I know that many people have success making ice cream without an ice cream maker. They do this by alternatively freezing and mixing the ice cream mixture to make sure that large ice crystals don’t form. Personally I haven’t had much luck with this method, but you are welcome to try. Alternatively, you can buy a basic ice cream maker for around $30 but I warn you once you start to make your own it can become a little addictive. The only issue with this ice cream is that it needs to be made and eaten the same day, if you don't it turns rock hard and is pretty nasty. I am working on the recipe, but when we got to the one below the entire house was pretty over cheesecake ice cream.
When you make this ice cream, it may seem that a serve is small. However let me say that it is very very rich and even my husband, who traditionally has no problems in eating large helpings says that one serve is plenty. If he has a second serve (which he has been want to do) by the end he is finding it heavy going. Serving fruit with this also lightens the dish and makes you feel like you are eating a decent serving of desert.
½ Cup Sweetner (I use splenda, but the choice is yours)
Zest of one Lemon
2 Tablespoons on lemon juice
Method
Put the softened cream cheese in a mixer ideally with a paddle attachment. If you are using a standard mixer you may need to mix a little longer because you want to make sure that there are no little bits of cheese in your finished mix. Add the sweetener and mix until the sweetener is dissolved.Add the lemon zest and the juice. Finally slowly add the milk. When it is all well incorporated add to your ice cream machine and process using the manufactures instructions. Ice cream makers differ pretty widely, with mine, I need to process the mix for about 45 minutes, but you will need to keep an eye on yours the first time to work out how long you need.Just bear in mind the fact that the addition of the cream cheese makes this mix fairly robust and it will probably take a little less time than standard milk based ice cream mix.
