How to make Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Maker

Ice Cream … that cold, rich and creamy dessert that never seems to go out of style. You can use it to top off your warm piece of apple pie, put a dollop on top of your peach crisp, or just enjoy a scoop or two on its own. As the weather gets cold people sometimes shy away from ice cream as their dessert of choice, but often winter is the best time to make homemade ice cream because it’s already cold out. Check out these five ways to make ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Snow scream – Bring in a big bowl of clean snow, about 8 cups. You can use shaved ice if you don’t have access to snow. Pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over the snow and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and stir it together. Serve immediately. You’ll be surprised at how yummy this tastes.

Coffee can ice cream – Mix up your favorite ice cream base recipe and pour it into a 3lb coffee can. Put the 3lb coffee can into a 5 lb. coffee can and put ice and salt around the smaller can. Put the lid on and have the kids roll the can back and forth. At the beginning you will be able to feel the ice cream sloshing around in there, but then the can will get really cold and you won’t feel any sloshing except the ice that’s melting. This part should take about 30 minutes or so, depending on how warm it is in your house. Open the lid to the smaller can to make sure the ice cream is frozen to a soft serve consistency, and if it is you can remove it and transfer it to the freezer to harden or you can eat it right away.

Straight to the freezer cream – Find a recipe that is custard based. The higher the fat content and the richer the base, the better this method will work. After your custard base is ready, pour it into a stainless steel bowl and cool it over an ice bath. Set the bowl of cooled custard base in the freezer for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes has passed, take a whisk and vigorously stir the ice cream. Return the base to the freezer for 30 more minutes and then repeat the stirring process. This can also be done with a hand mixer, which will require less effort from you and turn out a better product in the end. Keep freezing and stirring in 30 minute increments until the ice cream is pretty well frozen. Transfer to a suitable container with a lid and freeze until ready to eat. The sooner you eat this type of ice cream, the better the texture will be.

Crushed ice cube cream – Whisk together 8 egg yolks, 1 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt for 5 minutes, or until its pale yellow and falls off of the whisk in ribbons. In a medium sauce pan heat up 12 ounces of evaporated milk (1 can) until it just comes up to a simmer. Remove the milk from the heat and slowly add it to the egg mixture with one hand while whisking vigorously with the other hand. Add the mixture slowly or you will make scrambled eggs instead of custard. Return the warm mixture to the sauce pan and heat until it reaches 180 degrees or coats the back of a spoon. Make sure to whisk constantly while heating. Don’t overheat or, again, you will have scrambled eggs. Now pour warm custard into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the surface of the custard so it doesn’t form a skin. Cool the custard completely. Once the custard is cool, whisk 1 cup of heavy cream in until it’s doubled in volume. Fold the whipped cream into the custard until the mixture has no lumps. Pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze (this will take about 4 hours). To make the ice cream, add 1 cup of heavy cream to a food processor and the ice cubes that you made and blend until the ice cream is smooth and creamy. Eat immediately.

Whipped cream style – Take 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and beat to stiff peaks. Stir your favorite mix-ins together with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Now, fold the stiff peaks into the milk mixture and pour the mixture into a freezer safe container with a lid. Once frozen, this will be rich and creamy, just like ice cream.

Despite popular belief, ice cream isn’t a dessert reserved for just the summertime. Give some of these different methods a try and see which one you like best, then fix yourself a bowl and eat it by the fire to keep warm.

GLUTEN FREE ICE CREAM