When I was a little girl growing up in Michigan, my brother, sister and I used to walk home from school taking a short cut through the back yard of a particular house. I did not know the people who owned the house and we were always careful to walk along the border of their property in singular file. There was one thing that was strange and equally intriguing at that same time about that back yard. The owners had a goat. The goat kind of scared me but fascinated me at the same time. He would stop eating the grass just long enough to stare at us with this blank stare as if to say, “Who do you think you are, traipsing through my yard”? Sometimes I would stop just for a minute and stare into his eyes; trying to figure out why someone would have a goat in their yard. Was he a pet, was he there for milk? I was young, so I couldn’t quite figure it out. My sister would catch me staring down this goat and grab me by my jacket and yank me back into formation. Yep, he scared me. To this day, I don’t know the scoop on that goat but one thing is for sure- I know I LOVE goat cheese! Thank God for the beautiful intriguing goat.

Goat Cheese Ice Cream With Roasted Cherries

Recipe: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Yield: 1 generous quart

2 Cups whole milk

1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 Cup fresh goat cheese (4 oz.)

3 Tbsp. cream cheese (1 1/2 oz.) softened

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1  1/4 Cups heavy cream

2/3 Cup sugar

1/4 Cup light corn syrup

Roasted Cherry Sauce: (see recipe below)

Make the Roasted Cherry Sauce and chill until ice cream is ready.

1. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the goat cheese, cream cheese, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

2. Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 3-4 quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

3. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freeze bag and submerge the sealed bag into the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

4. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, alternating it with layers of the roasted cherry sauce and ending with a spoonful of the cherries. Do not mix. Press a sheet of parchment directly onto the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours.