Peach Cheesecake Ice Cream

We're fortunate to have a local peach orchard not too far away and I recently picked up half a bushel of my favorite late summer fruit.  That worked out to be 22 pounds, in case you're wondering.  (yes, I did haul out my kitchen scale to weigh them.....I just had to know.)

That's a lot of peaches.

I stuck at least half of them in our extra fridge in the garage so they wouldn't ripen too fast and left the rest on the counter.  My constantly hungry kiddos would make fast work of them, I was sure.

I had every intention of making peach freezer jam, and even bought the pectin for it.....but when I saw that the recipe called for a cup and a half more sugar than peaches, I just couldn't bring myself to make it.
Should have bought that less-sugar required pectin.

Also on my list of things to make was Peach Cobbler Scones.  Those I made on Saturday - the recipe will be coming soon.  Delish.

But above all else, I wanted to make peach ice cream.
But not just plain peach ice cream - peach cheesecake ice cream!
I couldn't get the idea out of my head.

So what I basically did was take the basic vanilla ice cream that I usually make and added a bunch of pureed peaches, with a block of cream cheese replacing one of the cups of cream.  I toyed with the idea of swirling in crumbled homemade ginger snaps or something of the like, but ended up just deciding to sprinkle individual servings with crushed graham crackers.

It was so. good.

Grant (aka Mr.Chocolate) was admittedly skeptical of it.  He was convinced that he wouldn't really care for it.  But after one spoonful, he was SOLD.  

In my opinion, nothing you buy at the store can hold a candle to homemade ice cream.  It's so rich, satisfying, and free of weird ingredients. (carrageenan, anyone??)  And this version, with so many sweet, juicy peaches in it, must have a full serving of fruit per scoop.  What store-bought ice cream can boast that?

Peach Cheesecake Ice Cream
Makes a generous 2 quarts
(a Rebekah original)

1-1/2 pounds fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 8 (oz) package cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice sugar)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
Graham crackers for garnish (optional)

1. Place peach slices and cream cheese (cut into small pieces) into a blender or food processor.  Puree until smooth.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the milk and sugar and mix for a few minutes on medium speed, until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is smooth. I test it by rubbing a small amount of mixture between my fingers to make sure there's no grittiness left.
3. Add the peach cream cheese mixture to the milk and stir to combine.  Add the vanilla and cream and stir gently.
4. Pour into your ice cream maker and proceed according to your manufacturer's directions.

Mine nearly overflowed my Cuisinart 2-quart ice cream maker - so if yours is smaller, reduce the recipe in half or only freeze part of it at a time.