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Tips for Making Homemade Ice Cream

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:12:25 GMT

If you're making homemade ice cream for the first time, you'll want to follow these tips for smooth, creamy, delicious ice cream. These homemade ice cream recipes are simple, making them ideal for first-time ice cream makers.

Two Simple Homemade Ice Cream Recipes
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients You Will Need:
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Combine all ingredients in food processor, and process until well blended. Pour into saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, for five minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Pour mixture into ice cream canister, and process according to instructions.
Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients You Will Need:
2 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped into small pieces
¼ cup Dutch cocoa powder
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
2 cups heavy cream

Melt chocolate in saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa powder and sugar until well combined. Slowly stir in evaporated milk. Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously, until cocoa and sugar have dissolved completely. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla and cream. Pour mixture into ice cream maker canister, and process as instructed.

Five Tips for Perfect Homemade Ice Cream

1. Use premium ingredients.
This is not the place to cut corners. Use the best ingredients available, and you'll taste the rewards for your investment.

2. Mix the ice cream often while freezing.
If you are using an ice cream maker, you'll notice the ice cream is in constant motion while it is freezing. If you make your ice cream using the still-freeze method, you'll want to make sure you process the ice cream mixture well before you freeze it, and again at the specified intervals. Make sure you process it enough to get it all mixed up, but not so much that it actually thaws into milk like a shake.

3. Freeze in an airtight container.
Use an airtight container to keep the flavor in and to avoid absorbing flavors from the freezer.

4. Don't make more ice cream than what you can use in a few days.
Homemade ice cream gets harder and less creamy every time you refreeze it, so only make as much as you can use.

5. Process hard ice cream in a food processor instead of thawing.
Most homemade ice cream will freeze harder than the stuff you buy at the store because it has not been whipped with as much air. This can make it hard to scoop. Instead of thawing it on the corner and having some melt while some stays as hard as a rock, process it in the food processor just until soft enough to serve.

Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:41:25 GMT

Because who has the time to slice their lemon meringue pie and scoop ice cream on top? This easy ice cream recipe combines two of your favorite desserts into one mega-delicious-fusion of creamy lemon goodness.

Ingredients:
1 tbs freshly-grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks, whisked (be sure to keep the whites for step 2!)
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 tsp vanilla
For the other components of this ice cream you'll need:
ginger snaps
more butter
more sugar
1 jar lemon curd

There aren't many steps to making this ice cream base! Simply combine all ingredients in a large saucepan, and whisk constantly over a moderate heat. When it just starts to simmer, strain mixture - making sure to really get out the cream from the lemon zesty bits. Let cool and then transfer to an air-tight container (or a strong Ziplock bag) and place in the refrigerator to chill.

Cherry Nut Ice Cream Recipe

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:45:16 GMT

Ingredients:
4 eggs, beaten
2 cup sugar
5 cup milk
Dash of salt
2 cans evaporated milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 jar maraschino cherries, chopped and drained

How to make Cherry Nut Ice Cream:
Combine eggs, sugar and salt; blend well.
Add evaporated milk, milk and vanilla.
Stir in pecans and cherries.
Pour mixture into freezer can of a 5 quart hand-turned or electric freezer.
Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Allow ice cream to ripen at least one hour.
Cherry Nut Ice Cream is ready to eat.

David Lebovitz's Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:39:32 GMT

Confession: We had a foodie crush on David Lebovitz long before we saw the tour of his quirky Paris kitchen last week. We've been loving his Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream for some time now.

The recipe comes from Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop, and, like the Guinness Milkshakes from last week, would be a natural for St. Patrick's Day. But we love it as a deeper, more complicated winter alternative to all the crisp vanillas and frosty fruit flavors of summer. The Guinness gives a frothy texture, and the milk chocolate is smooth, sweet, but not so strong that you miss the slightly yeasty taste.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
makes about one quart

7 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:55:21 GMT

Gotta love it when experiments in the kitchen turn out great. I’ve always wanted to do some sort of ice cream cake. With the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream recipes featured in this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I came up with this idea. From top to bottom:

Flourless chocolate cake moistened with Kirschwasser (German “cherry water” brandy)
A thin layer of pureed cherry preserves
Plain vanilla ice cream
Frozen liquid sablé crust
If the frozen liquid sablé crust sounds weird, that’s because it’s borrowed from the Alinea cookbook. You won’t need to sneak into a laboratory and steal a tank of liquid nitrogen, though. The sablé crust is actually pretty straightforward.

The sandy textured frozen crust starts off as a normal shortbread made with a bit of almond flour. The baked sablé is then blended with oil, poured into a springform pan, and frozen to kickstart the bottom-up cake assembly.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

How to Make Ice Cream Sundae (Watch Video)

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:02:10 GMT

Ice Cream Sundae, if you wanna to make that’s You don’t need a tropical vacation to enjoy an amazing citrusy dessert. Try our Caribbean Sundae, mixing mango, pineapple, coconut and Vanilla No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream, for a dessert that will take you far away.

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple in juice, drained
* 1/2 cup chopped mango, thawed if frozen
* 2 cups Blue Bunny® Vanilla No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream
* 8 teaspoons unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
* 1 teaspoon grated lime peel
* 4 slices fresh lime

Preparation
1. Place 1 tablespoon of crushed pineapple and 1 tablespoon chopped mango into each of four small parfait glasses. Top with a 1/4 cup scoop of Blue Bunny Vanilla No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of toasted coconut. Repeat layering.
2. Top each parfait with 1/4 teaspoon grated lime peel. Garnish rim of each parfait glass with a slice of lime. Serve immediately

What's the Difference? Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet & Granita

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:20:35 GMT

We're entering high season for frozen treats! We'll eat most of these no matter what name they go by, truthfully. But it's still nice to know what makes a sorbet a sorbet or what distinguishes a gelato from an ice cream, if only so we can choose our next scoop with authority.

Ice Cream - Ice cream has a custard base of milk, cream, sugar, and (typically) egg yolks. Churning this base as it cools gives it a smooth texture and incorporates air into the ice cream. The finished product is smooth, light-textured, and creamy.

Gelato - Gelato starts out with a similar ice cream custard base, but it's churned slower and frozen at a slightly warmer temperature. The slow churning incorporates less air, so the gelato is more dense. The higher freezing temperature means that the gelato stays silkier and softer. It's also more likely for gelato to use a lower proportion of cream and eggs (or none at all) so that the main flavor ingredient shines through.

Sorbet - Dairy-free and egg-free, sorbets are made from fruit juice or flavored water and simple syrup. They're churned like ice cream to give them a soft and snowy texture. (Sherbet usually contains some amount of milk or cream in addition to the fruit juice.)

Granita - Granitas are exactly like sorbets except they're made by hand. The liquid base is poured into a shallow dish and frozen. At intervals, the base is stirred or racked with a fork to break up the ice crystals as they form. The result is a frozen dessert with a coarse and flaky texture.

Homemade ice cream

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:52:42 GMT

To make ice cream at home is an easy task. This instructable intends to show you how easy is to obtain a good ice cream at home. I decided to make vanila ice cream because is very easy to flavor but you can try other flavors. Hope you like this instructable. Try it and enjoy making ice cream.

How to make homemade vanilla ice cream without an ice cream maker

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:56:27 GMT

Imagine this… you and your kids decide to make some wonderful homemade ice cream; you get all your ingredients ready, set up your ice cream maker and turn it on….only to realize that it is not working! What do you do, scrapping the project might not really work (the kids won’t allow you to), but you have never tried making ice cream without a machine…Well don’t worry; here is a real simple way to make homemade vanilla ice cream using just a bag and a jar.

Ingredient:

• 1 cup – Milk
• ¾ cup – Full cream
• ½ cup – Sugar
• 3 # – Eggs
• ½ tbsp – Vanilla essence
• 8 tbsp – Salt
• Ice cubes or crushed ice
• 1 – Air tight jar
• 1 largest size zip lock bag

1. Beat the egg yolk and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Mix the egg yolk-sugar mixture with milk and cream in a thick bottom saucepan and cook over a low flame.
3. Once the mixture gets custard like consistency, put off the heat and cool.
4. Stiffly beat egg whites. Fold the egg whites and vanilla essence into the milk mixture.
5. Beat the whole ice cream mix till light and fluffy.
6. Pre-chill an air tight jar for 2 to 3 hrs in a freezer. Pour the ice cream mix into the chilled air tight jar and seal.
7. Fill the zip lock bag with crushed ice and salt.
8. Place the air tight jar into the zip loc bag, seal the bag and shake vigorously.
9. After about 10 to 15 mins your soft serve homemade vanilla ice cream is ready to be savored, have it immediately or allow it to harden in the freezer for 2 hrs.
Note:
Preferably use a ½ pint jar and prepare the ice cream in small batches, the cooling will take less time this way.
Fill the zip lock with ice cubes just before placing the jar into it, this will ensure that the temperature inside the bag is low enough to freeze the ice cream.

Easy Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:35:57 GMT

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder
1 tablespoon hot water
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 1/4 cups cold whipping cream

Preparation:
In a small bowl, combine coffee powder and hot water. Let stand until coffee dissolves, about 5 minutes.

In a bowl, microwave chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and the coffee mixture, stirring every 10 seconds, until chocolate is melted, approximately 1 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract and salt; let cool.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk 1/4 of the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate mixture. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until incorporated.

Freeze in an airtight container until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks.

NOTE: If you plan to store the ice cream for more than a few days, place plastic wrap directly on its surface before freezing.

Makes 1 quart ice cream.