Cheesecake Icecream and an award!

I am pleased to announce that this is my 75th post on "Tasty treats". I would like to thank all my readers, my friends for their continuing support and encouragement. If it were not for your comments and compliments, I doubt that this blog would have been a part of my life to the extent it is now. Thanks again for your support!

Yesterday I received the "Nice Matters" award from Sangeeth of Art of cooking Indian food. I am so thankful to you for your thoughtfulness!! I really appreciate your nice gesture. I would like to pass this on to

Sukanya of Hot n' Sweet bowl
Bhags of Crazy curry
Hetal of Isha's kitchen
Asha of Aroma

On that sweet note, lets move on to today's post.

As warmer weather started creeping into our lives, I saw many ice-cream recipes cropping up here and there in the blogging world. As many of you might know by now, I love desserts, especially cold desserts. So for me the most obvious choice of recipe for a cold dessert was that of an icecream. Most of the blogs have recipes with mangoes in them (one among my most favourite fruits) and I saw a recipe for mango icecream on Deeba's blog. When I went grocery shopping, I gathered up the ingredients for the mango icecream but surprisingly forgot to pick up fresh mangoes.

By the time I came back home, I was itching to make an icecream. So I decided to improvise with what I had on hand. I had a JellO Cheesecake-flavoured Instant pudding mix and decided to experiment with it. Since this was my first trial for a home-made icecream and that too without an icecream maker, I was nervous. Anyhow, I mixed all the ingredients together and froze it, beat it at intervals for a smooth and fluffy texture. Thus came about the creation of a cross between icecream and pudding! Coming to the point, the final result was marvelous!!! I never thought I could create such a tasty marvel, but then who can go wrong when you mix tasty stuff with tastier stuff!!

The good points about the icecream were 1) it was made without cream cheese but had the cheesecake flavour and 2) since it was made with the pudding mix, it set pretty quickly. 3) Another high point is that since it has the thickening agent in the pudding mix, it did not melt into a complete puddle even when kept at room temperature. It had all the taste and texture of a creamy and rich (more so because of the pudding mix) icecream. I think this would make an ideal filling for ice-cream sandwiches. We all enjoyed our first home-made icecream happily. I hope you all would try this at home. Let me know what you think of the recipe. Until then, enjoy the pictures of our cheesecake icecream. Cheers!!

This icecream obvioulsy is a calcium rich dessert and is on its way to the Beautiful Bones: An Osteoporosis Food Event hosted by Susan of the Food Blogga.

Recipe:

Cheesecake-flavoured Instant pudding mix - 1 packet (3oz)
Sweetened condensed milk - 14 oz
Whipping cream - 1 pint

2% milk - 1 cup

Method:

Mix the condensed milk and whipping cream together in a large bowl.

Beat them using an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.

Add the pudding mix into the whipping cream - condensed milk mixture and beat for 2-3 more minutes or until the mixture is airy, fluffy and smooth.

Freeze the mixture for 30 minutes to an hour.

Beat the icecream mixture using a electric hand mixer or in a food processor until smooth, creamy and fluffy.

Again, keep the mixture in the freezer and repeat the whipping/beating every 1 or 2 hours for a couple of times.

Freeze the icecream overnight or until completely set.

Soften the icecream in the refrigerator before serving.

Serve in scoopfuls, garnished with fruits, nuts or dessert sauces of your choice.

Enjoy!!

Tip:

1. I beat the icecream mixture for a total of 4-5 times (first-time prep anxiety). You dont need to do it that many times because unlike regular icecream I dont think there will be a lot of crystal formation. But just to be sure, process it atleast for a couple of times.

I am also sending this icecream to You scream, I scream, we all scream for frozen desserts hosted by Mike of Mike's table.