Creole cream cheese is a sort of tart, sort of sweet soft cheese found in and around New Orleans (if you know where to look). While you can make your own (recipe here), I buy mine from Dorignac’s Food Center in Metairie.
Useful in a number of traditional recipes (savory crabmeat or crawfish cheesecakes, panna cotta, casseroles, etc), I like it in ice cream.
Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 (12-ounce) package Creole cream cheese
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and eggs. Whisk until fluffy and pale yellow in color. In a medium sauce pan combine milk and cream. Bring to simmer. Remove milk from heat and slowly blend one ladle into the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Once tempered, mix egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk, stirring until all is incorporated. Turn the heat back on and add vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Once the mixture has thickened to coat the back of the spoon, put in a container and chill overnight or a minimum of 4 hours.
After chilling, thoroughly blend the Creole cream cheese into the custard mixture and whisk until all lumps are removed. Pour mixture into a ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Place ice cream in the freezer for it to thicken prior to serving.
This rich vanilla ice cream is good on its own but even better with slices of fresh fruit or accompanying your favorite cobbler, crisp, buckle, crumble, etc.
