Goat Cheese and Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

After putting goat cheese into these cookies, I started thinking about what else I could add goat cheese to. I believe I was sitting on my couch, where I typically blog from, when I got the idea to put goat cheese in ice cream! Originally, I wanted to do a goat cheese ice cream with a lemon curd, but overtime that idea changed. 

Recently, I have been trying to be more conscious of how flavors work with each other. So, the more I thought about the lemon and goat cheese ice cream, I realized the flavors were both of the tart variety. Instead I decided I wanted the swirl to be sweet and work off of the tartness of the goat cheese. And finally the native strawberries are in, so I thought they would be the perfect "swirling" fruit!

Goat Cheese and Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Goat Cheese Ice Cream Base:

8 oz goat cheese, sightly softened

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole milk

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 ¼ cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Strawberry Swirl: 

3 cups chopped strawberries

1 Tablespoon honey

2 Tablespoons sugar

½ cup water 

Directions:

1.     Wash, dry and freeze ice cream canister according to manufacturer’s directions 24 hours in advance.

2.     In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, paddle goat cheese and salt on medium until smooth, about 3-5 minutes.

3.     In a small bowl combine cornstarch and about ¼ cup of the milk, or alternatively combine by vigorously shaking in a closed container, until smooth.

4.     In a medium saucepan (about 4 quart capacity) combine cream, sugar, honey and remaining milk. Bring mixture to a boil, then boil for EXACTLY 4 minutes, set a timer to do so. After 4 minutes, immediately remove saucepan from heat and whisk in the milk and cornstarch slurry.

5.     Slowly whisk hot cream mixture, in roughly 4 additions, into goat cheese until mixture is smooth with no lumps. Whisk in vanilla pasta and vanilla.

6.     Cover the surface of the ice cream base directly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight or until cold.

7.     Meanwhile, make the strawberry swirl by combining strawberries, honey, sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chill until ready to use.

8.     When ready to churn, transfer chilled ice cream base to a large plastic bag.

9.     Once mixture has chilled, remove ice cream canister from freezer. Cut the corner of plastic bag, pour ice cream base into ice cream machine, and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

10.  While ice cream is churning, line a loaf pan or other container with parchment paper. Spread 2-3 Tablespoons of strawberry swirl in the bottom of the loaf pan. Once ice cream is ready, transfer half of the ice cream to the loaf pan, spreading it into a smooth, even layer. Place half of the remaining strawberry mixture on top of ice cream in pan. Transfer remaining ice cream to pan and top with remaining strawberry swirl. Use a knife to “swirl” the strawberry throughout the ice cream. Press parchment over the surface of ice cream, and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm.

11.   Prior to serving, let ice cream stand at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly softened.

Notes:

Instead of chilling overnight, ice cream and swirl can be chilled in plastic bags using an ice bath. See this recipe for technique.

If ice cream is crumbly when scooping, let soften for a few more minutes.

Ice Cream Adapted from Jeni's via Food52

Print Recipe Here