We only get 30 sweet, noggy days

Holiday eggnog ice cream is the best kind of nog

"Oh crap, it's Christmas, and he's posting about ice cream again, what have I done?", is what you just said to yourself, or should be saying to yourself. Don't worry, I promise this post will be short and quick, and straight to the nog. Yes, I made a (pause for effect)...holiday eggnog cheesecake ice cream. This year I ended up making 14+ pints of this holiday goodness and gifting it to friends and colleagues. I'm pretty proud of this one as it combines the best of both worlds, eggnog, and of course, cheesecake. Did I forget to mention there was wine involved?

Eggnog Cheesecake Ice Cream with Mulled Wine Cranberries

Ingredients

For the eggnog cheesecake base:

For the mulled wine cranberries:

That mulled wine cranberry sauce though. Start off by making that mulled wine cranberry reduction. Throw about 2-ish cups of fresh cranberries into a skillet, and heat on low, then add about a cup and a half of a wine of your choice. Depending on how much wine taste you want to have in your ice cream, you can add more or add less. Don't worry about giving this to the kids as we're going to cook out most of the alcohol from the wine (aw, sad face). Now stir in the sugar, cinnamon or cinnamon sticks, and add the juice of the lemons. Stir until well combined. Heat on low for about 20-30 minutes or until the sauce thickens and most of the cranberries have popped open. I'd also recommend making sure most of the cranberries have ruptured as whole frozen cranberries taste a bit too icy in the final product. Once you're satisfied with the cranberry wine gooeyness that sits in front of you, remove from heat and let it chill (either in the refrigerator or on the counter for an hour or so). Don't forget to remove the cinnamon sticks if you went that route.

*SIDE NOTE*: I used a cabernet sauvignon the first time and it came out delicious. The second or third time (I can't remember which because I ended up drinking more of it than cooking with it), I used a port which tends to be much sweeter, and produced a much richer wine flavor at the end. If you're going the port route, make sure you balance the sweetness by adding less sugar and/or more lemon juice.

On to the cheesecake. Toss the room temperature cream cheese into a large mixing bowl with the sugar. Mix thoroughly until well combined. Add the sour cream, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the eggnog, followed by adding the heavy whipping cream. Once everything is nice and creamy, cover with saran wrap and throw in the fridge to cool for about 4-6 hours or overnight.

Once fully chilled, spoon the cheesecake mixture into your ice cream maker and churn for about 15-20 minutes. You can now add the mulled wine cranberries. I'd recommend spooning half of the sauce into the churner at the last minute and letting it get mixed in a bit. Turn off the machine and spoon a little into a freezable bowl. Now add a little bit more of the sauce, and then more of the churned cheesecake mix, and repeat until everything is layered and folded in. The end product will look something like this (see below).

Yields about three-ish pints. Once frozen, enjoy with some eggnog, milk, whiskey, wine, or whatever the hell it is you're into. Soon after consumption you'll be saying "Happy Christmas, Harry" and jonesin' for a Christmas classic. I recommend Die Hard (either the movie, or the children's novelization of the movie will suffice).