There isn’t one person on my team who didn’t truly deserve a 10 minute ice-cream break by mid-week.  So I made them ice-cream.  It was a bit of an experiment…the recipe that is.  I hadn’t made this particular version before but it felt like cheesecake ice cream marbled with fresh raspberry sauce would go well together.  The Cherry Cheesecake & Blueberry Cheesecake versions had both been huge hits.  Let’s see if Raspberry Cheesecake would get an equally uproarious reception.

Cheesecake Ice Cream (adapted from The Perfect Scoop)

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup half-n-half
• 2/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

Sling the cream cheese into a blender along with the lemon zest (if you zest directly into the blender you save on dish-washing), sour cream, half-n-half, sugar and salt.  {Note:  if you are still using a grater to zest with I am begging you to go get a micro-plane.  You will love me, your micro-plane & all the extra time that you have because of it, forever.}

Puree until super smooth.  (I tend to wander off for 5 minutes at this point & wash dishes or put the kettle on or start making whatever sauce I am going to layer into the ice cream.)

Once really smooth, put in a container, cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the ‘fridge (overnight is good), then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Raspberry Sauce (cb)

• 6 cups fresh raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp kirsch

Pile all the raspberries into a food processor & purée the heck out of them.  Then press them through a mesh strainer to remove all the seeds.  (A flexible rubber spatula will be your best weapon for this).  Now I know that this is an *optional* (and rather annoying) step, but trust me on this one.  Those pesky seeds may be small but they will be vastly more annoying on your tongue & in your teeth than spending a few minutes straining them out.

Put the raspberry purée in a saucepan, add the sugar & heat.  Mix the water, lemon juice & cornstarch in a small dish & stir until the mixture is free of lumps.  Stir the cornstarch slurry into the raspberry purée & bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer & cook for 2 minutes.  And no cutting corners on the cooking time here.  It’s 2 minutes…you can do it.  Remove from the heat & stir in the kirsch.

Once cooled, place in a container, cover & chill overnight alongside the ice cream mixture in the ‘fridge.  The sauce will thicken considerably.  This is good.

Once you have frozen the ice-cream mixture in your machine, layer the ice-cream & raspberry sauce alternately in a container.  Do not stir the two together in the slightest.  Just layer.  Continue layering until you have no ice cream or sauce left.  Cover & freeze.

This ice cream sets on the hard side, so leave it out for 5 minutes before attempting to scoop.

Eat.  Swoon.

Seems it went down quite well if one of the instant messages from my team are anything to go by:

FH:  holy $#@% that’s good

cb:  :-)

FH:  seriously.  Eric and i are supposed to be discussing sales quotas…and we’re just staring at each other

cb:  :-0

FH:  yes – like that.  :->> more like that.  all hopped up on delicious

Be prepared to achieve ice-cream goddess status immediately.

David Lebovitz this is all your fault but our mouths still adore you.