I Scream for Cheese

When we were kids, our ice cream maker was two coffee cans, ice and salt. I am not sure how many times we actually did it, but rolling those cans up and down the deck in anticipation of strawberry ice cream pride has certainly stuck with me.

Maybe it’s because I don’t really have coffee cans in my life anymore—or maybe I’m just getting old and lazy—but when I decided to make ice cream this week, instead of digging around for cans I traipsed over to my brother’s and borrowed his electric ice cream maker. Those things are great.

I made a recipe from an old issue of Gourmet (moment of silence) that called for Mahon cheese, but I substituted Manchego. The result was quite good—creamy and rich with a subtle enough cheese flavor to be interesting but not overwhelming. I highly recommend it.

It’s the name that I’m getting hung up on. “Cheese ice cream” just sounds bad. And “Manchego ice cream” is only mildly better. We endearingly called it “cheese cream” for a while, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Frozen cheese cake is probably the best description of its flavor, but that sounds like something you'd get out of the case at Baskin-Robbins. Still working on a name…

Manchego Ice Cream
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2005

3 cups whole milk
3 eggs
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces Manchego, grated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Bring milk to a boil.



• In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, and salt. Pour the hot milk into the bowl slowly while whisking.



• Pour the mixture back into the pan, and cook on low heat, stirring, until it reaches 175°F.



• Pour custard through a sieve into a clean bowl, then add cheeses and vanilla, stirring until cheeses are melted.



• Cover and refrigerate until cold, then freeze it in an ice cream maker. Or two coffee cans.