart and overly sweet and it compliments the chocolate chocolate chip cookie letting the cookie share the spotlight.

The recipe for the the Raspberry Ice Cream is:

2 cups of heavy cream
1 1/4 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 egg yolk
Raspberry reduction of 1 1/2 lbs of frozen raspberries

To make the raspberry reduction place 1 1/2 lbs of frozen raspberries in a medium size sauce pan along with 1/4 of sugar and 1/4 cup of water let it reduce to a syrup consistency and then strain the reduction through a fine mesh strainer. If you like your ice cream with a little bit of texture and you can place one or two tablespoons of the seed and pulp back in the strained reduction. Let it cool and then we will add it to the ice cream base.

For the ice cream base in a medium size saucepan mix sugar, milk, 1 cup of cream and salt  and place over medium heat stirring occasionally until it begins to bubble on side. In a medium size heatproof bowl place the egg yolks and lightly stir them. Once the milk and cream is at a slight boil temper the eggs with the mixture until all the milk and cream is in the bowl. Then pour the milk, egg and cream mixture back into the saucepan and then bring it up to 170 degrees (F). Then place the ice cream base in an ice bath. Pour in the rest of the cream and then add the vanilla and raspberry reduction. Let the mixture cool and then place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before churning in you ice cream maker.

Let me know if you have any question and thank you for all your comments!

Coffee Ice Cream Sandwich

Coffee Ice Cream Sandwich

I made an Italian Roast Coffee Ice cream from Jeni's Britton Bauer ice cream book. A great rich and decadent ice cream sandwich a  great way to end a dinner.

IT'S IT Mint Ice Cream Sandwich

National Ice Cream Month - Day 9

It's the other San Francisco treat. IT'S IT is a scoop of delicious ice cream sandwiched between to big oatmeal cookies and dipped in chocolate. It is one of the best mass produced ice cream sandwiches I have had. And it is made in San Francisco California.

The ice cream is nice and soft and very minty. As you can tell from the picture it is very green. It does look a bit unnatural but you will soon get over that as  you bite into the smooth minty ice cream combined with a soft chewy oatmeal cookie dipped in chocolate leaves you mouth so rich and tingly.

If you don't know where to get an IT'S IT ice cream sandwich you are in luck. If you order from their website they will be more than happy to ship you a case.  Let me know your thoughts on these delicious ice cream sandwiches.

Daisen Choco Monaka

National Ice Cream Month - Day 7

Today  I saw this interesting Ice Cream Sandwich  it was called Daisen Choco Monaka. It has a top and bottom layer of made of  a soft waffle shell and in the middle it was filled vanilla ice cream and a top and bottom layer of milk chocolate.

It was a very interesting combination. I would have liked it more if the ice cream was of better quality. The vanilla ice cream was very icy and so I thought I let it warm up a bit. After a couple of minutes I took another bite and the icyness went away but it didn't improve the quality of the ice cream. The waffle was okay it wasn't very crispy a little soggy and the milk chocolate was crunchy and it was just okay as well.

Definitely an interesting concept for an ice cream sandwich but taste and quality wise it doesn't hold up very well.

Zesty Lemon Sugar Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

Zesty Lemon Sugar Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich


I made these Lemon Sugar Cookies and then I made a simple vanilla ice cream. A simple and easy treat.

Ice Cream Month 2012 - Day 5

Homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwich.

Day 1 - Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwich

Yippee first day of Ice Cream month!!

Day 4 - Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich