Kraft Mac and Cheese Ice Cream Dupe Recipe
Can’t get your hands on the sold-out Van Leeuwen Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ice Cream? Make this dupe recipe to see if you love it or hate it.
When it comes to ‘other food flavored’ foods, usually they’re a gimmicky, over-the-top bust. But this limited-edition ice cream flavor from Van Leeuwen sold out quickly. And the media coverage… coverage was on every website. Writers either belittled themselves for liking the flavor, or snidely said it was ‘disgusting’, before finally trying it and abashedly recanting. Because here’s the thing: mac ‘n’ cheese ice cream actually is really good once you remove your preconceived image of actually cheesy noodles, mixed into standard vanilla. The reality is mac ‘n’ cheese ice cream tastes like lightly salted cheesecake. I like it. I’m here for the cheese ice cream.
But since calling it lightly salted cheesecake is not as attention-grabbing as dayglo orange BLUE BOX MAC AND CHEESE flavor, I’d say well done Kraft. Well done Van Leeuwen. You not only made a decent idea, but you got excellent media coverage.
This recipe is our time-tested ice cream recipe that we’ve adapted dozens of times for different flavors (most recently, last month when we made Vegemite Ice Cream). It is our best guess at this ice cream which is, as I noted, sold out. And while we haven’t tried Van Leeuwen’s version, we think this is going to get you extremely close to the flavor. At the very least, it’s going to get you a really bold color with a good salty-sweet ice cream flavor.
How Do You Add Cheese Flavor To The Ice Cream?
Last year, we actually saw Costco carrying Kraft cheese powder separate from the noodles. We texted one of our other insane food friends and he immediately bought it. You can only purchase the Kraft cheese powder at BJ’s at this time. I haven’t been able to find it again at Costco. However, you can buy the standard blue box Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese and take the cheese powder packet out. Which is what we did. Mostly because I also don’t want a pound of cheese powder in my house even if I could find it.
Like many of our other ice cream recipes, the best time to add the flavor is into the custard before it gets chilled. This gives time for the flavor to infuse into all of the fat molecules before churning. You’ll measure out your powder (60 grams, or one and a half packets) and whisk it in extremely well. We actually ended up using an immersion blender for a few seconds just to make sure no pockets of powder remained.
Can I Make this without an ice cream churning machine?
No. Listen, I’m fully on board with telling people DO NOT BUY an ice cream machine if you only use it twice a year. That is valuable cabinet space. But as a family that makes, let’s say a substantial amount, of ice cream, we only use an ice cream machine to make ice cream. Borrow one from a friend, or just don’t make it. You need constant chilling from the frozen shell and air addition folded in to make the accurately creamy product.
We’ve used this basic Cuisinart model for years. It does exactly what you need it to do without taking up too much space.
Things You Can Change About This Recipe
If you’ve tried the actual ice cream from Van Leeuwen and Kraft, and you feel it needs more of a ‘butter’ flavor, add a drop or two of imitation butter flavoring to the blend before chilling.
If you want to serve it with a topping of some kind, it would be fantastic with caramel. Think Chicago Style Popcorn.
Mac ‘n’ cheese ice cream
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 + 1/8 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
60 grams Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese Powder (1 1/2 sachets from two boxes)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 large egg yolks
DIRECTIONS
Freeze ice cream machine shell 24+ hours before you need it.
To make ice cream base, heat whole milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and sugar in a medium pan over medium heat until the milk is steaming. Whisk to dissolve sugar completely.
In a separate bowl create an ice bath (one large bowl filled with ice and water with a second bowl nested inside). Add the remaining 1 cup heavy cream to the nested bowl and set aside for a later step.
In a third bowl, whisk egg yolks together and slowly pour in the heated milk and cream from the stove to temper the eggs. If you add this to the eggs too quickly, they will not be smooth (they’ll be scrambled eggs).
Add the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan on medium heat and continue to cook, stirring often, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. The temperature range of 158-170 F is what you are looking for. If you feel the eggs may have curdled a bit, pour the milk and egg custard mix through a fine mesh sieve.
Whisk in the cheese powder.
Pour the custard mix into the bowl with the heavy cream and whisk.
Place the mixture into the fridge and wait to chill completely before attempting to make ice cream. This will take several hours. The mix should be about 45 F before you begin churning.
Use your machine's instructions to churn.
Freeze several hours until scoop-able.
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