Cheesecake-inspired ice cream

Here I go again with the ice cream. I originally was thinking about making an ice cream with the flavor of s'mores, but I couldn't figure out exactly how I was going to get the toasted marshmallow flavor.

If I had any marshmallows sitting around, I would have toasted them, then melted them into the milk. But that's not something I have on hand all that often.

But the s'more idea got me thinking about graham crackers, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to infuse graham cracker flavor into the ice cream.

And then what?

Cheesecake, of course. I had the graham crackers and dairy, so all I needed to do was figure out what flavors to add to give it a cheesecake flavor.

I think I nailed it.

Since my favorite cheesecake ever had an almond flavor, I decided to add a little almond extract here. It's optional, though.

You can buy creme fraiche, but it's incredibly simple to make your own. Recipe here.

Essence of Cheesecake Ice Cream

1 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 graham crackers
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup creme fraiche
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Combine the milk and heavy cream in a small bowl. Add the graham crackers. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour or two. Or longer, if you have other things to do.

Strain the mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl. Discard the graham cracker sludge.

Add the sugar and salt to the milk/cream mixture and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Add the cream fraiche and stir or whisk until combined. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and the almond extract, if you're using it.

Refrigerate the mixture until it's well-chilled. Since most of the ingredients were cold to begin with, it shouldn't take long - an hour should do.

Churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

When it's done churning, transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

Yum