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One of the two words that make up ‘Ice Cream’ - represents all that’s truly delicious and luxurious about ice cream. In my view, cream lies at the very heart of the best homemade ice cream for it lends both a taste and texture to ice cream that defies words! In truth it’s the butterfat content in cream that is the special ingredient.
Most of us try to watch the calories when choosing ingredients for cooking or baking and ice cream is no exception. The higher the butterfat content of the cream, the higher the calories but the better the taste and texture of the ice cream you make.
Here’s a basic guideline when looking to choose the cream you use in your next ice cream recipe …
Heavy cream (double cream)
This has the highest butterfat content - over 1/3
Light cream (single cream)
This has a lower content – around 1/5th to 1/3
One way to enjoy heavy cream in a recipe whilst watching the calories is to use 1/3 or ½ of the quantity the recipe suggests and balance it up with extra milk.
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There are different ways you can make homemade ice cream, both in the method you use and the ingredients you select.
Ice Cream Making Methods
Method 1 Homemade Ice Cream Without Using An Ice Cream Maker
The oldest established method is of course by hand using a bowl and your freezer.
This method of making ice cream requires quite a lot of time, effort and patience but for those who don't have an ice cream maker it means you can still enjoy our ice cream recipes.
Once you’ve selected your ice cream recipe (it might be a popular one such as chocolate ice cream or an unusual one such as avocado ice cream) and have all your ingredients ready, make up the mixture following the recipe instructions.
Make sure you have a bowl that’s quite wide to use for the churning/freezing process that comes next.
Take your ice cream recipe mixture and carefully pour it into the bowl, then chill in the fridge for up to 2 hours, checking on it after 1 hour. The reason it can take longer than an hour is when a recipe mixture has had cooked ingredients added, therefore thorough chilling will take longer.
Take the bowl out of the fridge and transfer to the freezer for about half an hour. Then check just how much the mixture has frozen - ideally, it should have started to freeze at the edges but not fully through to the centre.
Take the bowl out of the freezer and beat the ice cream mixture until it’s creamy once again (to dislodge and break up the ice crystals that have formed).
Put it back in the freezer for another half hour, then remove and once again beat with a whisk.
Do this again so that you have beaten the mixture a total of 3 times whilst freezing in between.
Put the mixture back into the freezer for a final time until it’s ready to eat. This can take anything from 30 minutes upwards, depending upon the quantity and type of ice cream you’re making and also how you like the consistency of your ice cream (some people like it softer, some harder).
Method 2
Then there’s the ‘fun’ method using rock salt and ice which is popular as a summer activity for children – and you have to do this outside! Using 2 plastic, zippable bags, one larger than the other OR 2 empty, cleaned food tins (again one larger than the other) with separate and re-sealable lids, make up your ice cream mixture and put into the smallest bag/tin. Seal/zip this and insert inside the larger bag/tin. Put rock salt and ice between the two bags/tins and zip/seal the largest one. You must make sure the bags/tins are well sealed - put extra tape over the largest tin if necessary. Roll the bags/tins around for about 20 minutes (this is the fun part for children) and hopefully you’ll see some smiling faces when the ice cream is revealed!
Method 3
The most popular method is to use an electric ice cream maker because it freezers as it churns and takes out all the armwork and hours spent in the traditional, hand process.
An electric ice cream maker has lots of advantages.
Ice Cream Ingredients
The key ingredients to delicious homemade ice cream are cream, milk, sugar, eggs and whatever you choose for flavoring (eg. fruit, brown bread, wine, etc). Even then you can choose from custard or cream base recipes (using cream, milk, eggs and sugar) to quicker recipes (omitting the eggs and sugar) to gelato (using milk and not cream) to sorbets (water ices).
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Rock salt forces the ice surrounding the can of ice cream mix to melt. The "brine solution" or liquid that forms in the wooden bucket absorbs heat from the mix and gradually lowers the temperature of the mix until it begins to freeze. If there were no salt added to the ice, it would melt at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and eventually the ice water and mix would come to equilibrium at 32 degrees. The ice cream mix, however, does not begin to freeze until its temperature falls below 27 degrees. Therefore, in order to freeze the mix, we need a salt concentration, or a ratio of 5 cups of ice to 1 cups of salt. At this concentration, our brine temperature should remain constant at 8 to 12 degrees F. This will give the rapid cooling and freezing that is essential to making smooth creamy ice cream.
More detailed information provided by David Winer, Bethesda, Maryland
For ice to melt into liquid water it must absorb a lot of heat energy. In an ice cream maker this heat needed to melt the ice comes from the mix, and so the mix chills. If the ice were not combined with salt, the mix’s cooling would be slow and would stop when the mix reached the temperature of melting freshwater ice-- at 32 degrees. But salt makes ice melt faster, and drops the temperature to that of freezing salt water. The heat used to melt the ice is drawn much faster from the surroundings, which in this case consist of the melted ice AND the ice cream mix. Since the surroundings lose large quantities of heat to the ice, they cool rapidly and continue to cool until they reach the freezing temperature of melting saltwater ice. This temperature is below the cream mixture's freezing point.
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This is why ice cream comes into its own compared to other foods! The range of flavors is seemingly endless, from the simple to the exotic to the most unusual.
Traditional & Unusual Flavors
Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream are amongst the most traditional and will always be popular. If you like vanilla ice cream and want to make your own here's our vanilla ice cream recipe. We also have a our own vanilla ice cream making video. Other traditional flavors include banana, chocolate chip and honey.
Nuts play a great part in flavoring ice cream too – one of the most popular nuts is the pecan – here's my butter pecan ice cream recipe.
Then there’s a whole world of unusual flavorings to try – avocados, prunes, fresh coffee, green tea, honey, marmalade, brown bread … the list goes on.
Alcohol too can be used well in ice cream recipes – try a white wine sorbet for example. Note: when using alcohol in an ice cream recipe, bear in mind that the end product will be softer and that it will take longer to freeze as alcohol lowers the freezing point of anything it’s added to.
Follow the links below for more information on ice cream flavors.
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Air is possibly the most important ingredient of all in ice cream. It wasn't until I got involved in actually making ice cream that I ever thought about this! The truth is that without air, ice cream would just be solid with no visual appeal and no inviting texture.
The best quality ice cream has the least air in it – around 20 percent. In most countries there is actually a legal limit as to how much air commercial ice cream can contain. As I understand it, the limit is generally accepted as being 50 percent.
When making your homemade ice cream, bear in mind that how much you beat it (hand method) or how long you churn/freeze it for (electric ice cream maker) will affect how much air goes into it. Also how much mixture you place in your ice cream maker bucket will have a bearing – I generally fill mine around 2/3 full (depending upon the recipe) so that by the time it’s batched the ice cream almost fills the bucket. This gives me no more than about 30 percent air content.
The wonderful thing about making your own ice cream is that you can experiment with this idea and find out for yourself just how much your ice cream's taste and texture is affected by the air you mix into it.
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If you like the taste of a custard base (cream base) in your ice cream then eggs are essential in making homemade ice cream. Generally only the egg yolks are used in ice cream making.
Eggs also play a scientific role, acting as emulsifiers, suspending the butterfat particles in the ice cream. Eggs also improve the whipping capacity and texture of ice cream as well as helping in storage.
If you don’t eat or don’t like eggs, however, there’s plenty of recipes that don’t require them – just remember though that the ice cream you make is not likely to store as well and for as long.
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Sugar is used in ice cream recipes primarily as a sweetener but is also plays an important role in producing the right texture of ice cream. This is because sugar actually lowers the freezing point so logically, the more sugar you use the softer the ice cream will be.
The best sugar to use to make homemade ice cream is pure cane sugar as this affects the taste and texture least. Other sugars can work well in terms of flavor and in fact I prefer to make vanilla ice cream with caster sugar as I find the taste and softer texture more palatable.
You can also use brown sugar (my crunchy pecan nut and maple syrup ice cream recipe positively demands it!) and there’s also honey or maple syrup you can try. I do not use artificial sweeteners in any ice cream making.
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1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (6 to 8 limes)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup triple sec*
1/4 cup tequila*
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 pint strawberries, quartered
*If not using alcohol, add another 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Special equipment: ice pop molds
In a blender add the lime juice, water, triple sec, tequila, and sugar; blend until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside 8 strawberry quarters and put the remainder into the blender; blend until the strawberries are pureed. Skewer a piece of the reserved strawberries onto the end of each ice pop stick. Pour the margarita into the ice pop molds, insert the skewered sticks, and freeze at least 4 hours or overnight.
Unmold the ice pops and serve.
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Full cream milk is the best for making homemade ice cream because of its high butterfat content of 3-4 %. Skimmed milk by contrast only has about 0.5% butterfat content. You can also use goat’s milk if you like but it will add a slightly tangy taste to the ice cream.
Milk is the primary ingredient of gelato (Italian for ice cream). Used alongside sugar and a selected flavoring, gelato is not made with cream. The texture of gelato is therefore a little different.
As milk is a key ingredient to ice cream making, the dairy industry is greatly supported by the ice cream industry. It's estimated that around 9% of milk produced by US dairy farms goes into the production of ice cream. In making your own homemade ice cream, by using milk you too will become a supporter of dairy farming - a cause which many food and trade associations around the world work hard to promote and sustain.
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