Ricotta Cheese Ice Cream is a good one to make for the cannoli lovers in your life. It's a pretty simple ice cream recipe calling for milk, sugar, cream, eggs, and ricotta cheese. I made it because I needed to use up the rest of a carton of Galbani, a brand of ricotta I used recently in Italian Love Cake. It's my new favorite brand.
Ice Cream That is Not Too Sweet
This ice cream is not too sweet, which is great since so many store bought ice creams are super sugary. The ricotta is very prominent here. The flavor is vanilla, but with a little lemon zest to give it more of a cannoli taste. You could also incorporate anise, but I drew the line there because I thought it would clash with the chocolate chunks. We always get chocolate chips in our cannoli so the chocolate fits the theme. And these chunks will melt in your mouth because they're made with melted chocolate and coconut oil.
Whole Eggs
Another reason I love this ice cream recipe is because it's made with whole eggs. Some recipes contain yolks only, but the recipes with whole eggs tend to be slightly lighter and are just easier to deal with. You don't have to worry about what to do with the whites when making Ricotta Cheese Ice Cream.
Ice Cream Maker
My recipe is adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, which is an older book that you should grab if you can find it. And of course if you don't have one, an ice cream maker is a great investment. They come in all price ranges. A basic barrel model Cuisinart will last for years, or you can splurge and buy a compressor type ice cream maker which I did and do not regret. Here's an old review of the Cuisinart Ice 100 I bought last year.
Recipe
Ricotta Cheese Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups good quality ricotta cheese
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste of vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
- 3 oz dark chocolate
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
Instructions
- Bring milk to a simmer in a medium size saucepan.
- In a mixing bowl, beat or vigorously whisk together the sugar and eggs.
- Gradually whisk milk into egg mixture, then add back to saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon until slightly thickened. Tracks should form on the spoon. Also, this shouldn't take long -- maybe 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the ricotta cheese, letting it melt into the custard.
- Strain into a clean bowl. Whisk in the heavy cream, vanilla and lemon.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours or overnight until very cold.
- Following the ice cream machine directions, churn your ice cream.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in a microwave. Let cool slightly. Remove your ice cream container from the machine and drizzle the chocolate mixture right into it. If it doesn't set immediately, put the whole canister in the freezer for a minute to set the chocolate.
- With a big spoon, break up the chocolate pieces and stir into the soft ice cream. Spoon into containers.
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