The New Year and Ice Cream Cake

With the New Year upon us tomorrow, I will admit I fully enjoyed all the treats from this holiday season, and recapping the memories many of them have for me. However, starting next week I’ll be venturing back to healthier eating although that doesn’t mean there won’t be desserts! I am working on recipes that lighten up what’s already good: my goal is not to lose taste and flavor while educing fat and calories.

But for New Year’s I’m finishing off 2014 and starting 2015 with my Grandma Zurawski’s Ice Cream Cake. I don’t recall my mom ever making this but Grandma would when all of us gathered for a birthday, usually my grandfather’s.

About fifteen years ago, I made these at a holiday party I hosted at my house. They were such a hit that a friend who always held a party right after me asked me to bring them to her party– and kept asking each year she held a party thereafter.

Grandma Zurawski’s Ice Cream Cake

2 eggs separated

½ cup sugar

¼ cup milk

2 teaspoons gelatin (plain, usually by Knox and sold with Jell-O)

¼ cup water

9 ounces cream cheese (I use the reduced fat version)

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ pint whipping cream

1 package graham crackers

¼ cup butter

Beat egg yolks with 6 Tablespoons sugar and the milk; then cook over a low flame and stir until thick (coats the back of a spoon). Soften gelatin in cold water and add it to the egg mixture, allowing it to cool. Cream the cream cheese and add the vanilla, then add to the cooled custard. Beat the egg whites and 2 Tablespoons of sugar until stiff. Fold into the custard mixture and then fold the whipped cream into the custard mixture.

Crumble the graham crackers (giving them a whirl in the food processor works well) and melt the butter. Combine them and press on the bottom of a 9 x 12 glass dish, leaving a small portion of crumbs for a light topping. Add the custard and spread evenly over the top, sprinkling the crumbs to finish the cake. Place in refrigerator overnight.