5 / 3 votes

Sweet Cream Ice Cream

This sweet cream ice cream recipe contains no vanilla. And no eggs. Just milk, heavy cream, sugar, and cream cheese. And it tastes just like Cold Stone Creamery's version that started the whole sweet cream sensation.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 332

Equipment

Ice cream maker

Ingredients

▢ 2 2/3 cups whole milk
▢ 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
▢ 4 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
▢ 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
▢ 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
▢ 3/4 cup granulated sugar
▢ 1/4 cup light corn syrup, [Editor's Note: Just to clarify, this is different than high-fructose corn syrup and is not nearly as terrible for you. Promise.]

US - Metric

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons milk with the cornstarch to make a smooth slurry.
In a slightly larger bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt until smooth.
Fill a large bowl halfway with ice water.
In a 4-quart saucepan, combine the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Keep it at a boil for 4 minutes.
Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon resealable plastic freezer bag, squeezing out as much air as possible before sealing it. Submerge the bag filled with the ice cream base in the ice water and let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes or tuck it in the fridge and let it rest for up to several hours.
Process the ice cream base according to your ice cream machine manufacturer's directions. (The ice cream mixture will be very thick even when you begin to churn it. Don't fret. This is okay.)
Transfer the churned ice cream into a container with a lid. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface of the ice cream and seal it. Stash the ice cream in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Notes

Sweet Cream Ice Cream Variation

Sweet Cream Ice Cream With Fruit Swirl Variation

To layer jam or caramel sauce into ice cream, start by drizzling a spoonful of jam or caramel in the bottom of the storage container and spread a layer of ice cream over it. Add a few more spoonfuls of gooey stuff over the nooks of the ice cream. The sauce should not cover the underlying layer of ice cream. Then add another ice cream layer. Continue the sauce and ice cream layering until all the ice cream is used. Note that you do not want to “swirl” the sauce into the ice cream because it will get lost; instead, try to keep it in small pockets throughout the ice cream for a more dramatic presentation and flavor. We also like to add a few final spoonfuls of sauce on the top for decoration, just before covering everything with parchment.

What Else You Can Do With Sweet Cream Ice Cream

This sweet cream ice cream recipe is my classic, creamy, smooth ice cream base for several recipes—it can be used to make any flavor you wish. It’s the ideal blank canvas. It’s wonderful by itself or in a sundae or with any sauce or jam layered throughout. You can customize it with the addition of essential oils and extracts, fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, crumbled cakes, cookies, as well as jams and sauces. One of our all-time biggest hits, and one of my personal favorites, is where the sweet cream ice cream is swirled with blackberry jam.

Nutrition