Easy ice cream tutorial and recipes, just in time to bring some summer quarantine happiness!Yay for homemade ice cream with simple ingredients you can trust and pronounce ;)
Base Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream*
1 cup milk (any %)
¾ cup white sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
Place freezer bowl in a plastic grocery bag in deep freeze (at least 0 degrees F) for at least 24 hours. Be sure it is sitting on a level surface in the freezer.**
Dissolve sugar, extract, and salt in the milk by whisking, blending, shaking, or mixing with a hand mixer for 1-2 minutes. Put milk mixture and heavy cream into the freezer for 15-30 minutes to get very cold. Take the freezer bowl out of the freezer just before you are ready to add the ingredients. Assemble the ice cream maker and turn it on. Add milk mixture and cream to the ice cream maker at the same time while it is turning. Process for 15-20 minutes until expanded and thick. Add any additional add-ins and process for an additional 2-5 minutes. Store in freezer safe container in deep freeze for 4-24 hours before serving.***
Notes:
*If you want to vary the fat content or how creamy vs icy it is, you can use a lower percentage of milk (1% or skim) or reduce the heavy cream to 1.5 cups and increase the milk to 1.5 cups. Don’t reduce the heavy cream volume any more than 1.5 cups (50% of the base). I prefer to make it with 2 cups of cream and skim or 1 or 2% milk, since cream comes in a pint and I prefer not to have any leftover. With 1.5 cups of cream it will be a lot softer, more like a frosty starting to melt, right out of processing. With 2 cups it is much firmer.
**Do not store ice cream in the ice cream maker freezer bowl. Immediately rinse and wash out the freezer bowl, let water drain out, then wrap back in a plastic grocery sack and put it back in your freezer. If it hasn't completely thawed it should be good to go to make ice cream again by the next morning. If it has thawed it may take up to 24 hours of freezing time before you can make another batch. If your ice cream doesn't process correctly it means your bowl wasn't frozen long enough or your freezer isn't at low enough of a temperature.
***Right out of processing ice cream will be a soft serve consistency. Enjoy immediately if that's what you want or store in the freezer to harden. I find the best scooping consistency results when freezing the processed ice cream overnight or 24 hours :)
Equipment
Freezer storage containers (insulated containers that keep ice cream easy to scoop OR regular round freezer storage containers, will keep ice cream hard) DO NOT store your ice cream in the ice cream maker's freezer bowl.
Ice cream maker - I have the Cuisinart 1.5qt ICE-20 (these recipes will also work in a 2qt ice cream maker)
Variations:
Vanilla or Vanilla Bean
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Add add beginning of processing
Chocolate
3 T cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Mix in blender with milk, sugar, and salt for 30-60 seconds
Cookies and Cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
12 small crunchy chocolate cookies, chopped or crushed (if using Oreos, remove the frosting layer first)
Add vanilla at the beginning of processing. Add cookies during the last five minutes.
Mint Chip or Mint Oreo
½ teaspoon mint extract (I like Watkins brand)
2-6 drops green food coloring (optional)
Add into milk and sugar mixture. Add the chocolate below during the last five minutes of processing time.
4 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped
OR 12 small crunchy chocolate cookies, chopped or crushed (if using Oreos, remove the frosting layer first)
Peanut Butter Cup
3 tablespoons peanut butter powder (like this)
⅔ cup white sugar
4oz chopped mini reeses cups
6 oz fruit, crushed (like strawberry, raspberry, or mango)
Add to basic vanilla ice cream recipe
Mix ¼ cup of the sugar with the crushed fruit. (Make your ice cream base with the remaining ½ cup sugar.) I use a ground beef masher to crush the fruit. Heat in a saucepan until simmering, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Add 1-2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in water .Continue to simmer and stir for approximately 5 minutes until mixture is thickened and fruit is fully cooked. Transfer to a small container and store in the fridge or freezer until cold (not frozen). When basic vanilla ice cream is processed add ⅓ of it to your freezer container and swirl in ⅓ of the fruit mixture with a spoon or knife. Repeat for the additional two layers. (Note: I have tried adding raw fruit to the ice cream and it just froze into hard ice pieces, which is why I recommend cooking it first).
Other Add in Options for Vanilla or Chocolate Ice Cream
- chopped heath bar
- chopped nuts
- marshmallows
- brownie bits
- fudge or caramel swirl
- chopped candy bars
