Who doesn’t like a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day? But sometimes you just get a craving for ice cream and can’t immediately get a fix. That is why it is beneficial to know how to make ice cream at home.
Some folks would wonder why not buy a bucket of ice cream and put it in your freezer? Why go through all the trouble for homemade ice cream? One major reason is that you would know what goes into your ice cream and if that’s the only reason it is so worth it!
But here’s another reason; you can always add your own twists and flavors as desired. There are many methods of making ice cream at home and we would share as many of them as we can in this post. So buckle your seat belt and let’s go on this yummilious journey.
Exploring Different Methods Of Making Ice Cream At Home
As we explore the different methods of making ice cream at home, we would look at methods and recipes that require an ice cream machine or other types of kitchen appliances. We would also look at methods that improvise with whatever you have on hand.
Ice Cream Recipes That Need Machine
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients and Equipment
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
¾ Cup White Sugar
2 ¼ Cups Milk
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions For Preparation
- Put the cream, sugar and milk in a saucepan and place over low heat. Stir very well and heat the mixture until the milk dissolves. When a little foamy ring forms around the edges of the mixture in the saucepan, remove from the heat.
- Pour this mixture into a measuring cup or similar container and add the vanilla extract. Mix it in very well and place the mixture in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. But it is best if you can chill the mixture overnight.
- After this chilling process, pour the cold mixture into the ice cream maker and follow the instruction in your user manual to churn for 20-25 minutes.
- You can serve the ice cream when it is frozen softly or you can cover the ice cream with plastic wrap and freeze for about 2-3 hours.
This recipe was adapted from https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/233928/how-to-make-vanilla-ice-cream/
Basic Ice Cream Recipe With Egg Yolks
Ingredients And Equipment
1 Cup full cream milk
2 Cups heavy whipping cream
⅔ Cup sugar
⅛ Teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
Any flavour of your choice
Instructions for Preparation
- Place the milk, cream, salt and sugar in a saucepan and put on low heat. Simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved, then remove the saucepan from the heat.
- In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks to mix well. Then still whisking, slowly add in 1/3 of the milk mixture into the egg yolks,
- Pour this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining, milk mixture and whisk to mix thoroughly.
- Place the saucepan back on the heat and set to medium-low heat. Gently cook this mixture until it can coat the back of a spoon. This should be 165 -170 º F when you check on a food thermometer.
- Finally, strain this mixture through a sieve into a storage bowl with cover. Allow the mixture to get to room temperature. Then cover it and place in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or until it gets to about 65º F. Better still, you can leave it in the fridge overnight.
- After the chilling process, put the ice cream in your ice cream maker and churn as instructed by the manufacturer.
- If you want soft serve ice cream, then serve immediately from the machine but if not store the ice cream in an air tight container in the freezer until you are ready.
Recipe Notes
You can add any flavour you desire when you are about to churn the ice cream in the machine.
Furthermore, this recipe can be tweaked to suit your taste. For this recipe given, the end product would be thick but not heavy. If you want your ice cream, reduce the heavy cream and increase the milk; only ensure that they both make up 3 cups. You can also use less egg yolks so that the base would be thinner but ensure that you do not use less than 3 egg yolks.
This recipe was adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016605-the-only-ice-cream-recipe-youll-ever-need
Ice Cream Recipes That Don’t Require Machine
No-Churn Ice Cream
Ingredients and Equipment
Hand Mixer or Immersion blender
1-14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 Teaspoon flavor
2 cups heavy whipping cream (chilled)
Instructions For Preparation
- Place the whipping cream into a large mixing bowl and whip up the cream for 3 minutes or until it holds a stiff peak.
- Pour the condensed milk into another mixing bowl and gently scoop a little of the whipped cream into it and mix. If you are using any flavour, add it to the condensed milk.
- Next scoop the rest of the whipped cream into the condensed milk and gently fold it in. at the beginning of this process, the mixture would look lumpy but would smoothen out as you continue. Remember not to stir the mixture too much as that would deflate it.
- When then mixture has become smooth with only a few lumps in between stop mixing and transfer the mixture to your air tight container.
- Smooth out the top of the ice cream and gently press the wax paper on the surface. This would ensure that no ice crystals form on the ice cream.
- You can freeze this for as long as 2 weeks. But be sure to let it freeze for a minimum of 6 hours. The longer it stays in the freezer, the firmer it becomes.
This recipe was adapted from https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-no-churn-ice-cream-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-220413
Making Ice Cream At Home With Salt And Ice
If you have the time and some elbow grease, you can always churn out great ice cream at home using the method that we would share below:-
Ingredients and Equipment
1 cup milk
½ Teaspoon Vanilla
1 ½ Tablespoon Sugar
2–3 Cups ice (either crushed or cubed)
1/3 Cup coarse salt
1 plastic Ziploc bag (quart-sized)
1 plastic Ziploc (gallon-sized freezer bag)
Instructions For Preparation
- Place the milk, sugar and vanilla in the smaller of the ziploc bags. Ensure that you expel all air from the bag before sealing it.
- Place the salt and ice in the bigger Ziploc bag
- Put the smaller bag into the big bag and seal the big bag tightly
- Shake the bag with a lot of force for 5 minutes (you may need to wear gloves because the bag would be quite cold).
- At the end of the shaking exercise, you would notice that the milk mixture in the smaller bag has gotten hard.
- Rearrange the ice in the bigger bag so that it surrounds the smaller bag (do not open the bag to do this). Then place the bags on a plate for a few more minutes.
- After that you can open the bags and serve your ice cream.
Recipe Notes
You can double this recipe by just getting bigger sizes of the two bags needed. However, you have to ensure that the bags you’ll use can withstand the vigorous shaking without tearing. You can also use empty coffee cans to make larger quantities of this ice cream.
To remove the tedium from this method, you can turn it into a game of toss and catch with your kids.Or even a practical aid for science lessons.
You can make different variations of this recipe by using half and half cream, organic ingredients or different add-on ingredients.
This recipe was adjusted from https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-easy-ice-cream-home-under-10-minutes-0162505/
Common Mistakes To Avoid When Making Ice Cream At Home
Much as it sounds exciting to make ice cream at home, it can also be frustrating. To save you the frustration we have put together some common mistakes that can lead to these frustrations and how to avoid them.
Using Wrong Dairy Product
If you are one who counts calories and looks at the fat content in every meal then you have no business making ice cream!
Thick, smooth and creamy ice cream relies heavily on high fat content of the dairy products to be that way. Unfortunately, some people use skim or low fat milk or cream and end up with ice cream that wouldn’t freeze properly and end up with texture like ice.
To get the best texture and taste from your homemade ice cream, ensure that you use dairy products with high fat content.
Using Bowls That Are Not Cold Enough
No matter the method of making ice cream that you choose to use, ensure that the mixing bowls or the bowl of your ice cream machine is very cold.
If you are using an ice cream machine, then ensure that you place the bowl of the machine in the freezer maybe a day before you make the ice cream. Some people even go as far as keeping the ice cream machine bowl stored in their freezer (but ensure that the bowl is in a freezer bag).
Using Wet Ice Cream Machine Bowl
After you bring out the bowl of your ice cream machine from the freezer, be sure that it is completely dry. Avoid using a wet bowl or else the ice cream base would not churn.
Pouring The Ice Cream Base into the Machine While It is Still Warm
Do not be in such a hurry that you skip the chilling step of the ice cream base. Even if the ice cream is at room temperature, it still would not freeze.
So always ensure that the ice cream base to be churned is very chilled. The colder the base is the firmer your ice cream would be.
Over-Filling The Ice Cream Machine
If you want to get the best quality of homemade ice cream, apart from following the tips stated above, ensure that you do not overfill your ice cream machine.
The rule of thumb is that you fill the machine to only ¾ full. This is to give the ice cream room to aerate as it is churned.
The danger of filling the machine to the top is that the ice cream would not have room to aerate and also you’ll end up wasting your ice cream due to spillage.
Churning The Ice Cream For Too Long
Some people make the mistake of churning the ice cream base for too long. It is not the churning process that would make the ice cream solidify to that point where it becomes scoopable. All that you’ll get from the churning in the machine is soft serve ice cream.
Further solidification takes place when you put the ice cream in the freezer. What happens when you over churn the ice cream base is that it becomes icy instead of that creamy scoopable texture that you are looking for.
So to save you the mistake of churning your ice cream base for too long, simple follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how long to churn it.
Making The Custard Base At A High Temperature
If you are starting your ice cream with a custard base, ensure that you cook the custard on low heat and stir it continuously with a spatula. Do not cook on high heat or else you’ll get scrambled eggs( lol).
Also cook the custard base only until it is thick enough that it doesn’t run off the back of a spoon or until it gets to between 165 -170 º F when tested with a kitchen thermometer.
Dumping Add-on Ingredients At Once While Churning The Ice Cream
Some people just generally dump their add-on ingredients at once into the machine. This might affect the end product. The best thing to do add the ingredients after the machine is done churning the ice cream base. If the add-on ingredient is solid, then either cut them into small pieces or shavings as the case may be. Then add them to your finished ice cream.
Using A Hot/Warm Scoop To Serve The Ice Cream
Some people make the mistake of bringing out their ice cream from the fridge and attempting to serve immediately. This often leads to them warming up the scoop so that it can slide into the ice cream. This is totally wrong as the warm or hot scoop would melt the ice cream.
What you need to do is bring out the ice cream 5 minutes before you have to serve it and let it sit. Then dip your ice cream scoop in water and it would easily slide into the ice cream for you to serve it.
Conclusion
Just putting together these recipes and tips have put me in the mood for some homemade ice cream. What about you? Try your hands out with any of these recipes and you’ll never look back.
