Strawberry Cheesecake Ice-Cream

Summer is almost here and if you've been (or planning to go) strawberry picking, you may be wondering what else you can do with strawberries besides making jam. Well if you like cheesecake, then you will find this ice-cream to your liking. This ice-cream is creamy, fresh-tasting, not too sweet, and makes the most of summer's very best fruit. It tastes just like strawberry cheesecake! I like to add a handful of coarsely crushed graham crackers and a handful of chopped strawberries 15 minutes before turning off the ice cream machine.

Best part? No eggs to mess with! And this dessert will taste better than your store bought ice-cream.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

Serves 4-6

• 6 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup fresh pureed strawberries (if using sugar or syrup packed frozen berries, omit the sugar in the recipe)
• 1 cup half-and-half

Add ins:

• ~1/2 cup chopped strawberries
• 1 handful of coarsely broken graham cracker crumbs (optional—but defintely good for cheesecake crust factor)

Either in food processor or blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. Chill mixture for about 1 hour, or until cold.

Turn on ice cream machine and set it to chill the freezing/mixing bowl for 5 minutes.

Spoon the cooled mixture into the freezing/mixing bowl of machine. Set the freezing timer to the 30 minute maximum setting. Push start button. If adding the chopped strawberries and graham crackers (I highly recommend!), drop them into the ice cream maker about 15-20 minutes into the freezing and let the machine incorporate the ingredients.

When timer rings, spoon ice cream into dishes and enjoy. (Sometimes, you may need to stick the ice-cream in the freezer for 10-15 minutes if the texture is not hard enough once the machine has finished its cycle--depends on the machine and how hard you like your ice-cream.)

YUM!!

**Can also make this ice-cream with cherries OR you can fill a pie shell with the ice-cream and make an ice-cream pie.