Tvaroh (quark) ice cream with lemon

Like a frozen cheesecake: smooth tvaroh (quark), cream, vanilla and lemon zest. No cooking.

Tvaroh brings milk proteins and a pleasant tang, so the ice cream tastes like the quark filling of a traditional cake. The proteins bind water and thicken the ice cream without eggs or cooking — you simply blend everything together. Smooth (creamy) tvaroh is important; a crumbly one would stay grainy.

Type: Classic cream ice cream · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 300 g quark, medium-fat (smooth tvaroh) (smooth, from a tub)
  • 330 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 250 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 150 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 30 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 5 g grated lemon zest (from 1–2 lemons)
  • 3 g vanilla pod (seeds from 1 pod)
  • 50 g raisins (for topping or folding in at the end, soaked, added at the end of churning)
  • 60 g butter biscuits (for topping or folding in at the end, crumbled as a streusel-style topping)

Making the mix

  1. Blend the sugar, dextrose, lemon zest and vanilla seeds with the milk until the sugars dissolve (about 2 minutes).
  2. Add the tvaroh and cream and blend briefly until smooth. Don’t blend the cream for long — it could start to whip.
  3. Cover and leave to chill and age in the fridge for at least 1 hour (if the ingredients were cold), preferably 4 hours.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix no higher than the fill line (with a smaller bowl, churn in two batches) and churn for 30–40 minutes, until it has the consistency of thick whipped cream.
  3. If you want raisins, add them for the last 2 minutes.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.

Total time: 3 h 45 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 3 hours.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours beforehand (until you can no longer hear the coolant sloshing inside). The mix must be thoroughly chilled.

Total time: 4 h 35 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Divide the chilled mix between CREAMi tubs, filling each no higher than the MAX line (a full batch makes about two standard tubs).
  2. Put the lids on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  3. Place a tub in the machine and run the Ice Cream program.
  4. If the ice cream is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).

Programme: Ice Cream

A standard tub holds about 470 ml, a Deluxe tub about 700 ml. Don’t fill above the MAX line, and freeze it level — the machine doesn’t handle an uneven block well.

Total time: 25 h 15 min

Method — No-machine method

  1. Pour the chilled mix into a deep metal or glass container (a baking dish, for example) and put it in the freezer.
  2. After 45 minutes, stir the mix thoroughly with a whisk, spatula or stick blender, working the frozen edges into the centre.
  3. Repeat every 30 minutes, 4–5 times in all, until the ice cream is thick and smooth.
  4. Leave to harden for another hour.

Without a machine you get more ice crystals and less air, so the ice cream is denser. Every stir breaks up the crystals, so don’t skip any.

Total time: 5 h 10 min

Stages

Preparation
10 min
Ageing in the fridge
1 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
3 h 45 min

Serving and storage

Sprinkle with buttery streusel crumbs or crumbled biscuits and serve with fresh fruit or a blueberry sauce.

Best within 4–5 days. Tvaroh ice cream sets harder in the freezer; let it soften for 10–15 minutes.

Tips

  • Use smooth tvaroh from a tub. Push crumbly tvaroh from a bag through a sieve first.
  • For a blueberry ripple: simmer 150 g of blueberries with 30 g of sugar, let it cool and layer it with the ice cream.
  • As the mix isn’t cooked, use fresh ingredients and clean utensils.

Why it works

Tvaroh is 12 % protein — casein, which binds water and thickens the ice cream. So the mix needs neither milk powder nor yolks. The tang of the tvaroh balances the sweetness, so the ice cream can take a little more sugar, which keeps it softer.

Sources