The key to delicious homemade ice cream? Cream cheese
UNITED STATES – Imagine a cookie dough ice cream that actually has enough cookie dough in it: That is just one thrill of making your own ice cream.
Sure, it requires a machine and a bit of patience, but there is nothing sweeter on a hot summer day than scooping a flavour of your creation.
I fell in love with making ice cream when I was young, helping my mum manage ice and salt levels in an old-fashioned churning bucket . That passion eventually led me to complete a professional ice cream course at Penn State's Department of Food Science.
These days, I like to experiment with flavours based on other desserts, such as peanut butter pie, with chocolate cookie pieces (the crust) and chocolate shards (the topping) rippling through creamy peanut butter ice cream (the filling). It is a recipe that captures the pie's best – and one you probably will not find at scoop shops.
Half the fun of making ice cream at home is letting yourself get creative, and the base recipe I I have included here, along with these tips, are all you need to get started .
1. Start with a secret ingredient.
The key to really delicious homemade ice cream is in the dairy aisle, but it is not heavy cream or eggs. It is cream cheese.
Many at-home ice cream recipes call for egg yolks to create a creamy, scoopable custard base, but a lot of commercial options are Philadelphia-style, which is made without eggs. Instead, these commercial makers use stabilisers and sweeteners that home cooks might not be able to buy.
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Cream cheese already contains stabilisers, which keep the final ice cream softer, creamier and easier to scoop for a longer time. Pair it with the correct balance of milk, cream and sugar, and you will have a base that tastes deeply of dairy but will not necessarily be described as cream cheesy.
2. Create a smooth base.
It is important to add the cream cheese at the last stage of this base recipe. After the milk is warmed, it is poured over room-temperature cream cheese to prevent lumps and curdling. If there are tiny clumps, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.
3. Chill well before churning.
Setting the base in an ice bath before transferring it to the refrigerator gives it a head start on chilling. You will want to keep it in the fridge for a minimum of four hours and a maximum of two days. Often referred to as the base's ageing process, this time allows the flavour to develop and deepen. Think of this period as you would resting cookie dough: It lets the flavours mingle and really get to know one another.
While there is some debate over the impact of this ageing process on final flavour and texture, the most compelling reason for doing it is that it guarantees a very cold base, which will churn up more smoothly. A crucial part of the process is ensuring everything is as cold as possible so that the final freezing stages happen quickly.
4. Use a cold baking pan.
Aside from an ice cream maker, you need a standard metal loaf pan. Its benefits are twofold: By freezing the pan before making the base, you are ensuring that the just-churned ice cream lands in an ice-cold dish, which helps minimise how much of the base melts between churning and freezing . Two, the loaf pan makes easy work of layering in ripples or mix-ins. After adding half of the just-churned ice cream to the pan, swirl or layer in any additions before topping with the rest of the ice cream and mix-ins.
5. Layer in mix-ins.
Mix-ins probably define many of your favourite flavours. And it is true that swirling in saucy additions and layering in other ingredients are simple ways to create a new flavour without adjusting the base.
But it is just as easy to steep herbs or crushed coffee beans in your base to make your very own fresh mint or cold brew ice cream. Once you have a handle on the basics, let your imagination run wild.
Easy Homemade Ice Cream
The addition of cream cheese to this vanilla ice cream base makes it even easier to scoop into perfect rounds.
PHOTO: DAVID MALOSH/NYTIMES
This easy vanilla ice cream does not contain egg yolks as a lot of ice cream recipes do. Instead, it relies on cream cheese to provide texture, stability and scoopability. While it is excellent on its own, this ice cream also makes a great base for building almost any flavour you can imagine, from strawberry cheesecake to peanut butter pie.
Ingredients
For the ice cream base:
120ml cream cheese, at room temperature
Ice and cold water
415ml whole milk
235ml heavy cream
130g sugar
2 Tbs light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt or 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the additions
180g to 360g mix-ins (to taste), such as rainbow sprinkles, edible cookie dough chunks or coarsely chopped chocolate sandwich cookies, chocolate covered pretzels or peanut butter cups (optional)
Method
1. Prepare the ice cream base: Cut the cream cheese into 1.2cm pieces and set aside in a medium bowl. This bowl will be used to refrigerate the ice cream base before churning.
2. Place a 22cm by 12cm metal loaf pan in the freezer. This pan is for holding the ice cream after churning.
3. Choose a large bowl that will contain the medium bowl with some room to spare around the edges. Fill the large bowl halfway with ice and add about a cup of cold water.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Set over medium heat and cook for about six minutes, whisking often, until the mixture steams and bubbles start breaking through the surface. Remove from the heat.
Warm milk is poured over room-temperature cream cheese to prevent lumps and curdling. Cutting cream cheese into small cubes helps it melt smoothly into hot milk.
PHOTO: DAVID MALOSH/NYTIMES
5. Using a measuring cup or ladle, scoop about 60ml of the hot milk and pour it over the cream cheese. Let sit, undisturbed, for one minute, then whisk vigorously until smooth. If it looks lumpy at first, keep going: It is essential to make it smooth at this stage. Gradually stream in the remaining hot milk, whisking constantly until smooth. If there are any clumps remaining, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.
6. Set the bowl over the ice bath and whisk occasionally until the mixture cools completely. Add the vanilla extract and whisk to incorporate.
7. Remove the bowl from the ice bath. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or, preferably, overnight.
8. Make the ice cream: Pour the chilled ice cream base into an ice cream maker and churn according to machine instructions.
9. Once the ice cream has reached a thick, soft-serve consistency, remove from the machine and transfer to the chilled loaf pan. If adding mix-ins, spread half the ice cream in the pan and top with about half of your mix-ins. Swirl with a butter knife or chopstick to evenly distribute them. Top with the remaining ice cream and mix-ins, and swirl once more to distribute.
10. Press a piece of parchment paper directly against the top of the ice cream and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid for at least four hours. The ice cream will keep for a long time in the freezer, but tastes best within two weeks. When ready to serve, allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, if needed.
Yields about 1 litre of ice cream
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Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
The key to delicious homemade ice cream? Cream cheese
Whether it is strawberry cheesecake ice cream, peanut butter pie ice cream or the good old plain vanilla, the best ice cream this summer is the one you create. UNITED STATES – Imagine a cookie dough ice cream that actually has enough cookie dough in it: That is just one thrill of making your own ice cream. Sure, it requires a machine and a bit of patience, but there is nothing sweeter on a hot summer day than scooping a flavour of your creation. I fell in love with making ice cream when I was young, helping my mum manage ice and salt levels in an old-fashioned churning bucket . That passion eventually led me to complete a professional ice cream course at Penn State's Department of Food Science. These days, I like to experiment with flavours based on other desserts, such as peanut butter pie, with chocolate cookie pieces (the crust) and chocolate shards (the topping) rippling through creamy peanut butter ice cream (the filling). It is a recipe that captures the pie's best – and one you probably will not find at scoop shops. Half the fun of making ice cream at home is letting yourself get creative, and the base recipe I I have included here, along with these tips, are all you need to get started . 1. Start with a secret ingredient. The key to really delicious homemade ice cream is in the dairy aisle, but it is not heavy cream or eggs. It is cream cheese. Many at-home ice cream recipes call for egg yolks to create a creamy, scoopable custard base, but a lot of commercial options are Philadelphia-style, which is made without eggs. Instead, these commercial makers use stabilisers and sweeteners that home cooks might not be able to buy. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 5 new walking trails allow hikers to explore heritage sites and win supermarket vouchers World Trump advises Ukraine's Zelensky to 'make a deal' with Russia after meeting Putin World Did Putin just put one over Trump at the US-Russia summit on Ukraine? Singapore Nowhere to run: Why Singapore needs to start protecting its coasts now Life Meet the tutors who take O-level exams every year to create a 'war mate' bond with their students Life Switching careers in middle age and beyond: How these Singapore professionals did it Opinion Revitalise nightlife? Let's get the crowds out first Asia 11,000 properties without power after 4.9-magnitude quake strikes near east coast of Australia Cream cheese already contains stabilisers, which keep the final ice cream softer, creamier and easier to scoop for a longer time. Pair it with the correct balance of milk, cream and sugar, and you will have a base that tastes deeply of dairy but will not necessarily be described as cream cheesy. 2. Create a smooth base. It is important to add the cream cheese at the last stage of this base recipe. After the milk is warmed, it is poured over room-temperature cream cheese to prevent lumps and curdling. If there are tiny clumps, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. 3. Chill well before churning. Setting the base in an ice bath before transferring it to the refrigerator gives it a head start on chilling. You will want to keep it in the fridge for a minimum of four hours and a maximum of two days. Often referred to as the base's ageing process, this time allows the flavour to develop and deepen. Think of this period as you would resting cookie dough: It lets the flavours mingle and really get to know one another. While there is some debate over the impact of this ageing process on final flavour and texture, the most compelling reason for doing it is that it guarantees a very cold base, which will churn up more smoothly. A crucial part of the process is ensuring everything is as cold as possible so that the final freezing stages happen quickly. 4. Use a cold baking pan. Aside from an ice cream maker, you need a standard metal loaf pan. Its benefits are twofold: By freezing the pan before making the base, you are ensuring that the just-churned ice cream lands in an ice-cold dish, which helps minimise how much of the base melts between churning and freezing . Two, the loaf pan makes easy work of layering in ripples or mix-ins. After adding half of the just-churned ice cream to the pan, swirl or layer in any additions before topping with the rest of the ice cream and mix-ins. 5. Layer in mix-ins. Mix-ins probably define many of your favourite flavours. And it is true that swirling in saucy additions and layering in other ingredients are simple ways to create a new flavour without adjusting the base. But it is just as easy to steep herbs or crushed coffee beans in your base to make your very own fresh mint or cold brew ice cream. Once you have a handle on the basics, let your imagination run wild. Easy Homemade Ice Cream The addition of cream cheese to this vanilla ice cream base makes it even easier to scoop into perfect rounds. PHOTO: DAVID MALOSH/NYTIMES This easy vanilla ice cream does not contain egg yolks as a lot of ice cream recipes do. Instead, it relies on cream cheese to provide texture, stability and scoopability. While it is excellent on its own, this ice cream also makes a great base for building almost any flavour you can imagine, from strawberry cheesecake to peanut butter pie. Ingredients For the ice cream base: 120ml cream cheese, at room temperature Ice and cold water 415ml whole milk 235ml heavy cream 130g sugar 2 Tbs light corn syrup 1/4 tsp kosher salt or 1/8 tsp fine sea salt 1 tsp vanilla extract For the additions 180g to 360g mix-ins (to taste), such as rainbow sprinkles, edible cookie dough chunks or coarsely chopped chocolate sandwich cookies, chocolate covered pretzels or peanut butter cups (optional) Method 1. Prepare the ice cream base: Cut the cream cheese into 1.2cm pieces and set aside in a medium bowl. This bowl will be used to refrigerate the ice cream base before churning. 2. Place a 22cm by 12cm metal loaf pan in the freezer. This pan is for holding the ice cream after churning. 3. Choose a large bowl that will contain the medium bowl with some room to spare around the edges. Fill the large bowl halfway with ice and add about a cup of cold water. 4. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Set over medium heat and cook for about six minutes, whisking often, until the mixture steams and bubbles start breaking through the surface. Remove from the heat. Warm milk is poured over room-temperature cream cheese to prevent lumps and curdling. Cutting cream cheese into small cubes helps it melt smoothly into hot milk. PHOTO: DAVID MALOSH/NYTIMES 5. Using a measuring cup or ladle, scoop about 60ml of the hot milk and pour it over the cream cheese. Let sit, undisturbed, for one minute, then whisk vigorously until smooth. If it looks lumpy at first, keep going: It is essential to make it smooth at this stage. Gradually stream in the remaining hot milk, whisking constantly until smooth. If there are any clumps remaining, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. 6. Set the bowl over the ice bath and whisk occasionally until the mixture cools completely. Add the vanilla extract and whisk to incorporate. 7. Remove the bowl from the ice bath. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or, preferably, overnight. 8. Make the ice cream: Pour the chilled ice cream base into an ice cream maker and churn according to machine instructions. 9. Once the ice cream has reached a thick, soft-serve consistency, remove from the machine and transfer to the chilled loaf pan. If adding mix-ins, spread half the ice cream in the pan and top with about half of your mix-ins. Swirl with a butter knife or chopstick to evenly distribute them. Top with the remaining ice cream and mix-ins, and swirl once more to distribute. 10. Press a piece of parchment paper directly against the top of the ice cream and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid for at least four hours. The ice cream will keep for a long time in the freezer, but tastes best within two weeks. When ready to serve, allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, if needed. Yields about 1 litre of ice cream NYTIMES
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
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But then, as she carried her fourth bucket of dirt to the water pool where diggers rinse their finds, she saw a glimmer in a spider web on the ground, nudging it with her boot. But what looked like glistening dew did not rub off. In fact, it was a shiny stone. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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In an interview, he said: 'I'll say this, I certainly have to find a way to live up to this now. She's dealt her cards and now it's my turn to put together something impressive, and I'm really looking forward to that.' Any diamond over 2 carats found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park gets a name. This one is named the Fox-Ballou Diamond, after the couple's last names. Now, it just needs a ring. NYTIMES
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Straits Times
More families in Singapore using childminding and elder-minding services
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Active Global's part-time elder-minders helped care for its client Khor Tze Siong's mother when his family helper was away from March to April 2025. SINGAPORE – More than 40 infants are enrolled in a new significantly subsidised nanny service here in childminders' homes and in rooms in Tampines East and Nee Soon East community clubs (CCs). Another 180 families have indicated their interest in enrolling in the service for infants aged two months to 18 months, said the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) on Aug 14. ECDA, which is under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), launched the three-year childminding pilot in December 2024 to provide more affordable infant caregiving options for parents. Around 50 of these childminders are currently caring for infants under the pilot, out of nearly 200 childminders who have undergone background checks by ECDA. 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Companies that are part of the HSS can hire female workers from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka or Thailand. Under the HSS, elder-minders are required to complete their first aid certification and undergo a competency assessment conducted by an Agency for Integrated Care-appointed training provider, among other requirements. Part-time elder-minding plugs caregiving gaps For eldercare provider Active Global, a total of 500 families have engaged its elder-minding services to date. This is up from 100 families at the end of 2023, around half a year after Active Global joined the HSS. The company has also received 1,855 inquiries on the HSS, said Mr Muhammad Asraf, who runs Active Global's HSS services. He said its migrant workers received training at the Active Global Training Centre on eldercare support, safety and hygiene practices, as well as communication techniques. Active Global's initial team of six staff has grown to 24 employees, who have at least two years of caregiving experience. They have caregiving certificates obtained either in Singapore or from their home country, and receive additional training from Active Global's in-house nurses. The company provides accommodation under its corporate lease for HSS staff. One client, Mr Khor Tze Siong, said Active Global's elder-minding service helped to fill in for his family's domestic helper when she returned home for about three weeks in mid-March. Mr Khor, an accountant, is mostly able to work from home, but he engaged an elder-minder to help him to take care of his mother, who has dementia, in four- or eight-hour blocks on days he needed to go to the office. He said, compared with his domestic helper, the Active Global elder-minders are more skilled at caring for seniors owing to their professional training. But he noted that they kept to their job scope of caring for seniors and related tasks, unlike his domestic helper who takes on a larger variety of chores. Mr Khor also noted that four different elder-minders were assigned on different days, and his mother took to some more than others. Another HSS company, Luce SG, which provides home cleaning and caregiving services, said it has facilitated more than 1,000 elder-minding sessions and more than 600 childminding sessions in 2025. Luce SG employs 10 full-time minders from Myanmar with caregiving experience, such as former nurse aides or migrant domestic workers. Its childminders are required to have at least five years of childcare experience. More than half of Luce's elder-minders and childminders previously worked as live-in domestic helpers in Singapore, said Ms Abbicia Choo, strategy and planning associate at Luce SG. Many workers opted for the switch because they prefer structured working hours and the opportunity to specialise in eldercare or childcare, while still enjoying the stability of full-time employment, Ms Choo said. Luce's HSS migrant workers live in MOM-approved Housing Board flats or private rented units. Many Singaporean families are also choosing not to engage live-in domestic helpers to have more privacy, Ms Choo added. Part-time and full-time care for children Appointed operator EduNanny by Butler, which started providing services under ECDA's childminding pilot in March, has reached the maximum capacity in its Tampines East CC facility, caring for nine babies. EduNanny chief executive Poon Da Qian said 60 parents are on the waiting list. Aside from EduNanny, two other operators, Kidibliss and NannyPro Care, have also been appointed to hire nannies under the scheme. According to ECDA guidelines, each childminder is allowed to care for up to three infants at any one time under the pilot. This is compared with one staff member for up to five babies under the infant care programmes run by childcare centres. The pilot childminding scheme, which will run for three years, aims to serve 500 infants in the first year. Mr Poon said: 'With Tampines East CC now operating at full capacity, our full focus is on ramping up home-based childminding.' EduNanny currently has 17 home-based childminders listed on its portal and is onboarding an average of four infants a week for such care. It provides home-based childminders with training on infant care and safety, key equipment and materials, and support with layout and environment set-up. ECDA says on its website that it conducts background checks on the nannies, including if they have any criminal history. If the baby is cared for in the nanny's home, these background checks are also done on the nanny's family members and others who visit the home regularly. Before they are deployed, the childminders must undergo mandatory training on infant care, among other things. One of EduNanny's clients, Ms Felicia Ho, drops off her five-month-old daughter at the home of its childminder every weekday before going to work. Ms Felicia Ho drops off her five-month-old daughter in the home of an EduNanny childminder every weekday before going to work. PHOTO: FELICIA HO The technical support worker decided to give the service a try as she and her husband's hands are tied up with responsibilities. The couple have another two-year-old, and parents with cancer and dementia, who are being cared for by the family helper. The full-time childminder has two boys of her own, aged two and 10, and lives 20 minutes from Ms Ho's home in Jalan Besar. 'The assuring thing about the childminder is she is compassionate about caring for kids,' Ms Ho said, adding that the childminder's home is a welcoming environment for the children. EduNanny also provides babysitting services under the HSS, which are used mostly by expatriate parents, who are not eligible for the subsidised MSF childminding scheme. The cleaning services of another company, are under the HSS, but its babysitting services are not. Founder Pierre Tan said that while it is hard to hire Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) to work as cleaners, many are keen to babysit to earn a side income. Mr Tan said Meide's babysitters comprise about 50 work permit holders – most of whom had worked as domestic helpers – compared with around 9,000 locals and PRs. Most of Meide's babysitters are self-employed and work flexible hours. Around 4,000 clients have used Meide's babysitting service since it started in 2021, said Mr Tan. About 1,200 of the clients took up the service in 2024. One client was personal trainer John Cheah, who engaged Meide around the start of 2024 to look after his 15-month-old daughter when he was at work. Mr Cheah was able to coordinate the babysitting arrangements directly with the sitter he was matched with. He engaged the childminder for four hours around three times a week for about seven months. The babysitter, who is Singaporean, has five children of her own. Mr Cheah's parents could help, but they were still working and his helper was caring for his bedridden grandfather at the time. The babysitting costs amounted to $960 a month. Mr Cheah, who co-parents with his former wife and cares for their daughter for half the week, was just happy to come home to his only child after work. 'I'm paying for the flexibility,' he said.
