Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

For my first time making homemade ice cream, I picked a great recipe to try out! This is absolutely delish! I have memories of homemade ice cream in the month of july and decided to finally try it myself. My sister-in-law gave us an ice cream maker for Christmas one year, and I have waited til now to break it out. I think I was a little nervous. What was I thinking...it was so easy! My family has a tradition of watching Fireworks and eating homemade ice cream and cookies to celebrate Pioneer Day. We all love this tradition and I am looking forward to it. I am especially excited for my boys to see the fireworks. There is something about being a parent and watching your child experience things for the first time that I just love. No more rambling...onto this yummy ice cream!
I think that some of the best recipes are found in your instruction book. At least this one was a winner! The only thing that I will do different next time is leave my graham crackers more chunky and not complete crumbs. I also used fresh strawberries. I used my handy dandy egg slicer to get them cut into small pieces running the strawberry through one way, then turning it a quarter turn and running through the other way to make small squares. It worked for me! I cut them up the day before and put them in the fridge until I was ready to use them. Look out...here come the calories! Now you will know why it tasted soooo good!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

1 8-ounce pkg cream cheese (softened)

2 cups frozen strawberries (slightly thawed)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

Allow cream cheese to soften and the strawberries to become slightly thawed. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add condensed milk until smooth, (I used my hand mixer...you could use a blender). Mix in heavy whipping cream and vanilla. Chop strawberries into small peices and stir into mixture. Stir in graham cracker crumbs. Mix well. Pour into canister. Plug in your machine, add your ice and salt, and let it churn, churn, churn!

When I was young we always wanted to be around when the ice cream was done, because Grandma & Grandpa would let us have the best taste... right off the dasher spatula. If we were lucky they would leave a lot of ice cream on it. I enjoyed licking it all by myself this time! Enjoy!

My favorite way to eat this yummy treat is in a nice sugar cone. It is a cool treat for a hot summer day! Happy Pioneer Day! I will be spending the rest of the week with family, in fact I get to go to my sister's kitchen and see what she has been up to. I'm excited to try out her yummy donuts on Pioneer Day!