Berry Pie Semifreddo

You may have heard of no-churn-ice-cream. Well, semifreddo is pretty much that (it literally means half frozen) and no ice cream machine is needed. There are different ways to make it, some recipes call for eggs or egg yolks, heated up the same you would to make a custard base. But, honestly, save your eggs and stove. If you’ve never had semifreddo before, it’s really like a thicker and colder mousse (and no, there shouldn’t be any ice crystals forming here!). You can see my process video here.

Ingredients:

• 100g cream cheese (regular, not fat free), cold

• 225g heavy whipping cream, cold

• 140g sweetened condensed milk, cold

• 4oz freeze dried berries (I used 1/2 strawberry and 1/2 raspberry), ground to a powder (save a few whole pieces for garnish)

• 6 graham crackers (or any crunchy cookie of your choice), crumbled

Supplies:

• Silicone muffin molds or domes, or similar shape with 8-12 cavities OR 9”x5” (or similar size) loaf pan (if using a loaf pan, you MUST line it with overhanging cling wrap so that the semifreddo comes out- if you’re using a silicone loaf pan, you can skip the cling wrap! Loaf pan semifreddo will need to be sliced)

• Hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment

• Cling wrap

• Helpful: food processor (to grind up the freeze dried berries), ice cream scoop (to portion out the semifreddo into the cavities), rubber spatula (for scraping down the sides of the bowl)

Steps:

1. Whip the cream cheese in the bowl a little bit to smooth it out. Scrape down the sides and pour in the heavy whipping cream.

2. Whip the cream cheese and whipping cream together until you have soft peaks (when you take the whisk out, with the mixture on it, it’s stiff enough so that it stays on the whisk, but slopes down rather than sticking straight up).

3. Add the condensed milk and whip on high until you have stiff peaks (the mixture will completely hold its shape on the whisk).

4. Add the powdered freeze dried berries and whip on a low setting just until they’re incorporated.

5. Add in the graham cracker crumble and fold that in using a rubber spatula.

6. Portion the semifreddo mixture evenly into the molds (using an ice cream or cookie scoop makes this easier, but not required). If you’re using a loaf pan, line the loaf pan with a couple pieces of cling wrap that overhangs from the sides (this makes it easy to lift the frozen dessert out of the pan after) before filling the mixture into it. Gently “bang” the bottom of the molds or pan on the countertop to let the mixture fill corners and sides.

7. Cover the top of the exposed semifreddo with cling wrap, so that it touches the mixture so that no moisture or ice forms on the top. Freeze for around 4-6 hours, or overnight.

8. Remove the cling wrap and pop out the semifreddo from each mold by gently inverting it. You can keep any extras right inside the molds and re-cover with cling wrap. Eat as-is or top it with some whipped cream, sauce, sprinkles, or whatever toppings you like!

My version has balsamic glaze on the bottom of the plate, whipped cream topping with a few freeze dried berries on top.