diy desserts, diy projects, ice cream, summer

DIY: Ice Cream (without an ice cream maker!)

Ice Cream

With summer just around the corner, I’ve been in the mood for ice cream…a whole lot of ice cream.  The past few summers I had the urge to make my own, but thought without an ice cream machine it’d be impossible.  However, I recently found out it was indeed possible to make this delicious summer treat sans-machine, and got to work testing out a bunch of recipes for a no-churn ice cream.  By combining a few different recipes, I finally had the perfect, most delicious ice cream and I thought I’d pass on the deliciousness to you.  What’s best about the recipe is that while the specific one below is for vanilla, there are hundreds of additional flavors you can create by following the alternate steps below.  So without further adieu, I present to you, my first (of many) ice cream tutorials.

Ice Cream IngredientsIce Cream DIY steps

Ingredients Needed:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 14 oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup coffee creamer (vanilla flavor)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla

Directions:

Step #1: In an electric mixer, beat the cream until stiff peaks form (about 3-4 minutes).

Step #2: Combine the vanilla, coffee creamer, and condensed milk in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

Note: Since this is vanilla ice cream, I used a vanilla-flavored coffee creamer to add more flavor. However, have you ever noticed how many amazing flavored coffee creamers there are at the grocery store??  There’s a coconut flavor, caramel, mint…heck, there’s even Girl Scout cookie flavored creamers!  By replacing the vanilla creamer with a flavored creamer, you can obtain that particular flavor of ice cream. Amazing, right!?!

Step #3: Fold the mixture into the whipped cream. Mix until combined.

Step #4: Pour the mixture into a freezer safe bowl and freeze until firm.

Once firm, you’re ready to scoop and serve up your delicious vanilla ice cream.  Now, how easy was that?!

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream ConePerhaps, you are in the mood for something a bit more exciting than vanilla though.  Personally, I was craving some fruit-flavored ice cream.  I initially tried to add the chopped fruit to my mixture before freezing – but unfortunately, by the time your ice cream is firm and ready to scoop, your fruit is still rock hard – which is definitely not ideal.  Sure you could basically puree your fruit, but I wanted to be able to enjoy those delicious little bits of fruit in my ice cream.  I tried adding the fruit post-freeze and sure enough it worked wonderfully!  Follow along below to find out what to do.

Fruit-Ice-Cream

Once your vanilla ice cream is firm, remove it from the freezer and let it sit for a few minutes.  Then scoop it into a blender, add your fruit, and blend it up.  You’ll notice the consistency may get a bit runny, so at this point, you can add it back into your bowl and place it back in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes to get a bit more firm (while not completely freezing the fruit).  Following these easy steps, you’ll be able to serve any fruit flavor your heart desires!  I went ahead and made a bunch of different fruit flavors including: pear, peach, strawberry, raspberry, and plum (in addition to the blackberry ice cream pictured above).

DIY Fruit Ice CreamYou may recall yesterday’s note about the frustration of styling ice cream – that came into play here. It was practically impossible to photograph all these variations under my lights, as it was melting fairly quickly with the heat.  So, I just decided to embrace the mess and still go for that beautiful group shot below.  Messy Ice Cream

If you’re wanting to add something aside from fruit (crumbled cookies, caramel, candy, etc.), go ahead and add that in place of (or along with) your fruit before you blend.  And if you used a specialty flavored coffee creamer…say the Girl Scout Thin Mint creamer,  you could add in some crumbled Thin Mint cookies to your blender…and voilà, Thin Mint ice cream!  See what I mean – so many options here you guys!  Have fun!

  1. Sierra

    June 18, 2014 at 1:47 am

    I have to try this!! Looks wonderful!

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