Three favorite dessert ideas in one; juicy, ripe apricots plus cheesecake turned into an ice cream treat!

July is National Ice Cream Month. It’s a celebration I whole heartedly enjoy (thus the large number of ice cream recipes on this site!). Although my mouth loves custard ice creams and ice creams made from heavy cream, my stomach disagrees. So, I keep the ice cream spirit but mostly make either dairy-free or lighter versions of these frosty treats.

Start with Apricots

I love all fruit, but my very favorite must be apricots. Sadly, we have no apricots in the region this year. Once again, we had a freeze after the trees blossomed, and that was it for this year’s crop. But a while ago I froze a couple of containers of apricot puree. Luckily for me, although there are no local apricots, I can still have local apricot ice cream. This recipe would work great with any fruit puree though. You could use strawberries, raspberries, peach, mango, or plum.

Add Some Cream Cheese

I used Neufchatel cheese instead of regular cream cheese. Neufchatel isn’t quite as fatty as cream cheese, but still has the great cream cheese flavor and texture. Go ahead and use cream cheese if you like. A lower fat content results in an ice cream that freezes harder than a traditional ice cream. That’s ok. Just let it sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to soften before serving.

Sweeten with Honey

If you love honey’s full flavor, sweeten this recipe with honey. You could also use maple syrup or maybe even agave syrup (I haven’t tried this so I can’t guarantee that it works well). Regular granulated sugar can be used instead of the honey too, but dissolve the sugar in the milk by heating it on low first.

Apricot Cheesecake Ice Cream

Three favorite dessert ideas in one; juicy, ripe apricotsplus cheesecake turned into an ice cream treat!

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Equipment

• Ice Cream Maker

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups apricot puree
• 4 ounces Neufchatel cheese
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 1/2 cup honey

Instructions

 

• Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate mixture overnight or until completely cold.
• Spoon mixture into ice-cream maker. Process, following manufacturer’s directions.