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Contents: Recipes | Guidelines | Makers or Freezers
Guidelines:
I found there is not a lot of consistency in ice cream recipes.

A basic recipe consists of a custard mix:
3-6 cups of dairy (proportions vary) Whole Milk and/or Half & Half
Heavy or whipping Cream *
Egg yolks (3-6)
Sugar

Some skip the egg yolks
Some add:
Whole eggs
Butter
Flavors:
Fruit Puree mix
Vanilla bean or vanilla extract
Cookies, Candied Pecans, ... added at the end.

You can also make it Philadelphia style, without the eggs.

* Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are essentially the same thing: cream that contains 36 percent or more milk fat. Whipping cream is a bit lighter, with only 30 percent milk fat.

Some recipes say to add the sugar to the egg yolks first, others say to add it to the cream.
Some say to heat the cream first then add the eggs, others cook it all together.
Some say to only heat the milk, if you have a recipe which calls for whole milk, and add the cream at the end.
At NYT Cooking they say,
For something a little lighter, use more milk and less cream, as long as the dairy adds up to 3 cups. You can also cut down on egg yolks for a thinner base, but don't go below three.

To cook or not:
Most recipes with eggs recommend cooking to kill salmonella.
But there are all kinds of thing that can go wrong with the cooking.
The eggs can curdle (scramble), the cream can scorch, ...
My son recommends using a double boiler or a big pot inside a smaller one to control the temperature.
Other reasons for cooking are:
1. Infuse it with flavor - and therefore bring the flavor into the final dish. Vanilla beans, fresh mint, cinnamon, and any number of other dried and fresh ingredients can be used.
2. Cooking will thicken the eggs.
3. Cooking will dissolve the sugar better. You can use fine sugar to make it easier without cooking.

You can make it without cooking (sometimes called Philadelphia style, American or New York style) without the eggs.
This style contains more air and water, it is actually colder and lighter than other ice creams -- the better to set off the flavors and textures of warm pies, rich cakes and sweet fruit. It is less filling and dense, so it can be paired with another dessert without making the whole thing too heavy.
See Cook or Not
and Homemade Ice Cream, Without All the Heat - The New York Times

Proportion of cream:
Bases made of cream and half-and-half only can have up to 23% fat content.
Around 18% is the standard for ice cream like Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry's.
Proportions in some sample recipes cups:
Source: NY Times AllRecipes TheKitchn AllRecipes SeriousEats. TheKitchn Ben & Jerry's | food.com
cups
Milk 1 2 ¼ 1 1 ½ 1
½ & ½ 8
Heavy Cream1 2 1 1 2 1 ½ 2
evaporated milk 1 ½
sweetened condensed milk 1 ¾
Total liquid 3 3 ¼ 3 ¼ 9 3 33
Sugar ½ 3 2/3 1 ½ ¾ 2/3 3/4
Egg yokes 6 4
Eggs 2
Cream cheese 2 oz
Vanilla bean 1
Vanilla extract 1 tsp 4 tsp 1 tsp 1 tsp 2 tsp
scotch whisky wee drop
Salt ½ rsp
Non-fat powdered milk 2 tbsp (Opt)
1. Cream can be heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. They are essentially the same thing: cream that contains 36 percent or more milk fat. Whipping cream is a bit lighter, with only 30 percent milk fat.

See Recipes below.

Eggs:
Ice creams with eggs (custard mix) are more concentrated, with an almost chewy quality that makes them feel luxurious. The eggs also make ice cream smoother and longer-lasting, and prevent it from melting quickly.

Another base without eggs relies on cornstarch as a thickener, along with a small amount of cream cheese for richness and smooth body.

Cooked Version:
In a saucepan or a microwave-safe container, combine cream, half-and-half. On the stove or in the microwave, bring mixture to a simmer. Immediately turn off heat.

Important Note: You should start at least 4-5 hours before you plan to serve it.
It takes me 45 minutes just to mix and cook the ingredients you then need to cool the ingredients 2-4 hours, some say overnight, before churning.
Churning takes another 20-30 minutes.
You can make it without eggs which eliminates the cooking and shortens the preparation step.

Fruit:
Most recipes call for pureeing fruit in a blender or food processor.
If you want fruit pieces rather than purée, best to macerate the pieces in sugar overnight so that they stay soft in the ice cream instead of turning into frozen tooth-seeking rocks.

Variations:

  • Use coconut milk for milk and coconut cream for lactose-free ice cream.
  • If you use half and half in place of the milk and cream, it becomes rich but no longer overpoweringly rich.

Recipes:
Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream
Ben And Jerrys Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe Recipe - Food.com
Banana Oreo Ice Cream

Books:
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book -
The Homemade Ice Cream Recipe Book: Old-Fashioned All-American Treats for Your Ice Cream Maker by Robin Donovan

Guideline Links:
5 Ice Cream Myths That Need to Disappear | Serious Eats
The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need - NYT Cooking
Making safe homemade ice cream | MissouriFamilies.org
Ice Cream Recipes | Ben & Jerry's


Ice Cream Makers or freezers:
They can be used to make Ice cream, gelato or sorbet.
There are basically three types,
1. The old fashioned ones that require ice and rock salt in a bucket around a canister with the ice cream mix. They come with a hand crank or electric motor.
2. Those with a double walled canister with a solution (typically distilled water and urea) between the two walls that freezes to below the typical freezing point of water after about 24 hours in a refrigerator freezer.
3. More expensive, and usually larger, machines have a freezing mechanism built in and do not require a bowl to be pre-chilled.

All have a mechanism to churn the cream mixture with paddles while freezing it so as to aerate it and avoid ice crystals.
Some machines, such as certain lower-priced countertop models, require the resulting mixture to be frozen for additional time after churning is complete.

         
 White Mountain           Breville           Cuisinart     kitchenAid attachment
 4 & 6 qt $180-$250      1.5 qt $370          2 qt $80          2 qt $80
Aroma Housewares
 4-Quart $66   
 
  How to use an old fashon ice cream maker 
9 Healthy & Delicious Ice Cream Recipes | BabaMail - Yogurt, Coconut cream or coconut milk based mixtures made in a blender then eaten as is or frozen in the refrigerator.
Ice Cream Maker Links
Ice cream maker - Wikipedia
Best Ice Cream Makers for 2017 - BestOffers.com
5 Best Ice Cream Makers - Aug. 2017 - BestReviews
Instructions for old fashion ice cream maker.
ice cream makers - America's Test Kitchen search
See Also:
Banana Oreo Ice Cream

Return to Recipes

last updated 24 Aug 2017