This deliciously creamy, slightly tangy cheesecake ice cream recipe combines fresh, juicy strawberries with crushed honey-graham crackers for a dream combo. Each scoop swirls with the heavenly flavors of summertime!
Before I purchased my ice cream maker, I remember debating if I should buy one. Fast-forward to today, and I think it was one of the best investments of all the kitchen gadgets we’ve purchased! I definitely have a few gadgets that collect dust, but not my ice cream maker.
Among the ice creams I have made to date are Mango Ice Cream, Lychee Coconut Ice Cream, Red Bean Ice Cream, and Green Tea Ice Cream, to name a few. Now that strawberry season is officially here, I am excited to share some ice cream and sorbet recipes that I’ve been preparing—starting with this scrumptious Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.
Table of Contents
Strawberry + Cheesecake + Ice Cream = Dream Dessert
If you love strawberry, cheesecake, and ice cream like I do, you’d consider this your dream dessert for the summertime! You get the fruity sweetness from fresh strawberries and the rich, creamy tanginess from the cheesecake base. The combo is literally bursting with flavors.
More Reasons to Love This Ice Cream
- An easy homemade ice cream recipe and it does not require that much prep time.
- It tastes just like your favorite cheesecake but in frozen form. With the addition of crushed graham crackers and juicy strawberries, it makes an extra decadent homemade ice cream!
Ingredients You Need
From a quick look at the ingredients, it is easy to see this recipe is not that complicated.
- Fresh strawberries — Fresh is best, but you could substitute frozen if you had to.
- Half-and-half cream and heavy cream — This combination gives the custard base its richness.
- Cream Cheese
- Egg yolks — A traditional custard base would not be the same without the eggs.
- Granulated sugar — This recipe does not need as much sugar due to the sweet strawberries and graham wafers.
- Honey Graham Crackers — These are broken up just enough so that the crisp chunks can compete with the strawberries.
- Vanilla extract — A natural, pure vanilla extract is always best.
Equipment
You’ll need an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer), an ice cream machine, and a food processor (for the graham crumbs) to make this strawberry cheesecake ice cream. A blender will work in place of a food processor. It is possible to hand-churn ice cream, but a machine is so much faster.
How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Gently heat the half-and-half and heavy whipping cream in a saucepan. Immediately remove from heat.
- Make the egg yolk mixture by whisking cream cheese, egg yolks, and sugar in a bowl (or stand mixer).
- Mix the scalded cream with the egg yolk mixture in batches.
- Make the custard by placing the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until the mixture thickens. Immediately remove the bowl from the heat.
- Make strawberry puree and crush the honey graham crackers.
- Add the vanilla essence and strawberry puree into the custard and stir well one last time. Cover the custard and chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
- Process the chilled custard with the ice cream machine. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the chopped strawberries and graham crackers.
- Transfer the ice cream to a container and let it sit in the freezer to set for about 3-4 hours. Enjoy!
Ready for some cold creamy ice cream right now? Let’s make it! And don’t forget to give us your ratings if you enjoyed this Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream recipe.
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Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup half-and-half (an American dairy product of equal parts whole milk and cream that contains 10.5-18% milkfat; Substitute 1: Mix 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk + 1 cup (240 ml) light cream (18-30% fat). Sub 2: Mix 1 ½ cup (360 ml) whole milk + ½ cup (120 ml) heavy cream (36-38% fat). Sub 3: Mix 1 ⅓ cup (320 ml) low-fat milk + ⅔ cup (160 ml) heavy cream.)
- ¾ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 3 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup sugar
- 6 strawberries (for puree; 6 strawberries yield ¾ cup puree)
- 4 strawberries (for chunks; 4 strawberries yield ½ cup chopped)
- 4 honey graham crackers (crushed into small bits)
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Before You Start…Please note that this recipe requires 6.5+ hours of chilling, churning, and freezing time.
- In a small saucepan bring the half-and-half and heavy whipping cream to a scalding point on medium low heat. “Scalding” means gently heating without allowing to reach boiling point. Immediately remove from heat.
- In a bowl (or stand mixer), whisk cream cheese, egg yolks and sugar till they turn light in color and fluffy.
- Once the egg yolks mixture is done, gradually pour and mix the scalding half-and-half & heavy whipping cream mixture in batches. Keep whisking constantly to avoid the eggs from curdling.
- Now place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, keep stirring continuously with a spoon until it starts to thicken up. Once the consistency is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, the custard is ready. Immediately remove the bowl from the heat and stir it for few minutes to help it to cool down a bit.
- Meanwhile, make strawberry puree, chop up strawberries, and crush the honey graham crackers.
- Now add the vanilla essence and strawberry puree and stir well one last time. Cover the custard and let it chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before making the ice cream.
- Once you’re ready to make the ice cream, transfer the chilled custard to the chilled container of your ice cream machine and process according to the manufacture’s instruction.
- During the last 5 minutes of ice cream churning in the machine, add the chopped strawberries and graham crackers. Transfer the ice cream to a container and let it sit in the freezer to set, about 3-4 hours. Serve Chilled.
We made this ice cream last spring before we tried your green tea ice cream recipe and it is so good! Everyone who tried it really loved it.
Thank you so much for your feedback! So glad to know you enjoyed this recipe. 🙂