Cherry cheesecake might be my favorite ice cream flavor of the summer. I used to get this flavor back on Whyte Ave in Edmonton in a little ice cream window that had whole chunks of cheesecake in it and I looooooved it. This one's inspired by that, along with one of my other favorite ice cream flavors from Earnest Ice Cream. Their carrot cake, which has these little chunks of cream cheese fudge folded right into the base. I actually started out trying to build this on a whole from-scratch no-churn ice cream but honestly, it just wasn't worth the effort. Doctoring up a good store-bought tub with homemade cream cheese fudge and a cherry swirl still tastes homemade and completely unique, and it saves you a few steps. Same goes for the blondies: if you don't want to bake, a store-bought pound cake works great here too. Just trim it to fit your pan snugly, or the ice cream will squeeze out the sides as it freezes and make a genuine mess.
These are a bit of a project, but pretty foolproof. Make them in advance for friends and I guarantee they will be in AWE!
cherry cheesecake ice cream sandwiches
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour + chill time
SERVES: 4-8 depending on how you slice them
tools i use.
tips.
make it GF: ❌ if you have a favorite GF blondie, give it a go!
make it DF: ❌
simplify: swap a store-bought pound cake sliced in 1/2 inch slices for the blondies.
storing: well-wrapped, these keep in the freezer up to 2 weeks.
riff: swap the cherry preserves for raspberry or strawberry; swap the almond extract for orange zest for a different aromatic note.