Blueberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Goat cheese – it’s a divisive one. But it has a signature tang that elevates a standard scoop of ice cream to a gourmet-feeling dessert. In this version, kick it up an additional notch with a color swirl of homemade blueberry jam.

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This is a fun ice cream recipe for a couple reasons. First, how can you not love that color? Blueberries are truly magical when it comes to their exciting and bright hues. Since these berries are smashed and cooked before being swirled into their tangy ice cream counterpart, you tend to get a nice, bold purple out of them.

But also, don’t forgot about the goat cheese. On the surface, it’s invisible, but as soon as you take a bite, your tongue will tingle with the tart and earthy flavor it’s so famous for. The sweetness from the blueberries makes it all dance around your mouth, and come together in creamy, complex goodness.

What You Need to Get Started

You can easily find all of the ingredients for this blueberry goat cheese ice cream at your grocery store:

• Fridge: Egg yolks, Milk, Goat cheese, Cream
• Pantry: Sugar
• Produce: Blueberries
• Equipment: Mixing bowls, Whisk, Saucepans, Ladle, Wooden spoon, Plastic wrap, Ice cream maker

How to Make the Blueberry Jam Swirl

Throughout the midsummer, my fridge is basically just constantly filled with freshly picked blueberries. That means I am constantly pairing them with all kinds of different flavors. In this case, I enjoy the juxtaposition of the sweet-tart berries with the tangy-tart goat cheese. It’s really a lovely balance.

To get started, gather up your blueberries. Whether they are freshly picked during a fun summer outing, from the farm market or grocery store, or even frozen, this ice cream will be delicious. If you are working with frozen berries, thaw them in the fridge overnight first.

I’m going to start with the jam in this walkthrough of the recipe, but you can also make the custard first. As long as both are chilled and ready to go around the same time, the order doesn’t matter.

This blueberry jam comes together pretty quickly. Essentially, you just need to add the berries and sugar to a saucepan, and heat them together. You don’t really need a lot of water, but a small splash, or just not drying the berries after rinsing them, will help the sugar dissolve a little faster.

Stir the mixture frequently at first, as the berries begin to change from the light blue color to a darker shade of purple. The skins will start to burst and the berries will release their juices. Continue cooking, stirring a bit less often as it cooks down and thickens. After about ten minutes, it should be nice and jammy.

Transfer the blueberry jam to a jar or bowl and refrigerate it to chill. After about a couple hours, it should be cool to the touch, which means it’s ready to use. You can also store it in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks, if you prefer to make this in advance.

Let’s Make Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Now it’s time to start the custard for the ice cream! This has an egg base, which means that we will be cooking the custard and then chilling it. Making ice cream isn’t difficult, but it does take some time and patience, especially when there are eggs involved.

Begin by preparing the egg yolks. When separating your eggs, try to get only the yolks, but a little bit of white won’t hurt anything. Also, you don’t need to worry about them breaking, since it doesn’t matter.

Add a third of the sugar into a heatproof bowl with the yolks, and then whisk these together. You’ll want to do this for about a minute or two, until the mixture is noticeably lightened in color, and the sugar has mostly dissolved into the egg yolks. Set the bowl aside.

Begin cooking the custard in a large saucepan by combining the milk and goat cheese together. Heat these over medium high, stirring pretty frequently to break apart the cheese and let it melt into the milk. It will be fully incorporated when there are no large chunks of cheese.

At this point, add the cream and the rest of the sugar into the pot with the milk. Continue cooking on medium high, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to bubble on the edges. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the pot from the heat, being careful not to let it boil over.

The next step is the most difficult part of making ice cream, and it can be helpful to have a friend help you out. To temper the eggs, you’ll want to heat them up slowly so they don’t scramble. This means you’ll be adding little bits of the hot liquid at a time while keeping them constantly moving.

Have your partner continuously whisk the eggs, keeping them moving throughout the entire tempering process. Constant movement is essential to heat to eggs without scrambling them.

Then, use a ladle to slowly add the cream mixture into the egg mixture. Continue adding spoonfuls of the hot cream into the eggs while stirring until you have added most of it. At the point when you are struggling to fill your ladle, and the bowl with the eggs is quite warm, it will be good.

Add everything back into the pot, and be sure to scrape the bowl with a flexible spatula, so you don’t miss out on any ice cream. Cook the custard over low heat, but it should not be bubbling. Stir this constantly, but slowly, for at least ten minutes, or until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Transfer the custard to a clean medium bowl, and again, be sure to get all of that creamy goodness into the bowl. If there are bits of custard stuck to the pot that don’t come off easily, leave those behind.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, with the plastic touching the surface of the custard. This will keep it from forming a skin on top, which makes for more delicious ice cream. Place the covered bowl in the fridge, and chill it for at least four hours, or even overnight if you have the time.

Depending on your ice cream machine, you may not churn yours exactly like mine. I use a  KitchenAid mixer with the ice cream attachment, so it takes mine about twenty minutes to get all fluffed up and frozen. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your machine to churn the custard.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container or metal loaf pan. I like a nice long and narrow container, which allows more room for getting really good looking scoops. Add a few plops of ice cream, alternating with spoonfuls of the chilled blueberry jam. Use a butter knife to add swirls.

As a variation, you can freeze the goat cheese ice cream in a container on its own, and serve it with the blueberry jam as a topping. This also lets you try some different toppings that complement goat cheese, like honey or the topping from this apple cheesecake.

Chill the ice cream for about four hours, and then it’s ready to serve. You can store the frozen ice cream for up to a week. If it’s very hard when scooping, rinse the scoop under warm water, and then allow the scoops in the bowls to rest at room temperature for about ten minutes before enjoying a taste.

How to Serve Blueberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream

You can eat this tasty dessert all on its own, especially since it basically has a built-in topping! Try it in a cup or a cone, or both, if you are especially untalented at eating ice cream from cones, like I am.

It also makes a wonderful complement to other tasty treats. Who can resist a scoop of ice cream on top of a slice of super easy fruit pie (try filling it with blueberries!) or a big spoonful of apple and pear crisp. Or make an ice cream sandwich between two soft blueberry cheesecake cookies.

Go all out by making this selection the centerpiece of an ice cream sundae bar. Or expand it to a full midsummer dessert spread with corn fritters, peach cupcakes, and plum jam cookie bars.

Use Up Leftover Ingredients

• Blueberries are so good for breakfast too, like in these streusel-topped pancakes, or a french toast bake.
• Leftover goat cheese is a great excuse to fry up some beet and goat cheese latkes, or try pear tart bars with a tangy crumble.
• Use extra cream, milk, egg yolks, and sugar by making a different flavor of ice cream! Try rich decaf coffee or strawberry sundaes.
• Not sure how to use all those egg whites? A honey pavlova with chai-poached plums has you covered.

Special Equipment

• Mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Saucepans
• Ladle
• Wooden spoon
• Plastic wrap
• Ice cream maker

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• Pink striped napkin
• Pink ice cream container
• Ice cream cones
• Ceramic berry basket
• Pyrex measuring cup
• Wooden trivet
• Small purple bowl