Blue Cheese and Pear Ice Cream

Blue cheese and pear ice cream.  When I first heard of it, I couldn’t decide if it sounded good or not.  I love blue cheese and pears in salads, but for ice cream?  Maybe?

When I saw a picture of the ice cream, it was served with a croissant and salami and it looked delicious, but seemed impossible to eat.  I’ve been so intrigued by unique ice cream flavors lately that the only way to find out if they’re any good is to try them myself, so I did!

This ice cream reminded me of the basil ice cream I made months ago.  It’s savory, yet sweet with little chunks of blue cheese and sweet buttery pear.  It’s great in a bowl, but I could easily eat this with a little genoa salami.  Now to find a way to make an ice cream sandwich out of this!

• 2 oz Danish blue cheese (, or your favorite blue cheese)
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 ripe pear (, cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 3 tablespoons butter

make the ice cream

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the half and half on low to a gentle simmer.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and sugar until light and pale yellow in color.
3. When the milk is ready, pour the milk into loosened yolks in a slow, steady stream, continuously whisking to incorporate the hot milk into the yolks.
4. Wash the pan and pour the yolk-milk mixture back into it.
5. Over low heat, stir constantly with a wooden spoon and cook until it thickens into custard and coats the back of the spoon.
6. Remove from heat and place in a pan of cold water and continue stirring to stop cooking the eggs.
7. In another pan, crumble the cheese at the bottom and pour in the hot custard, stirring to melt the cheese and combine. Some bits will stay as chunks and that is great.
8. Add the condensed milk and mix to incorporate. Set aside to cool.
9. In a frying pan, melt the butter and add the pear chunks. Cook until soft and slightly browned. Remove from and heat and cool completely.
10. When the custard is cooled, chill in the refrigerator for an hour. Then transfer to an ice cream maker and follow instructions. To hand whip the custard in to ice cream, follow these instructions.
11. Just before leaving it for the final freeze, fold in the buttered pears as evenly as possible without disturbing the volume of the freezing cream.

Adapted from Honest Cooking